I got on the highway today and reached 100km/h and stayed at that speed and the trany stayed in 3rd gear. I accelerated to 120km/h and stayed at that speed to see if the trany would jump to 4th but it stayed in 3rd. Then I floored it to 140km/h then I let go and it went to 4th gear... The car has overdrive and ECT(normal/power) and they were set to off and normal. What could be the problem? It's the first time this happens and the car is obviously automatic...!... (4cyl, LE) Thanks
90 camry trany slow shifting/not shifting
May 25, 2005
9 Replies
If the OD was set to "Off", how did it go into 4th gear?
The automatic upshifts out of third gear at full throttle around 150 km/h. (around 95 mph) The ECM (computer) monitors rpm to prevent exceeding redline, but does let you get right up to the maximum.
hm I did not know that. Seems like a decent feature.
Does it do that for any gear? Say, for instance, you choose to start out with the shifter all the way down in 1st... will it shift automatically into 2nd if you hit the magic rpm?
OD was on... is what I meant... Sorry...
No. The owner's manual cautions against exceeding permitted engine speed when descending hills with the automatic transmission manually shifted to a lower gear for engine braking. However, with the transmission set to "Drive" if you begin from a stop with the throttle pushed and held to the floor, the transmission will upshift automatically at maximum safe engine speed, from first to second, and so on. On mine, around 74 mph for upshifting out of second gear, and around 95 mph for upshifting out of third. The first to second upshift at full throttle is around 25 mph.
Does this happen only when you drive the car for the first time in the day? I noticed this happens on my 88 Camry LE 4cyl when it has not completely warmed up yet. Once the engine reaches normal operating temperature then it shifts into 4th no problem. But if I don't let it warm up before driving, it will be stuck in 3rd for about 5 minutes worth of driving. I think this might be related to age of the car and/or tranny fluid?
It has actually never happened before. I'm just worried this might be the beginning of transmission problems. I only have 175000kms on this car... the 89 I had before had over 350 000kms with original motor and trany and it never gave me any problems...
---------- Normal function allows warm up before allowing shift into highest gear
My '87 Camry was doing the same thing this past winter. Checked the manual and found out that was normal. Had never noticed it before, however.
Merritt
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