Toyota Nation Forum banner

Experiencing Transmission delay when shifting into D

5659 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Hajoca
This has happened to me 2 times now.

Both times have been leaving my jobsite around 5pm.

I have started the engine on my 4cyl Camry. I usually let it idle long enough (10 sec) to put on my stereo faceplate,
Released the parking brake.
and shift it into gear.

I am pretty sure that the delay was more than 3 seconds before the car started to move.

No clunking sounds, no noise from the rear drum brakes (no sign what so ever that paring brake is jammed):hammer:

Car was bought used at 76000 kms (47500 mi),
Dealer serviced and has had fluid change before purchase.

I am very puzzled.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
sounds normal, i do the same thing, after clicking it into drive, like 2 or 3 seconds later it will go.
Mine does that as well, which makes for some rather interesting effects if I'm not expecting it and try to gun it. (think 5000 rpm launches)
I old i4 used to do that and a few other crazy things.
TheMajesticking said:
I old i4 used to do that and a few other crazy things.
Jeez, man, you sure seem to have a drawn bad lot in life when it comes to cars. Especially when it comes to trannys. It seems like every problem on the forum has happened to your wheels.

Maybe if you slowed down a little, your cars would last longer and you might even get a few less speeding tickets.
:lol:
I see.
The puzzling part is that this is on and off (hit and miss) and does not happen every time.
Mine used to do that but not always. Just as the transmission got old. There was basically no way to fix it though so I just said F it, manual conversion time. :D

You could try a transmission fluid flush but with my car, they said it was so old that doing it would change the pressure and ruin the tranny. Of course not doing it would eventually ruin the trans also(just not nearly as soon). But if you only have 40k miles on your car, they should be able to do it no problem. I had like 140k on mine.
MadDawg said:
sounds normal, i do the same thing, after clicking it into drive, like 2 or 3 seconds later it will go.
I never had that symptom with the original auto tranny in my 88 daily driver. I only experienced this after I got the tranny replaced.

It's my guess that the delay is coming from the tranny computer, but I really never had time to look into it because of travelling for work. I will see if I can read more on it from the factory manual.
Are you parking on a grade at the site? It may be causing the fluid to pool at one end and just taking a few secs to properly disperse, so that it can shift. The fluid level may be a little low, so that it works the other times, but not then.
Thanks for the replies guys.

Level surface, as it is a parking lot with 2% slope.

I have checked fluid level, and it was alright, but just a tad above the full HOT mark, I am estimating 2.5 mm above so I do not think that it would be too much. Aside from that fresh fluid from January 2004 till now.
Just to note it hasn't happened in like 2 weeks now.
maybe thermal expansion???

I will attempt to pump out a tiny bit of fluid theis weekend.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top