Cannot reach top gear (fourth) sometimes, especially after a quick stop?

Tiny
PHILLIP NGUYEN
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 TOYOTA SIENNA
  • 3.0L
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 257,762 MILES
Hello! My Toyota Estima 2002 (A.K.A Toyota Sienna) ODO 257764KM automatic has a problem:

The vehicle will not shift into fourth gear sometimes especially when the vehicle is driven for some time.

When I start the car in the morning to drive, it’s OK to shift to gears 1-2-3-4. When it’s in gear 4th, if I just keep driving (>80km/h) then it’s still there, meanwhile I try O/D button => when I press O/D off I can feel the vibration a bit then RPM goes up (to 4000 at 100kpm), when O/D is on the car goes back to 4th gear normally (even try many times).

But when the car slowdown (down to 10-20km/h) then go up again, it will never get back to 4th gear, but bht only 3th gear (then the switching O/D button can just turn on/off the O/D light without any change of driving the car.). I also try to stop the car, turn off, then turn on the car again, then gears can just move from 1 -> 2 -> 3.

I am trying all the instructions mentioned above to see if any of them works on my car.

*Update 8pm 14/2/2023:
Today I started the car and drove for a highway trip (~200km distance) without any stops (only 2 short times needed to slow down to ~20-30km/h).
The car was perfect for the trip that I drove at 100km/h (sometimes up to 140km/h), I tried O/D off & on some times as well.
But later in the afternoon when I started again, it’s could not reach 4th again...

Many thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

Phillip
Tuesday, February 14th, 2023 AT 5:05 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 108,192 POSTS
Hi,

The issue can be the result of several things. By chance, have you tried scanning the can-bus for codes?

CAN stands for controller area network. Basically, the different modules in the vehicle are tied together via a few wires. This type of scan will retrieve codes regardless of the module storing them. Here is a link that shows how it's done.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/can-scan-controller-area-network-easy

Let me know. This is where I would recommend starting.

Take care,

Joe
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Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 AT 6:58 PM

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