stoney@gulf country

On 2/8/2016 at 10:26 PM, Spidermonkey said:

I recently had a ECU Remap to increase power and torque. With the extra power it definitely holds 4th gear going up a raise towing a camper trailer weighing about 800kgs + a truck full of humans and gear. I do run a 285 tyre and 4.56 diff ratios. With the tyres and ratios I hated the way the truck towed, but after going with the ECU remap it is a different truck all together now.

Hi Spidermonkey, Where did you get your ecu remap and what did it cost? I put a large oil cooler on mine and it made a bit of a difference stop the oil spitting out the breather but it still isn't right.I even dropped a tyre size to a 255/70r 16 .Have you changed the diff ratio?What revs is it doing at 100k in top?

Hi Stoney,

I have no good news for you mate. We ended up following up on T_Money's suggestion on the switch.

Because we had had a gut full of the trans dropping back and revving it's tits off whenever it felt like it we went all out and fitted a heavy duty valve body to the trans also with a torque converter lock out switch. So what happens now is, when we are in need of the trans to hold the gear for a bit longer so i can get over the slight rise in the road or if there is a slight wind so it wont hold top gear, i can flick the switch and it holds gear like a manual but you have to not let it labor to much or the trans will drop back 1 full gear.

We have found though that we hardly need to use the lock out side of the upgrade as the valve body change has changed it enough to hold the gear in most situations anyway.

We have had huge amount of fuel savings since we changed the valve body also. The 520 klms that would normally take us say 1 and 1/2 tanks of diesel while towing at 100kph we can now do it in less then 1 tank... We love the car again.(a lot quieter to ride in as well as it isn't going up and down the gears all the time)

Don't get me wrong we are still really really ****** at Toyota for landing us with this problem. We have offered for them to pay our cost to get it to this stage, about $4000.00. But they have declined. After 2 separate testing days with Toyota the have told us that "Toyota believes the automatic transmission is working how the transmission has been designed to" They also believe we should be able to tow in top gear (4th) but on approach to a rise/hill in the road we should manually put it back into 3rd gear till we reach the apex of the rise/hill where we are to return it to 4th gear again..

As you could imagine i have told them i didn't buy an automatic car to drive it like a manual and we wanted the problem fixed. Toyota has exhausted all avenues at this stage and there is nothing more Toyota can do for us... What a croc of *****..

Our car was released in 2012. We complained after the fist trip and every trip since.

At first there was no issue they knew about

Next there was a program software update ( to increase trans temp parameters)

Then the ecu wouldn't allow them to update the program so they had to fit a new updated ecu

They then suggested fitting a trans oil cooler ( at our cost of course. Some improvement but still not good)

After the first test day it was agreed the trans wasn't a good setup by there head mechanic (will continue to look into it)

2nd test day was arranged with a new SR5 Auto to compare with ours.. WHAT THE F@#*... It's another new release with a bloody 5 speed automatic transmission???

Let me get this right Toyota??

There is NOTHING wrong with our trans but within 6 months, Toyota comes out with a new software update for our model?? then comes out with the next batch of cars with the software update already on-board?? Then to rub salt into the wound you ditch the 4 speed auto that doesn't have a problem and start fitting the 5 speed auto's that come standard in the Prado??. And ours was the new face lift???

Most SR5 drivers would not even know that there car has this problem. Unless you use the car to tow or drive into wind you wouldn't have a clue.

We are awaiting our letter from Toyota to tell us how to drive our auto as a manual and we will be back to Consumer Affairs as we have already spoke with them. I'am not holding my breath for the letter but i have to give them a chance before i loose my *****..

Hi RUM PIG,How did you go with consumer affairs ? Because I am about to go there myself with this transmission problem

Hi Rum pig, I have hit brick walls all the way around with Toyota on this transmission not holding the converter lock and spitting oil out .I want to know how your valve body upgrade went.Would you recommend just the valve body upgrade or the lock out switch.

Hi , I have a 2012 sr Hilux dual cab auto it has been giving similar problems from the start, I have had a ECU up grade ,and that worked for a period but with just a four wheel motor bike in the back it will have a fit now and then change from 3rd to forth back and forward, if I slow down (80Km) for a while or stop and switch it off and start again it will go back to pulling top gear for a while It also spits oil out the trans breather,If I tow a small 6+4 box trailer with only 350kg it will never lock the converter ,in fact the slightest head wind when it is empty it will not lock the converter..I have complained at the dealer but all when they test the ECU there are no error codes.The last correspondence I have had is they want to do some tests.Apparently they have never herd of these problems.They also recommended that at my expense they would fit a transmission cooler,You buy a 55000+ car and start fixing it at your own expense?I refused it should be standard!!!Please let me know if you have any success with solving the problem.CHEERS