The Tow-Haul mode does nothing in this situations. Still will warm up pretty high.
Overheating Transmission
- Thread starter rysn
- Start date
Feel your pain.
Here is the Link to the other thread that was started already and other people (including me) have posted their experience. Toyota will not do anything unless the tranny goes completely out.
www.landcruiserforum.com
Here is the Link to the other thread that was started already and other people (including me) have posted their experience. Toyota will not do anything unless the tranny goes completely out.
Transmission Overheating - anyone else?
I wanted to share my experience with the community in case others are having similar issues. My Land Cruiser (1100 miles) is reporting overheated transmission fluid under certain conditions that my service center has been unable to replicate and therefore do anything about especially with the...
www.landcruiserforum.com
WookieBait
Active member
reading the 4th gen tacoma forums with the same drivetrain seems to be a common problem with them as well, don't think this is LC250 specific. I'm curious about using a transmission cooler or aux fan to help.
Same with the new 6th gen 4runners with the same drivetrain.
Wondering if the OTT (Overland Torque Tune ) would fix some of these problems.
I'm in the dunes every weekend, centre locked, and driving in manual mode. never had transmission overheat, yes temps creep up slight but not more that 10%. i've got bigger heavier tires on than what comes from factory - ROH Raid with BFG KO3 385/70/17. A friend, driving same conditions, with stock factory wheels & tires, 265/60/18 but in auto 4h, center locked, has issues with overheating. IMO it comes down to how you drive the vehicle.
I do not disagree with you. But my question is, why my Mitsu 2WD outlander, my wife's pryus and my friends civic and my parents Nissan Rougue do NOT need to switch to manual on the same switchback roads? oh yeah, and my Jeep 4xe that I traded in for this, that sometimes I regret when I see that temp going up and praying the tranny does not blow up.
Last edited:
The Prado transmission does tend to run hot even at highway speed doing the speed limit here (140km) GPS speed during summer the trans temps hover around 95C which is relatively high on the highway and will degrae the trans oil faster.
In the dunes if you baby it you'll be fine however if you get stuck and try to use the crowl control you'll overheat the transmission quite quick, same if you don't switch to manual mode in the dunes.
This transmission lacks sufficient cooling in my opinion which is a shame in an off road car.
The solution is to install an aftermarket transmission cooler which is easy however it might be tricky with regards to warranty on new car specially considering the transmission issues we've seen on the Tacoma that uses the same transmission.
at no point did i say the only cause is driver technique. i agree that the trans cooling is not adequate and there is no headroom, and all the vehicles you mentioned are engineered different. but lets compare apples with apples. once you creep into the high temps and cook the ATF, its going to keep happening. torque converter slip will cause a lot of heat, and not to mention crawl control. instead keeping revs in the engine's torque range will put less strain on the transmission and in turn, not generate unwanted heat.
Well, there's no locking the center differential going in-between which is a major benefit of full-time 4WD. Toss it into 4L while off-road, lock the center diff when it's applicable. You're always in 4H. I'm in 4L whenever I can be off-road. The less wear and tear (stress) to my drive train, the better. I don't get the idea of running 4H until it gets 'too difficult' and tossing it into 4L. Causes a lot of issues, including this one. All avoidable by just using 4L off-road or 4H shifting manually.
Last edited:
It’s pretty simple, until you fit an additional cooler all it takes is going to manual shift mode and selecting the proper gear to prevent temp rise.
For me 4L is only used in situations of wheel slip, very steep inclines/declines with low traction and certain sketchy obstacles or when I anticipate that wheel slip may occur in area where it could be dangerous if not properly setup prior to attempting a sketchy section and sometimes when very delicate torque application is needed at very slow (crawl) speeds.
4L burns much more fuel and applies exponentially more torque to the prop shafts, cv axles and diffs. Risk of driveline component failure or damage is greater in 4L in a situation of wheel slip and instant lock up due to the increased torque applied and along with the engine and transmission having to rev higher to achieve the same speed, is the reason I don’t use it except when needed.
IMO 4L should be used mostly at 15 MPH and below in potential slip or dangerous conditions and low speed conditions when the engine and trans will be overworked by using 4H and I almost always use in manual shift only. There is a reason the trans doesn’t like to auto shift beyond 4th gear.
For me 4L is only used in situations of wheel slip, very steep inclines/declines with low traction and certain sketchy obstacles or when I anticipate that wheel slip may occur in area where it could be dangerous if not properly setup prior to attempting a sketchy section and sometimes when very delicate torque application is needed at very slow (crawl) speeds.
4L burns much more fuel and applies exponentially more torque to the prop shafts, cv axles and diffs. Risk of driveline component failure or damage is greater in 4L in a situation of wheel slip and instant lock up due to the increased torque applied and along with the engine and transmission having to rev higher to achieve the same speed, is the reason I don’t use it except when needed.
IMO 4L should be used mostly at 15 MPH and below in potential slip or dangerous conditions and low speed conditions when the engine and trans will be overworked by using 4H and I almost always use in manual shift only. There is a reason the trans doesn’t like to auto shift beyond 4th gear.
Great advice. I'll do exactly what you said. Question as I am new to Toyota, is this a normal behavior for most Toyotas with Auto transmission?
Not in my experience, seems to be for this transmission however no matter the platform used in.
It could probably be somewhat mitigated via software update on shift points but I don’t think that would entirely correct it. Maybe a different thermostat on the transmission may help some too?
Torque converter lockup or lack thereof at slow speeds seems to be the issue coupled with inadequate cooling capacity.
My 2012 Tundra with 35x12.5 tires suffered the same torque convertor lock up issues along with gear hunting. Although on that platform trans temps have never been an issue.
A regear to 4.88 gears solved the lockup and gear hunting, only drawback is with the slightest moisture on the road even at 60MPH if you floor it the rear end will break loose!
Last edited:
I've experienced this in both the Land Cruiser and the 4th Gen Tacoma. Definitely an Achilles heel of this generation. In all instances, I've had other generations of Toyotas, along with Subarus, running the same trails at the same time without overheating.
Do you happen to know what gear ration does this 250 have at the axles?
@jarussell4 Ratio is 3.58:1 at the axles with 2.57:1 low range gear set and first gear is 4.41:1 for a crawl ratio of ~40.6:1.
Europe specs, but they are all the same with the 8 Speed:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://toyotanews.no/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-11-17-Land-Cruiser-specifications.pdf
Europe specs, but they are all the same with the 8 Speed:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://toyotanews.no/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-11-17-Land-Cruiser-specifications.pdf
Did you ever get anything resolved? I’m in a very similar situation. I also live in SLC and take my 2025 off-road quite a bit and if I remain in 4H, the trans temp will go up pretty quick. I only got the warning one time when I was driving up cottonwood canyon to ski, but that’s because I’ve been pretty cognizant of it ever since. No snow on the ground just heavy traffic. This also happened recently on a simple inclined dirt road but I was only going 10-15mph.
Seems a bit crazy to me that people recommend using manual or switching to 4L when it’s completely unnecessary and a $70k vehicle.
WookieBait
Active member
Going into manual you also lose ability to use a lot of the functions like crawl control, downhill assist, cruise, traffic assist, etc. idk why that's the "answer". I've been to the dealer a handful of times and they can't or won't do anything about it.
- Thread starter
- #39
Unfortunately, no I am still having issues and it is getting worst. I was also sort of advised to stop talking about this, which is why I have not been updating this thread—I hope you can read between the lines there.
Last edited:
Lawsuit?
Similar threads
