Oh and one more thing. I have been getting slightly worse gas mileage recently. Maybe that helps.

Thanks again.

 

By "A/T flush" do you mean you took it somewhere and had it hooked up to a machine? Did they use the right fluid (Dexron III I believe) and fill it to the correct level? It sure sounds like it's related to the service done to your transmission. The transmission is sensitive to over/underfilling which is why I mention it.

I might be pointing out the obvious, but does your Camry have an ECT Power button located near the shifter? Does "ECT" or "PWR" light up near your gear selection lights on your dash by your speedo? Turning on the PWR option makes your car shift later and rev higher for more power, so it shifts later and a little bit harder. Turning this on by accident could produce the symptoms you are experiencing.

 

I have been having this issue even before the flush. It hasn't improved or gotten worse since the flush. Today I tried pressing the ECT button on the shifter, the O/D off light came on, and I continued to feel the late and hard shifting.

Do you think this is something mechanical?

I have been doing tons of reading and maybe it is a solenoid that has gone bad?

 

make sure your CEL comes on KOEO. I assume your CEL is not on because you would have told us. I would invest in an inexpensive codereader, <$30. Also if you have an Android phone you can set it up as a very cool reader scanner for $15.........try and catch a pending codes.........other wise I would start bringing up all the maintenance. FYI I am pretty sure you do not have a MAF

 

not sure if this is part of your issue, but i've been told by a mechanic and a few other people that my transmission could be shifting hard (clunking and able to feel it when it changes gears) because of worn engine mounts.

 

I could see it being the engine mounts for shifting hard, but not shifting late. How many miles do you have? My gen 3.5 is on its original mounts at 17 years old BUT it only has 92K miles.

I agree with others that you'll have to look at maintenance done on the car. Might need some work done.

 

gen4 4cylinder doesn't have a MAF meter, only MAP sensor and Intake Air Temp sensor. MAP rarely goes bad even on very much beaten up and old camries. however a vacuum leak in a hose to it can definitely screw it up somewhat.
check all rubber vacuum hoses for cracks on ends or other tears or worn out areas, old rubber gives up at some point.

what is the car mileage?

if above 120k then I would test the TPS, it could be cheating the ECU into thinking you are pressing less on accelerator than you really are, had this problem on V6 recently. new TPS fixed my shifting problem in city driving and also it nulled the problem with engine braking when cruising on highways.

if trans flush didn't change anything, then likely your problem is with either loose (out of adjustment possibly) kick down cable (it affects shifting experience) or some sensor somewhere.

another idea as pointed out above is loose/worn out motor and transmission mounts, maybe the whole thing moves throwing mechanical kick down cable out of adjustment and causing wild jerks while shifting too? does it vibrate bad at idle?

AFR/o2 sensors won't change much per shifting experience, but they can improve MPG, same as minor tune up items do (new spark plugs, new wireset, fresh fuel filter, new air filter, new PCV valve+grommet, etc.).

also check tension on the alternator belt, if it's loose then your car's battery could be running lower voltage, that sometimes screws up some sensitive sensors. usually belts are replaced during minor tune up (or major tune up if you include AFR/o2 sensors, new ECT and TPS too).

good luck.

 

usually on 94 and up A140E and A541E transaxles...when the erratic shifting issues start...including the high RPM 1st and skip over 2nd into 3rd...it's usually either the Valve Body to Case O-Ring and/or the 2nd Coast Brake tube seal OR valve body check balls

I have diagrams if anyone's interested

 

I am interested.

I have that very same problem with my 99 4 cylinder camry. Is that an easy fix? Does the 99 camry have a shift pack solenoid inside the tranny pan and can that cause bad shifting as you described?

 

Hey I've got a similar problem with late and harder shifting. I've read a lot and nnow that I've got the repairs I needed to do which were paramount, I'll attempt to fix this now. I'll be replacing an axle which was new but more broken than the old axle! Bastard.

