Transmission issues...

[jermag24]

Earlier this year I bought a 2004 Camry XLE 3.0L V6 for my wife, and it's been pretty good so far. One issue I'm seeing is the transmission seems to always be confused with which gear to be in. The car only has 45k miles on it, and I did 2 drain & fills with Toyota AT fluid as soon as we bought it. Here's the issues:

1) If you shift from reverse or drive to neutral, the car pulls for a second before it releases into neutral. Like it only partially shifts for a second, then it releases into neutral.

2) The transmission shifts way too early in all gears. It's hard to get any power when accelerating because it keeps shifting into higher gears. This has led me to manually shift it when accelerating or passing.

3) When turning a corner at an intersection and then accelerating, the transmission shifts down to first gear for a split second but then shifts hard into second gear, again, giving the car no accelerating power.

So are there any adjusments that can be made to adjust shift points, or does something like the valve body need rebuilt/replaced?

Thanks for your input, I can change the fluid and filter on automatic transmissions all day, but don't really know them past that.

[JohnGD]

As I've always said, software can't fix hardware defects.

The unfortunate Aisin U-series transmissions have been clunkers compared to earlier A-series. And in your case, the U151E series (including the earlier U150E) have hardware design defects.

I'm not sure if this is solved completely by an additional engine mount, but at least in the U140/240 series there was a fluid circuit design defect that caused two gears be to engaged at the same time!

Read the following, just be careful not to lurch into a pedestrian, seriously:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,6075134.story

Originally Posted by jermag24

Earlier this year I bought a 2004 Camry XLE 3.0L V6 for my wife, and it's been pretty good so far. One issue I'm seeing is the transmission seems to always be confused with which gear to be in. The car only has 45k miles on it, and I did 2 drain & fills with Toyota AT fluid as soon as we bought it. Here's the issues:

1) If you shift from reverse or drive to neutral, the car pulls for a second before it releases into neutral. Like it only partially shifts for a second, then it releases into neutral.

2) The transmission shifts way too early in all gears. It's hard to get any power when accelerating because it keeps shifting into higher gears. This has led me to manually shift it when accelerating or passing.

3) When turning a corner at an intersection and then accelerating, the transmission shifts down to first gear for a split second but then shifts hard into second gear, again, giving the car no accelerating power.

So are there any adjusments that can be made to adjust shift points, or does something like the valve body need rebuilt/replaced?

Thanks for your input, I can change the fluid and filter on automatic transmissions all day, but don't really know them past that.

[Donald E. George]

My 2004 Camry V6 built in April of 04 doesn't have the problems described. It does have a problem with what gear to be in when trying to keep the 25mph speed limit in our small town.

[jermag24]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

As I've always said, software can't fix hardware defects.

The unfortunate Aisin U-series transmissions have been clunkers compared to earlier A-series. And in your case, the U151E series (including the earlier U150E) have hardware design defects.

I'm not sure if this is solved completely by an additional engine mount, but at least in the U140/240 series there was a fluid circuit design defect that caused two gears be to engaged at the same time!

Read the following, just be careful not to lurch into a pedestrian, seriously:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,6075134.story

Thanks for the reply, I know Toyota has had these issues with this generation of car, but I'm sure this Camry didn't always have these issues. There has to be something I can fix or replace to at least improve the shifting, I know it won't fix it completely.

[ScrooYoo]

^ he just said an additional engine mount might fix it the lurching. re-read the post. nothing can be done to change the way it shifts though.