Shudder during 4th to 5th upshift under light load

[sukhoi_584th]

Did some searches with no results. Has anyone else with the V6 and 5-speed notices a bit of a shudder when the transmission upshifts from 4th to 5th gear, generally on a slight uphill? Usually the situation will be me accelerating up the gentle grade in 4th gear, and then when I reach cruising speed and the transmission upshifts to 5th gear I will feel the shudder. It happens worse if I push the accelerator during the 4th -> 5th gear change. I used to only notice it when the vehicle was heavily loaded with camping gear, but now it seems to show up sometimes when lightly loaded.

[Carbon]

I have not seen any mention of that either. How many miles do you have on the transmission?

[sukhoi_584th]

I have ~45,000 mi, of which a large majority (80-90% I'd guess) are highway. Of the highway miles the vast majority has been with the vehicle moderately heavily loaded with car-camping gear, and also a fair amount of high speed mountain driving. The shudder has been happening for something like 10,000-15,000 mi but I feel like it has gotten a bit worse. The problem is it's not something I think I'd be able to get a dealer mechanic to notice during a ride-along unless the mechanic had come across the same problem before. I try to point it out to my wife and she always thinks it's bumps in the road.

Thinking about the mileage, I would expect I have probably done more 4th -> 5th upshifts than the average user, and many of them with a moderate load in the vehicle.

[Carbon]

It sounds abnormal to me. You may still be covered under the powertrain warranty.

[mrodgers]

What does the transmission fluid look like? That meant a transmission fluid change was way over due in my old Ford POS, but it was known for having a junk transmission. I wouldn't expect the same out of Toyota unless you do a lot of heavy pulling.

[Dr. Dyno]

I agree with both Carbon & mrodgers. You don't list the year but 45,000 miles is pretty low to expect a shudder. I'd take it to the dealer and see if they will change the fluid. Even a 1/3 drain & fill change should make a difference.

[sukhoi_584th]

Good idea on the fluid...not sure why I didn't think of that. I'll take a look next weekend when it's light out when I'm at home (I hate winter).

It's a 2009, so I'm pretty average on the mi/yr. I just happen to do most of my driving in large spurts, and then the car will sit with minimal driving for a couple weeks.

Just got the silly suspension arm recall thing in the mail, so I'll ask the dealer to go for a test drive after they do the torque checks for the recall.