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03 Camry auto. cold shift problem?

I recently purchased this vehicle, 4 cylinder, automatic trans. with

102,000 miles. I have noticed when the engine is cold, the transmission won't do a 2-3 or 3-4 shift, I'm not sure which, until the temp gauge is most of the way up to normal. There is a 4 lane highway about a 1/4 of a mile from the house, so the engine doesn't get a chance to warm up till after I'm running on the highway and go about 2 miles. Just to check, I ran it up to 70 mph and 4000 rpm yesterday and it still wouldn't shift until the heat gauge came up. All other shifts seem flawless and almost unnoticed. It never does this again after warming up. Is this usual?
Reply to
JW
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Yes, this is normal. It won't go into Overdrive until engine warms up.

Reply to
badgolferman

Does the car take a while to warm up or does it not get very warm when you run the heat? The reason I ask is that I had the same problem with my Corolla but I knew the thermostat was stuck wide open so the car never got to where the heat would blow out hot. Maybe your thermostat is in the early stages of starting to stay open when the car is cold or opening too soon. I replaced my thermostat and the problem was solved.

I'm not a mechanic and your problem might be in the transmission itself so take it for what it's worth which isn't much.

Good Luck

Scott

Reply to
Scott

As badegolferman pointed out, this is normal operation for your car. The transmission will not shift into overdrive until the engine warms up. This helps the engine warm up to operating temperature more quickly.

Reply to
Ray O

It's normal JW. The car will not go into overdrive until operating temp is reached. The reason being that it is easier on the motor. You don't want to "lug" the engine when cold. You can test this by pushing the overdrive button to off when the car is cold. It should not feel like a downshift. There should be no noticeable difference in RPM as well. When the car is warm it will go into overdrive, and then push the button to turn off the overdrive and you will see a noticeable RPM increase as well a downshift feeling. I hope this was helpful.

JW wrote:

Reply to
nowhere

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