Slow to up shift - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

busboy · 01-08-2011, 10:47 PM

My 98' seems slow to up shift, for instance, going up a hill with the cruise on it will downshift to maintain the speed. Once back on the level road it seems to take a longer than normal time to shift up to the next gear. I've read that there's no tranny filter to change, just a screen. The car has 250K and is running fine otherwise. Would a clogged screen cause that? and is it something I can replace myself? Anything else that might cause this? Thanks.

bail_w · 01-10-2011, 01:23 AM

I am in the same situation. When i was going uphill, i turn off the overdrive so the car stays in 3rd gear but once back to level road with overdrive on the car won't go over 60 mph which is not shifting to 4th gear, no sure what to do.

dorman68 · 01-10-2011, 07:23 AM

I would start with a trans fluid drain and refill accompanied by pulling the trans pan down and cleaning the screen. It's a very easy procedure. The link below is for a 9th gen corolla, I am sure it's similar for the 8th gen.

http://img.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=325325

fishexpo101 · 01-10-2011, 01:18 PM

Transaxle kits for this car are pretty inexpensive. They usually come with transaxle pan gasket, drain plug gasket, and filter screen. The OEM screen was a pain to clean on my car, so I just started to replace them. True, it is more screen than a filter, but a surprising amount of gunk can get trapped in there.

How often do you get your transaxle serviced? I'm with dorman68 - fresh fluid can't hurt. Stay away from additives for now, don't want to add any other complications to this. Fresh fluid, clean or replace filter, clean off pan and those little magnets on bottom of the pan. Drive for a couple of thousand miles and see how it behaves.

If you feel up to it, you can do a self-flush - by disconnecting one of the transaxle cooler lines form the radiator - use the engine to pump the old fluid out, a little at a time, while you are refilling the transaxle. Will go though about 12 quarts to do this sort of job.

For a drain and refill - about 4 quarts for a 4-speed auto. For a 3-speed, little more complicated. 3-speeds have two separate reservoirs of ATF - 2.5 quarts goes in the transaxle part, 1.5 quarts goes in the differential. Lots of times, people forget about the differential, until it gets too late.

bail_w · 01-10-2011, 05:30 PM

I did drain and refill the transmission fluid with castrol multi-car atf twice. should i try synthetic atf?

pdq · 01-10-2011, 06:27 PM

Is it possible you have a problem with your Throttle Position Sensor?

If you're hitting a high RPM, and you don't feel the tranny attempt to switch gears, that would be my first guess.

bail_w · 01-10-2011, 09:36 PM

I can't see the RPM because my dashboard doesn't have it. May i know where is the throttle position sensor located?