1992 Corolla LE 1.6 AT jerks when shifting to R

[M1Accord]

For some reason, the transmission jerks when I shift from N to R after going from D to N. I could be driving and everything is fine but if I shifts when coming to complete stop, it jerks. If I wait for about 15-20 secs to go from N to R, the jerking may be less severe. There is no jerk if I shift very fast from D all the way to P. However, the car will jerk the next time I go from P to R.

I have a lot of things going on so I don't know if this is a new problem or old problem. I know it jerks in the past but I didn't think much of it. Recently, I adjusted the idle speed to let the car idle smoother. Previously, the car idles at 1800 rpm and factory setting is 700. I adjusted it to 900 rpm because 700 rpm will cause the car to stutter and shake. The car idles and drives fine. There is absolute nothing wrong with shifting and gear change while driving. The transmission shifts very smoothly when in D.

I am going to change the fluid Tuesday. I use PYB ATF and change any where from 15-30k miles and has changed the filter and gasket seal about 30k miles ago. I don't change ATF based on time or miles but rather do it together with in one out of every few oil change. The fluid comes out red and new during the change. I have the magnetic drain bolt and there is very little metal shaving. The current fluid as well as previous fluid has a strange smell and the color is clear. It is not a burn smell so I don't know if this is normal ATF smell or what. It smells the same when the car is cold or hot.

The car has factory transmission heat shield around the pan and I drive very gently. My driving is about 8 miles of light stop-n-go traffic due the right lights and morning traffic, followed by 30 miles of 60 mph. In the evening, traffic is heavier so I take the back route to avoid stop-n-go but the speed is only 30 mph during the last 8-10 miles.

Please help. Thanks.

 

[M1Accord]

By they way, my drive way is steep but level off toward the parking area. There is still a little incline though. I put the E-brake on while still pressing the foot brake before shifting. I will try to do it from flat surface tomorrow. The hill is very steep to climb right before the car is parked.

 

[finalyzd]

I have a corolla which does the same thing. It idle at 1800rpm before? That's a high idle!

 

[Trav]

Look for vacuum and air leaks.1800 is very high idle.900 is also high, there must be a reason the engine wont idle properly at 700.
I'm thinking high engagement rpm is the reason for the jerking.
This engine a quite a few vacuum hoses and at this age any one of them could be leaking. Check the hose from the air filter to the throttle body for cracks.

High idle can cause high transmission oil temps when stopped at lights etc because the converter is nearing its stall speed, its like holding the brake and putting your foot slightly on the gas at the same time.

You have two rubber hoses from the transmission to the radiator. Remove the return and do a line off exchange. This will only get the over heated fluid out but not repair the high idle which IMO is the root cause.
Check the engine mounts also,high engagement rpm can damage them.

 

[M1Accord]

I tried repeating this procedure on flat surface and it didn't really jerk. I think it could be my incline driveway and the severity of the jerk depends on how close to the garage I park. This is why I don't recall it happens regularly. the driveway is only 40 yards with the first 30 yards being at a very steep angle and it level out, but not flat, toward the garage.

Additionally, I need to depress the brake pedal more. I find that leaving it in Neutral for 20 seconds and not use too much acceleration going up the hill helps a lot. Apparently, using too much acceleration leads the car to believe it still need to go forward and result in jerking when putting in R. As stated earlier, by shifting fast I would eliminate the problem. However, the car would jerk the next time I shift from P to R. It seems like the shifting wasn't complete before and the car still remembers it.

I am going to clean out the garage and put the car inside. A lot of kid power wheel and lawn equipments need to be better organized because this is a almost perfect commuter car that I need to last another 15 years.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Look for vacuum and air leaks.1800 is very high idle.900 is also high, there must be a reason the engine wont idle properly at 700.
I'm thinking high engagement rpm is the reason for the jerking.
This engine a quite a few vacuum hoses and at this age any one of them could be leaking. Check the hose from the air filter to the throttle body for cracks.

High idle can cause high transmission oil temps when stopped at lights etc because the converter is nearing its stall speed, its like holding the brake and putting your foot slightly on the gas at the same time.

You have two rubber hoses from the transmission to the radiator. Remove the return and do a line off exchange. This will only get the over heated fluid out but not repair the high idle which IMO is the root cause.
Check the engine mounts also,high engagement rpm can damage them.


I fixed the high idle rpm already when I had the alternator and starter replaced last month. It idles at 900 rpm right now. My mechanic adjusted it to the smoothest level possible when we replaced the spark plugs, wire, and distributor cap. It is actually very simple to adjust idle speed. The factory setting of 700 rpm does cause the car to idle rough. Therefore, 850-900 seems to be perfect. I will check for leak tonight.

