is it normal for tranny to shift slow/a bit jerky when cold ambient temps?

[apollo18]

hey all, vehicle in question is a 2015 rav 4 automatic. i am currently on a roadtrip and when i used to be back home in the south i never had troubles with tranny shifting when cold or hot however ambient temperatures early morning were easily minimum 70-80f everyday which i assume means the fluid was always good to go

however ever since i been in the north for past few days, if i start the car in the morning around 50f it feels slow on shifting and feels like it takes longer to engage and or sometimes jerks however once it warms up after 6-8 mins of driving it feels good as new (which is around the time my engine coolant temp reaches the middle), however lately when i left in the morning it was 42f and it felt slower and worse then 50f. when i start the car and put it into drive or reverse it does so instantly and feels fine at idle. however when i drove it cold when outside was 42f it felt delayed/sluggish again

however once again it felt fine and like normal after 6-8 mins ish

is this normal for cold temps? or is 45f ish not cold enough for it to act like this? i had my fluid changed 6 months ago and never had any issues in the hot south. i set the level as close as possible to the manual, it must be within 100ml at the worst compared to perfect spec

just tryna to figure if this is normal or if this is a symptom of low level? no dipstick so i can't check easily

thanjs

 

[tcp71]

somewhat normal in my experience. Try it at -30C...you need some warmup time to get things working properly.

 

[SC Maintenance]

50F doesn't sound cold to me. A bit odd really IMHO, but not sure what it means.

 

[IndyIan]

Not usually noticeable? Your ECU might be doing some cold weather related adjustments that are new to you? On my cars I only really notice when its below freezing, but maybe they do something at 40-50F. The subaru will hold higher revs until temps are in the "good" range.
Have a look under the car, the only way to get low trans fluid, is it to leak somewhere, check your coolant too, if your trans is leaking anywhere you have an issue, but I bet its dry.

 

[Hall]

50F doesn't sound cold to me.

I agree, that's not "cold". I've only seen what is otherwise a perfectly good transmission (knock on wood) shift different when it's sub-zero ºF.

 

[Pew]

Yep, takes a little bit of driving before the fluid warms up; the colder, the longer the warm up drive will be.

 

[billt460]

My mother had a Mercury Cougar that took about a minute to kick into drive when it got well below freezing. And it shifted like crap for the first couple of miles. Once it warmed up it was fine.

 

[apollo18]

Ty for the input everyone

Is it safe to say this is prob due to cold fluid? Or is it highly likely that it’s low and or wasn’t set right at the last fluid check?

 

[Cheetah-kins]

I doubt it's anything to worry about OP. I would definitely check the fluid level though as soon as convenient. Also i would warm up the vehicle for a couple of minutes before taking off. We always do tat wit pour vehicles - especially in colder temps.

 

[wlk]

hey all, vehicle in question is a 2015 rav 4 automatic. i am currently on a roadtrip and when i used to be back home in the south i never had troubles with tranny shifting when cold or hot however ambient temperatures early morning were easily minimum 70-80f everyday which i assume means the fluid was always good to go

however ever since i been in the north for past few days, if i start the car in the morning around 50f it feels slow on shifting and feels like it takes longer to engage and or sometimes jerks however once it warms up after 6-8 mins of driving it feels good as new (which is around the time my engine coolant temp reaches the middle), however lately when i left in the morning it was 42f and it felt slower and worse then 50f. when i start the car and put it into drive or reverse it does so instantly and feels fine at idle. however when i drove it cold when outside was 42f it felt delayed/sluggish again

however once again it felt fine and like normal after 6-8 mins ish

is this normal for cold temps? or is 45f ish not cold enough for it to act like this? i had my fluid changed 6 months ago and never had any issues in the hot south. i set the level as close as possible to the manual, it must be within 100ml at the worst compared to perfect spec

just tryna to figure if this is normal or if this is a symptom of low level? no dipstick so i can't check easily

thanjs

If you haven't changed the fluid recently, <30k miles, I would start there and see how it goes. If you have any improvement I would do it again 2 more times.

