'95 Avalon tranny question - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

jeffkaiser · 01-04-2006, 11:46 AM

Car has 129K on it, automatic, runs great, trans. fluid flushed about 8 months ago, all other interval items done as required. About a month ago (I just thought it was the cooler weather) I noticed every morning it hesitates when shifting from 2nd to 3rd . It will shift , its just the RPM's go up a bit and then it shifts rougher than normal. It only does this one time and only in those gears, then it runs fine all day in all gears. Once cooled down , it will do it again and the outside weather doesn't matter as we have had a warm couple of weeks and it still does it.

Just wondering if anyone has suggestions about any additives or ideas about how to attack the problem. Thanks in advance for any advice, great website and forum.

sloopercat · 01-04-2006, 12:38 PM

No tranny expert. You should probably have it checked, most places do diagnostics for free. It might just need a new filter.

crabberjon · 01-04-2006, 01:21 PM

make sure diff. fluid was refilled when trans serv was done.

sloopercat · 01-04-2006, 02:54 PM

I thought the diff and trans were in a common reservoir on these? The flush and fill should have taken care of both? I had one of the power flushes done, not dropping the pan.

crabberjon · 01-04-2006, 04:23 PM

I've seen some places not refill both. Two seperate area's, common cause for the trans. to go. example- The new guy in the shop messed up.

osidepunker · 01-04-2006, 08:01 PM

I'm not an expert either, but every time I had an automatic transmission start acting funny, it always turned out that I needed a new tranny. I'm not trying to scare you, I just think you should have it checked out by a professional instead of trying to diagnose the problem yourself.

Dave's · 01-05-2006, 02:03 AM

It may be the cooler weather. Can't find the right threads but Toyota requires some trannys to reach a certain temp before shifting into high. (Think it's overdrive but it feels like 2nd to 3rd to some.) It's usually just the 1st time and/or a couple of miles. My Camry does it and it's normal. Wish I could find the thread with the details.

sloopercat · 01-05-2006, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave's

It may be the cooler weather. Can't find the right threads but Toyota requires some trannys to reach a certain temp before shifting into high. (Think it's overdrive but it feels like 2nd to 3rd to some.) It's usually just the 1st time and/or a couple of miles. My Camry does it and it's normal. Wish I could find the thread with the details.

You are correct, the tranny ECU keeps it in lower gears when it is cold. At low speeds, below 30mph, it keeps it in second. Every Toyota auto I have had has this feature. The shift quality is still good though.

jeffkaiser · 01-05-2006, 11:51 AM

Thank you all for the input.

sloopercat · 01-05-2006, 05:08 PM

I just drove mine while cold. It held second gear until 35-40mph. The abruptness of the shift was dependent on where my foot was in the throttle.

Dave's · 01-05-2006, 05:25 PM

^^And my foot is 'real' heavy so it always seems a little rough to me the 1st time. But it is a bit worse in my '92 with 236K than my '01 with 58K. Assume it's the extra wear. However, I'm certainly not going to rebuilt the tranny until there are real problems.