06 camry, stalling when put into gear when cold?

[jwkett]

I have a 06 camry as is said in the title, it has 120k miles, 20k of those are mine which i have treated it well in terms of fluids, changing oil at 2k and i changed my tranny fluid 10k ago along with the coolant. On a cold start (Its 5 degrees out for the high) it stays running but when put into drive it dies. Im trying to see if anyone else has had this problem and what they did to solve it. My only idea is the transmission, because the reason i changed the tranny fluid is cause my transsmission wouldnt shift into higher gears for a large bit of time ie getting stuck in third alot.

[JohnGD]

Are you getting any malfunction code? What ATF did you use?

First double check the ATF condition and level at operating temperature, with the engine running and after shifting through all gears. The ATF should be pink/red instead of brown/black and should be in the HOT range.

If that's ok, then I'd drop the pan and replace the filter. You can get a filter/gasket kit from most parts stores for about $20. When you remove the pan check the type of debris on the bottom and on the magnet. Maybe use Valvoline MaxLife ATF along with it using Advance Auto's ~40% off coupon code.

[jwkett]

The filter was done along with the fluid the last time, i havent gotten around to checking my fluid just yet. Ill check the fluid level out at work tomorrow and see what the results are. And for the magnets there was a little bit of metal on both the magnets but not an above average amount, or at least for all the cars Ive owned.

[leakyseals]

Good job with the fluids, very important. Changing the oil at 2k is unnecessary unless your cleaning the engine. For the cost your paying to change so often you would be better off with a premium synthetic and a good filter every 6-7k. Why its not shifting correctly would be not changing the fluid till it was too late and ther transmission burned up, not properly setting level ( running hot line) and using the wrong fluid (A universal fluid when it says T-IV, etc) Why it stalls going into gear on a cold day would likely be a dirty throttle body, dirty fuel system. Cleaning the throttle body on these cars is not hard so long as you remember there is no cable, its electronic so care must be taken opening the plates. PM me for an explanation if you want its not a big deal. There is a small hole in the TB that needs to be cleaned, you will see it. Also clean the MAF sensor with MAF sensor cleaner. I use the MAF cleaner for the TB as well, works really good for that. Put in a new air filter. Take it from there.