Just bought a new '07 Taco. It's a 6 speed and has the 4.0 L engine. It has 624 miles on it right now. There is 5w-30 in the crankcase, and octane rating 87 in the gas tank. The manual says to shift like this:

CRUISING
1st to 2nd - 8 mph
2nd to 3rd - 14 mph

Following these guidelines, I'm shifting from less than 2,000 rpms to around 800 to 1,000 rpms. These are much lower guidelines than any other vehicle I've ever driven -- engine speed is barely above idle after I shift. And yet, the engine seems to handle it just fine.

The manual also has these other guidelines just below the first guidelines:

ACCELERATION
1st to 2nd 14 mph
2nd to 3rd - 24 mph

I'm not sure why the first guidelines are labeled cruising, since the reason you upshift is because you are accelerating. I guess it's for maximizing gas mileage. Also, I'm surprised the guidelines don't talk about whether or not you have a load.

Anyway, in the morning, every morning, I start the truck. Let it warm up a minute or two. Then I have to climb this fairly steep curvy hill for 500 - 600 yards which includes a right turn at the top which I can take at 15 mph. I'm also pulling a light trailer, gvw of trailer probably around 2000 lbs. Speed is 15 - 20 mph on the steep hill and 15 around the corner at the top.

Question: Should I be in second gear or third?

Part of me thinks I should be in second, because of better torque at higher rpm's.

Part of me thinks I should be in third, because although the engine has warmed up a minute, the oil is still fairly cold. And lower rpm's implies less wear.

I'll be doing this every morning for the next 10-12 years or so, so I'd like to do what's best.

Opinions please?

THANKS

 

if your only doing 15 to 20 mph, then i would be in second, pulling 2k i feel like in third i would be bogging down a bit, but then again, ive never towed with a new taco, only driven one, and man was that thing fun!

 

man screw the manual.... just feel it out... you should just feel it out that's the whole point of stick in having selection of gears. personally id rather rev higher than bogged all the way up the hill. i can't tell you bc you have a 6 spd. but i can imagine that you would be in 2nd goin fairly slow espcially towing

 

nice truck by the way

 

if you have to floor it to keep speed in 3rd, and use 1/4 throttle in 2nd, then stay in 2nd.

Whatever gear lets you keep the gas pedal highest is the better gear.

Also, it's weird switching from car engines to truck engines. Car engines (like say what i'm used to, 03 WRX) is set up for power high up, while truck engines are set up for low-end torque. It's normal for the engine to feel bogged, compared to a car, because it has more torque down there.

I know in the truck i drive, it says to shift from 4th to 5th and ridiculously low RPM, bringing it down to like 700rpm, which would bog and almost stall the WRX, but the truck was purring along just fine.

 

Thanks
I didn't think of that -- good idea. The truck doesn't really seem to have any trouble going up in either gear. I'll try to pay more attention to where the gas pedal is.


Yeah. I"ve analyzed the shifting. The low "CRUISING" shift recommendations -- I'd shift and the engine is just at idle or slightly higher -- but only at the lower gears. As the gears increase, it wants you to shift at (and end up in) a slightly higher rpm than the lower gears. But still, it's a lot lower than the old standard I'm used to. In every other vehicle I"ve owned, I'm used to doing this:

Shift at 3,000 rpm, which brings it down to around 2,000 rpm.

But following Toyota's "Cruising" recommendations for shifting, the engine would barely even look at 2,000 rpm. Weird.

I'm still trying to get used to taking corners in third gear. I do it all the time now, and it doesn't bog at all. But this is not what I'm used to. I have to stop myself from putting it into second.

Thanks for your input, guys

 

Keep in mind that when RPMs are lower, generally your oil pressure is lower too. So if you lug the engine you have low oil pressure + high combustion pressure = more wear.

Maybe you could find a TQ/HP curve for your engine? I know for my 22re with a 286 cam, it still doesn't know what to do under 2000 rpm, so generally if there's any sort of a load, like a hill, I pick a gear that will put me between 2000 and 3000 where it can actually pull.

 

Ahh, good point. I haven't really felt it bogging down in 3rd gear while doing 15 mph or more. Lugging = bogging, right? But you're right I think, regardless of the lugging. I guess the combustion pressure would be higher in 3rd gear, since the rpms are less, and yet the engine is doing the work (climbing the hill) it could be doing in 2nd gear. So maybe it would be better in 2nd gear, even though the engine would turn over about 50% more times, because of higher oil pressure and less combustion pressure.

I have no clue what a TQ/HP curve might be. But yeah, 2000-3000 rpms, I've been driving there all my life. If it wasn't for the '07 owner's manual, I'd still be there now. Driving below 2000 is new to me.

It's just that my '95 pickup with the 3.0 was going through a quart of oil about every 2-3 fillups by the time it had 12 years and 150,000 miles on it. I had been climbing this hill with it every morning since 1995. They say 90% of engine wear is done in the first two minutes. So I'm wondering what I could have done differently. I know there are people on here who say they have that kind of mileage and still don't consume much oil, if any.

So now I think I'll go with 2nd gear while I'm climbing that hill, unless somebody has a good reason why I should reconsider third. At any rate, it's a lower 2nd gear than the 2nd gear in my '95 pickup, so that should be a good thing, I guess.

THANKS