2006 Sienna trouble downshifting

[sljorge]

Just bought a 2006 Sienna LE FWD with 130k miles. We live in Phoenix where it's pretty much flat and have had no issues with the mini-van.

Last weekend we drove up into the mountains when something weird happened: With cruise control on, we started up a hill and instead of down-shifting from 4th gear to 3rd, the engine just rev'd up to over 4000 RPMs and I had to quickly hit the CC-cancel button. It was as if I had pushed in an imaginary clutch!

This happened several time and I eventually had to start shifting manually back and forth between 4th and 3rd depending on the hills.

Please tell me I didn't just buy a piece of crap that needs a new tranny!

-Scott

[humanoid]

You may or may not have. Any idea of its maintenance history, especially the tranny? I would do a drain and refill of the tranny fluid at least 3X to see if that fixes the problem you're referring to. Drain, refill, drive a few miles and make sure to go through all the gears, even reverse. Repeat, repeat.