First I will

Check the cable adjustment and try to pull any nonexistent codes

Read some moreabout tthe valve body and attempt to do a valve body dip and gasket rebuild to some level like the one the poster above me mentioned

I'd like this thread to become resolved because this is a pertinent issue clearly

 

The petrol full / low is probably about a bit more or less weight smoothing the jerk out a bit. I had a rear drive wagon that handled very nicely when full but bounced around when the petrol was low.

 

You guys have done the basics like a drain and fill of Dex III blended with some lubegard red or a drain and fill with Maxlife dex/merc ATF, right?

 

I did a drain and fill with Type T4 because Toyota now recommends Type T4 ATF to 96 camrys. It specifically recommends a flush, but I'm not ballsy enough for that. The old fluid has signs of break wear aka the jet-black crap from the pan. Verry little metal wear was observed when the magnets were checked. I'd LOVE to do another drain and fill with the Type T4 while also giving the valve body a full chem-dip cleaning with some new gaskets and restored checkballs, I feel like that's what's causing it. My symptoms are not slippy, it's more of a "D'oh!-late shift!" kind of shift into gear, especially when randomly releasing the accelerator. Could it be something to do with a locking torque converter being sticky? IDK enough about trannies to discern that, but i would be clicking my heels if a valve body cleaning did it up.

 

Same problem here on a 97 camry, 166K mi. Tried changing fluid and it did not help so dropped the pan and changed the filter...still did not help. If anybody does clean the valve body and installs a new o-ring gasket please let us know if that remidies the problem.

 

How about the transmission kick-down cable? Have you checked that? It's a thin steel cable that connects to the throttle body (it's the lower cable). I noticed on my 98 that over time the cable stretched and got looser and causes the transmission to shift really slow. The opposite is also true and when I went to adjust it, I over-tightened the cable and the transmission started shifting really hard.

 

Did you change your differential fluid as well? I'm not saying that it will necessarily fix your problem, but it couldn't hurt.

Composed on a phone using AutoGuide App.
Please excuse typos / brevity.

 

It's been a while but my lurching during shifting is nothing other than worn engine mounts. All three need replacing

 

I checked the kick-down cable, it was tight and the stopper is within 1mm from the outer cable. I drained it almost completely when I took the valve body out, it consumed 7-7.5 litres of ATF to fill up again. Filter is changed too.

 

i replaced my mounts and things are great,however, the problem of later shifting persists. the bumpiness has been reduced. checking the kickdown cable next

 

unless i missed it somewhere did you actuate the transmission ECT button? the PWR green light on the bottom center of the gauges should come on and go off when you do. with it in PWR mode, it does shift later. i did see that you tried the O/D button on the side of the shifter, which keeps the rpm up at highway speeds, and makes the O/D light come on, but that's to keep the trans from seeking gears going up and down hills.
tony

 

I suggest checking the TPS. It's on top of the engine (towards the back), and nothing is in the way of it.

It might just need the contacts cleaned. I put a bit of pressure on mine the other day when installing a strut tower bar, and then afterwards it's been shifting a bit faster.

Edit: I did tighten my kick down bolts a week prior but didn't notice a difference...until yesterday after installing the STB...

 

Transmission Replaced

Just an update to the issue. I checked as many sensors as I could and they all seemed fine. So I changed the shift solenoids, which didn't help.
I tried adjusting the kickdown cable and attempted to clean the valve body. All the gaskets were tough and brittle. I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary or any metal shreds.
Soon after, it started slipping in 3rd and 4th too. It was hitting 4.5rpm at 90km/h.

I added Lucas, it seemed to help but after some time it started slipping again.

I ended up replacing the transmission and TC with a second hand.

I have the old transmission which I intend to break apart. I will update this thread with any updates.

 

Hmm mine has late shifting still but it use to shift hard till I adjusted the cable and cleaned the tps. But wish I could fix the late shifting. No issues with trans though and nice red synthetic.

 

what'd it cost to replace trans and tc and did that fix the problem? i assume the diff was replaced at the same time?
tony

 

Fuel filter dirty if it has one.

 

:surprise: Umm, Fuel Filter has nothing to do with the transmission shifting.