Highlander drives smoother with TRAC and OD off ?

Dec 12, 2005 2 Replies

It seems that some small annoyances with transmission on '06 highlander lessen or go away when i disable TRAC and OD ?



Is this possible ? anyone experience these problems ?



The symptoms are hard to reproduce reliably so i have not been able to show Dealer, they look and Dealer says they reset ECT and no apparent problem but who knows what they did if anything ?



Probs that seem to disappear :



  1. Slight pause (lag) accelerating from dead stop
  2. Surge or lunge, when accelerate a little from stop (to 15-20mph) then press brake slightly to slow down then comes a noticeable lunge/surge (feels like sonmeone shoved you)
  3. Some ker-clunking and car shutters a bit, when shifting P->R and R->D

Thanks for any helpful replies robb


I believe the Highlander has a transmission that "learns" the operator's driving style. Certain driving styles confuse the ECT, causing the symptoms you're describing. I believe there is a service bulletin available to Toyota dealers that addresses the condition. If the service bulletin applies and they re-program your ECU, you should drive it hard for several weeks so that it learns a different driving style than your normal one.

Sounds like Toy hasn't sorted out its drivetrain problems from previous years.

Good luck: there ain't no cures in sight.

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