Visually, the hoses are in very good working order. Are you talking about the fat hoses or those tiny ones. There are 2 fat hose going from the radiator and several tiny hoses, which I think are for ATF fluid.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: finalyzd
I have a corolla which does the same thing. It idle at 1800rpm before? That's a high idle!


I didn't know what speed it was suppose to idle at until my mechanic buddy told me that was high. He adjusted it when the car had tune-up and parts replaced. Gas mileage went up by 3 mpg after the tune-up. I am getting close to 40 now versus 33-35 before the car started having issue such as CV boots split, drive shaft seal leaking ATF fluid, alternator and starter not working properly, which brought the fuel economy down to 27 mpg.

I love this car for road trip. I put a lot of money into it to make it running properly. Therefore, it is important to not have the AT going out because that may be the repair the put me on the fence of whether to fix it or get another Corolla of the same generation to share parts. The only thing needing replacement is shock/strut but I can live with it now.

 

[Trav]

900 is still to high.Vacuum/air leaks are just one possible reason for high idle there could be a lot of things causing it. i.e dirty throttle body etc.I don't know what specific idle control devices are using on this engine,but i remember Toyota's of this era using quite a few vacuum lines.

The two small rubber hoses going to the radiator are the trans fluid hoses the lower one on the transmission is the return.This is the one you want to disconnect to do a line off exchange.

 

[Vikas]

Don't busted motor mounts give the same symptoms?

 

[Trav]

Quote:
Check the engine mounts also,high engagement rpm can damage them.


Yes they sure can.

 

[mechtech2]

All iI read is the post title.
Bad motor mounts or tranny mounts are #1 to check for this.

 

[Zoridog]

M1Accord,
How many miles are on the Corolla?
I have a 96 RAV4 with 191,000 miles. The times I experienced high idle I needed O2 sensors replaced and that seemed to fix the problem.

I feel your pain. At 180K, I did the full 60K service plus a set of new (expensive) tires. When my transmission started to hesitate going into gear I freaked. I pray that I don't need a new tranny. I need a minimum of 2 more years out of this car.

 

[M1Accord]

I found the source of the problem. It is my steep driveway. I test the vehicle out today while going to work, shifting it from D to N to R and sometime to P whenever I hit the redlight that just turned red. No jerk at all. I tried it 3 times in the parking lot at work, both when the engine was hot and after sitting for 9 hours and no problem. When I got home, I tried to give the car extra gas to make it up the hill and let the momentum coast the car to my garage door before shifting it to R and P. This time I made sure I had the brake pedal fully depressed and no jerk. I backed down the steep driveway and drove right up using light amount of gas the whole way. There was jerk because the car still thinks it should go forward when being shift to R.

My conclusion is the the combination of light brake pedal pressure and steep hill climb cause the car to still think it is forward motion. I am happy now because I wasn't about to think about paying for a AT after just spending some serious money getting other things taken care of. I am going to clean out my garage and park in there to avoid the steep area.

The car has almost 112500 miles. I expect no service other than shock/strut and timing belt and water pump in the next 100k miles.

 

[M1Accord]

I can dial idle speed up/down so it is not the idle speed or motor mount that is causing the problem. As the car gets older, idle speed will not be the same as factory setting. The fact that it can be adjust with a simple flat head screwdriver tells me that someone before me changed it to give it the impression of more power. That is my guess and I didn't know any better to adjust it. Additionally, it has been to various service shops before and they didn't catch it. It was only when I had things replaced that my buddy caught it and adjust it. That was before I ask him to do a tune-up and change the spark plugs, distributor cap, spark plug wires, etc.

 

[M1Accord]

I also check the motor mount and they are solid. Actually, if the mounts were not perfect, my mechanic would have caught that. Since it didn't jerk on him or I when we're at his garage, he can't fix things that aren't required. I just need to stop parking where I was. And to think of all of the people who park on hills all the time, some of them don't even use parking brakes. I feel for their engines. But these are the same people who trade their cars often and couldn't care less.

 

[Craftsman]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
I can dial idle speed up/down so it is not the idle speed or motor mount that is causing the problem. As the car gets older, idle speed will not be the same as factory setting. The fact that it can be adjust with a simple flat head screwdriver tells me that someone before me changed it to give it the impression of more power. That is my guess and I didn't know any better to adjust it. Additionally, it has been to various service shops before and they didn't catch it. It was only when I had things replaced that my buddy caught it and adjust it. That was before I ask him to do a tune-up and change the spark plugs, distributor cap, spark plug wires, etc.


I have an '88 Corolla and I had an high idle as well. The dealer as well as other mechanics adjusted it high since it was the easiest thing for them to do to "fix" a rough idle...

After I replaced all of the vacuum hoses, adjusted the timing to factory, replaced spark plug tube seals, cleaned out the EGR valve, I was able to get the idea down to factory levels.