Notchy Automatic Transmission
 

Hello Everyone,


I'm new to the forum, i'm glad i found a forum where i can read and share my experience about this car!


So my car have around 85K KM on it, i was driving my car without any issues, until 2-3 days ago, the shifting between gears up and down sometimes feels notchy, i went to a local mechanic and we checked the Tranny oil and damn it lacks a little bit, so we added around 1.5 Killos, after adding i drove it around but it still got the same feeling, sometimes it shifts smoothly, and sometime it just notch a little bit, so do you think something got broken inside the Transmission? currently i've drove around 300KM after refill but it's still notchy.

I don't mind having this notchy feeling as long as it does not go worse, so do you think this will go worse or it will stay as it is ? or will it heal after a while?

Note: The notchy feeling appears on all gears.

Thanks for your help!

You need to follow the transmission leveling procedure to make sure it is at the precise level.

You're also almost at 60k, i would probably drain and refill the ATF.

^ there you go.

Hello, i did not find any precise instruction on the internet everyone kept saying refull untill it start dripping out from the fill hole and that's what i did




Already did oil change at 60KM and bought OEM ATF Oil. it was called Toyota WS, as far as i remember!


Could it be something else ? i mean not the tranny? can you help me diagnose the issue ?? i have a Launch Scanner (forgot the model) but it's a decent one, i checked if there is any faulty Codes in the tranny and the engine, there is absolutely nothing.

It's on here, you have way too much oil in there.

Please link! thank you very much!

Toyota and Lexus has a specific fill procedure for their automatic transmissions. The fluid needs to be leveled at a specific temperature. I would guess best approximated by just turning the car on for 30 seconds?

https://demos.starbase7.net/t3Portal..._rm_index.html

See under sections Drivetrain > Automatic Transmission Fluid > Replacement

I wonder what notchy means in an auto? hard shift ,slow shift , hesitation , jerky, Only up shift, only down shift, both? Using the paddles, Not using them? Cold, hot?

@ls1ac sounds about right but also add drivetrain lash clunks from the transmission and differential and subframe mounts going worn.

it's a hard shift that makes you feel a notch feeling it happens when it release the old gear and moves into the new one from high to low or from low to high, cold.... hot.. it does not mater, it just appear randomly sometime it shift smoothly sometimes you can feel the tranny shacking while shifting.

Okay i'm not a mechanic but i was reading here that i might need to change the release bearing ? does the Automatic version of the 86 come with this bearing ? if yes is there a way i can make sure of it ? because my car never had a major repair before and i don't want to play around with it...
https://86speed.com/revised-oem-toyota-release-bearing-frs-brz-86


and thank you for the help, i love this car and i don't want to ignore the issue and make it get worse...

It is in the owners manual as well as been written out on these forums a dozen times. Several of which by me. The transmission is run on hydraulic pressure if the level is not filled to the precise amount it will not run correctly.

There is a procedure to get the dash into tranny temp mode, i just use a scangauge to tell me the precise temp so i skipped that step. Otherwise it is pretty simple,

Drain fluid from drain hole, add 2.1 US quarts of ATF , start car and slowly shift from P-R-N-D-N-R-P stop for 10seconds at each point, 20 seconds on D, repeat twice.

If doing a full “flush” you will need to repeat this 4 total times. Most people just do this once every 15k miles. If going 60k+ its recommended to do the entire “flush” so do it 4 times.

Now to properly level it you will need to have the car turned on and bring the trans temp up to 108F and quickly level it as you can not go above 117F or you need to stop and cooldown/restart. Once temp is at 108F with the car still on pull the leveling plug (note this is not the fill plug or drain plug) the fluid should come out of the leveling plug if it does not add more to fill plug if it does come out you will want to replug the leveling plug when the fluid is draining out as a very thin thread basically just before it would start to drip/dribble out instead of be a solid stream but still very thin like a thread.

