Hi all. Today I discovered a new feature in the transmission of the '03 Limited V8 4x4 (may exist in others) which I hadn't noticed until now....

I've had this for about three weeks now, and my commute to work is mostly flat land, but today i was coming down a hill and discovered that this rig has the same 'transmission braking' feature that we've come to know and love in my wife's '01 Honda minivan.

When running down a long slope (pavement in this case) in "D" (overdrive), if you press the brake a little to slow....it will downshift into "4" (watch the tach) and stay there until the next time you hit the accellerator again. This helps keep the vehicle from continuing to pick up speed on it's own when rolling down hill with the transmission in overdrive.

You may already know that this feature is in there, I didn't. I thought i was quite thorough when doing my homework before purchasing this 4runner, but missed this feature.

Anyway, if you were not aware of it, try it out.

 

looks like a box with a red "X" in it.

 

The V6 tranny has this too. I was going down a twisty mountain 2 laner (XREAS is awesome!) and noticed the tranny brake- completely seamless except for the fact you are not rolling faster or gaining speed (good thing).
The ignition is great- just flick it and it starts.

 

You might want to refresh the page there chief.

 

Auto locking doors

Another feature I just figured out is the door locks. They are factory set by default to lock when you take it out of park. If you shut the engine off and run around the back to open the gate, its still locked! If you read your manual, there are like four different settings that you can set it to. I have mine so that when I open my drivers door with the ignition off, all doors are unlocked automatically. I thought it was kinda cool.

 

it wasn't working at 7:20 or so. it must have kicked back on a little later there Cap'n.

 

Major that

 

Looks like I'll be doing a little re-programming tonight!

 

Make sure you have a stopwatch... When the manual says 5sec.. They mean "5 sec." Not, 4.9 or 5.2... It took me a while to change the setting.

Now if some one would figure out how to get all the doors to unlock with ONE push of the remote button, I would be happy.

 

True dat brotha! Enough of these multi taps of the remote. Gimme all doors on one push dammit! Don't I deserve this much???

 

I like the fact the windows continue to roll up after you turn off the ignition- don't have to wait to pull the key out. That annoyed me in my old truck.

 

My 3rd gen does that...as long as nobody opens their doors.

 

The remote that I was talking about earlier was that cheap-a#@ thing they gave me for the rear audio system. If you have it and sit in the rear seat, you'll see it on the ceiling by the dome light. Forget it, here it is!! Beside it is the cup-like holder for the backseat.



I would take a pic of the wireless headphones, but I don't have them! Did you guys get the headphones???

 

Mine's been in the shop the last few days while they work on several noises in the dash, so I haven't been able to try this procedure:

http://www.geocities.com/toyota_speed2003/index.html

Click on "Reprogram existing remotes."

I think pages 2 and 3 have what you want.

 

The headphones are something you have to buy on your own... FWIW, my remote changes everything, ie: I can stand at my tailgate and control the stereo.

jharris2,
Jeez, that's like doing to hookey-pookey... I tried it three times, no dice. Will give it a shot a few more times (it took me quite a few times to do the locks.) Thanks !

 

Dang, I thought I was pretty good at programming my rig. All the other instructions, I did it on the first or second shot. This time, I've done it 5 times or more, and can't get it. I've tried both with the doors locked and unlocked, opening the door from the inside, and outside. I've tried doing it in as little time as possible, and tried getting it done at 40 seconds. Even tried opening the door partially or fully. I'm thinking there must be a typo.

 

KronicX- if you are using your Toy Manual, then it should work. I did have to try it twice before I actually got it though.

JGage- Do you have the rear seat audio? I cannot get my remote to work the front stereo. After reading the book closely, I realized there was another "audio system" for the back seat!?!?

 

yeah the remote only works the back seat controls, not the front.

 

02Runner - I'm assuming you thought I was talking about the locking and unlocking programming on pg. 17. Those are cool, and I've got those set up how I like them.

I'm trying to program it to unlock all doors with one click from the remote. Too bad they don't include that in the runner manual too.

Anybody have any luck getting it programmed?

 

Now I see said the blind man! I am trying it tonight!

Back seat system =