Before my 22re spun a bearing in my 91, When cold, the tranny would take several miles to kick down into drive. It is an automatic. Now, the same thing is happening with my sons 04 celica. The dealer said that the computer needed to be reflashed and that it would cost about a hundred bucks. Anybody ever hear of this and is it something that can be done at home?

 

id just get the part number off of it and just go to the junk yard to find a used one...

 

They're supposed to do that. They don't kick into high gear while cold.

 

Eyy, We got someone up in here from temecula.
We should meet up?!?

 

Mine takes a little while to shift smoothly when it's cold, I'm not sure if that's what you mean or not...

 

No, this is def. not normal. I have owned many Toys in my life (10) and these are the only two that have had these symptoms. The celica just started to do it. I bought it new in 04 and it only has 43000 miles on it. The dealer considered it and adjustment, i.e. reflash the ecu, and that it is not covered under the warranty. Adustments are only covered for 12 months or 12 thousand miles.

 

It says in the service manual that OD (4th gear) will not operate until the coolent temperature is in the high 70's. Is this what you mean by "kick down into drive"? I fins it hard to believe that reseting the ECU would change the operation of the trans (I am not an expert though). Setpoints for shifting are not easily modified ($100 bucks modified). If the transmission is acting unusual then there is a sensor malfunction or a mechanical issue (solenoid not working, lockup converter not locking)
I an Robotics/controls engineer and I always find the the first thing that anyone looks to for a problem is the "electronics" of the system. I usually find that electronics are more robust then mechanical systems. It's just that they are "magic" to most people and therefore to blame.

You can reset the ECU at home (celica) if you have a ODB reader. The truck you can not. All you can do is pull the batter cables and let it sit but I HIGHLY doubt this will do anything. There are only a few things that control 4th gear engagement, coolent temp, and TV (kickdown cable) cable, speed sensor. When in ECT mode the TPS is also used.

The Celica and truck are different systems because of the age so wouldn't treat them like the same problem.