While doing this I face-timed another phone so i could look at trans temp so i could lay under car and watch it hit 108F and make sure i had level plug capped before 117F.

If this process is not followed 100% you will most likely have weird transmission problems.

Take it to a mechanic/dealer.

Thats what the OP did.

i would do that but mechanics and certified companies are dumb bastards who knows nothing i already took it to them, and they said the car seems to be smooth no problems lol...

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129898

This is the auto transmission fluid servicing procedure. It's very involved, and there is no getting around having to do it this way.

Automatic transmissions do not have "release bearings", better known as "throw out bearings".

Its a "feature" that makes the auto copy the notchy feel of the manual.

You just made me realize, we never asked if he put the transmission in sport mode. Could be the actual "issue".

Hmmmmmm could be, actually sports mode is not enabled, light is not on the dashboard, but maybe the car decided to go crazy, i will enable the mode and disable it back, hopefully things will go as expected!

tried it and nope, i don't know how i can explain it, i feel like the that is having a milliseconds of delay between each gear, which makes the car "notchs" which changing gears.

The mechanic changed the oil, and i think he did it in the wrong way :P

I already outlined the entire procedure besides getting the dash into temp mode which can be skipped with a scangauge which shows exact temp.

Otherwise it is very quick, simple, and easy. Obviously more complicated than simply draining and refilling but not by much.

I have done it several times with no issues. First when installing my DIY AT cooler i did 2 drain and fills, then again when i installed a stage 2 valve body and decided to switch to redline AT fluid i did it 4 more times to flush out the old fluid.

But yes OP did not come close to following the procedure, and should resolve this known issue, before moving on to trying to resolve potential non issues.

Exactly i have a Launch scanner that have live data stream, i will use it to check the tranny temp and then use the overflow drain, thanks but the issue was happening before this, but anyway i will check it!.

I didn't think it would hurt to provide a link to essentially the same thing. :iono: No offense intended.

Anything gets easier with repetition. I'm sure plenty of people would look at this procedure and find it to be a lot to deal with at first blush just to change transmission fluid along with the need to get the fluid level right. If I had the time, space, and patience to tackle it, I'd definitely give it a shot. Once upon a time I thought doing my own oil change was a big deal, too.

Oh, yes, you can be pretty assured that they didn't do it right, because most cars don't need you to do some of the things involved here, and/or they have a dipstick if they're old enough automatics so that you can be pretty sure of your fluid level without having to measure a fluid stream against the width of a c-hair. :bonk:

Hello, today i went to my mechanic, asked him to raise the car and told him to allow me to work and he just have to follow my instructions, i monitored the ATF temp using the Launch car scanner, and remove the overflow plug at temp around 30C - 45C and boi, look at this the poor had 2Kgs extra oil, the mechanic wondered how the car will run after all this oil being drained and actually, it felt much better.


Regarding the notchy feeling, i think we found the issue! but where the heck to buy this mount, please check out the video, and please enlighten me!, i called Toyota... damn they want to sell me the whole shaft for 500$....
https://youtu.be/Cx2JGvgMjfA

Don’t think you can, it’s apart of the “front” driveshaft.

Just get a low mileage used driveshaft on eBay for around 100$

Can you link me one please? i couldn't find any on Ebay :(

https://www.ebay.com/i/232512211245?...yABEgLEdPD_BwE

https://www.ebay.com/i/123728156558?...26pg%3D2386202

https://www.ebay.com/i/162742465131?...26pg%3D2386202

Bought the 90 dollars one! thank you very much!, hopefully this will fix the notchy feeling, now i need to wait couple of weeks to reach here ...

Hello Everyone!


is it safe to drive the car in this state ? because i ordered the driveshaft and it needs around 3 weeks to reach here... can i drive the car normally or it will break something ??


thanks!

I would avoid driving it when possible. If absolutely necessary accelerate slowly don’t go on freeway take slower roads.