 

[GSCJR]

just tryna to figure if this is normal

Yes, it's in the programming for a faster warm up (higher RPM, delayed shifts). Welcome to the North, and it's only going to get colder.

 

[Hall]

Is it safe to say this is prob due to cold fluid?

50º F isn't cold. It might be cold to you but your vehicle doesn't care and I can't believe it's anywhere near cold enough to matter. Even if your engine was idling faster than you normally see, it shouldn't take 6+ minutes to get warmed up. It was mid-40s when I left for work this morning and my car shifted 100% normal.

You said there's no dipstick but there's bound to be some way to check the level, i.e. a check level plug.

 

[MolaKule]

hey all, vehicle in question is a 2015 rav 4 automatic. i am currently on a roadtrip and when i used to be back home in the south i never had troubles with tranny shifting when cold or hot however ambient temperatures early morning were easily minimum 70-80f everyday which i assume means the fluid was always good to go

however ever since i been in the north for past few days, if i start the car in the morning around 50f it feels slow on shifting and feels like it takes longer to engage and or sometimes jerks however once it warms up after 6-8 mins of driving it feels good as new (which is around the time my engine coolant temp reaches the middle), however lately when i left in the morning it was 42f and it felt slower and worse then 50f. when i start the car and put it into drive or reverse it does so instantly and feels fine at idle. however when i drove it cold when outside was 42f it felt delayed/sluggish again

however once again it felt fine and like normal after 6-8 mins ish

is this normal for cold temps? or is 45f ish not cold enough for it to act like this? i had my fluid changed 6 months ago and never had any issues in the hot south. i set the level as close as possible to the manual, it must be within 100ml at the worst compared to perfect spec

just tryna to figure if this is normal or if this is a symptom of low level? no dipstick so i can't check easily

thanjs

Fairly normal in a step shift auto.

Isn't it about time you did a drain and fill on that unit?

 

[apollo18]

50º F isn't cold. It might be cold to you but your vehicle doesn't care and I can't believe it's anywhere near cold enough to matter. Even if your engine was idling faster than you normally see, it shouldn't take 6+ minutes to get warmed up. It was mid-40s when I left for work this morning and my car shifted 100% normal.

You said there's no dipstick but there's bound to be some way to check the level, i.e. a check level plug.

Sadly it is a Toyota and they have a hard level check procedure Hass to be between certain temperatures and have to pull the drain plug. Not as easy as our American vehicles. I did do the fluid six months ago


At this moment in time if it keeps happening or just for peace of mind I might just take it to Toyota and get them to check the fluid, hopefully they take the level check as seriously as we all do

 

[apollo18]

Fairly normal in a step shift auto.

Isn't it about time you did a drain and fill on that unit?

Thank you I actually did do the fluid six months ago, I said the level pretty close to what they wanted. I don’t think I could be more than 100 ML off unless some more seeped out. I never had these symptoms for the past six months, it just started when I came up to the cold north. I assume it is just a fluid cold type of thing, I understand it is not that cold but maybe my fluid is just very viscous and then after a few minutes he gets slippery enough to work well

 

[GSCJR]

50º F isn't cold. It might be cold to you but your vehicle doesn't care and I can't believe it's anywhere near cold enough to matter. Even if your engine was idling faster than you normally see, it shouldn't take 6+ minutes to get warmed up. It was mid-40s when I left for work this morning and my car shifted 100% normal.

You said there's no dipstick but there's bound to be some way to check the level, i.e. a check level plug.

I think @apollo18 is just experiencing a new to them behaviour from the trans. I'm not sure where the South is for @apollo18 but, a cold start in our Honda in 80+ temperatures compared to a cold start in the North, albeit 42 degrees, the shifting patterns and overall driving experiences vary. My Toyota exhibited the same characteristics when cold.

If @apollo18 was experiencing flare shifts, gear slamming and/or slippage, that's a different scenario altogether.

 

[TumblrDucks]

Same experience here, but mine start shifting very differently when below 40.
I changed fluid and reset transmission learning before winter comes. Dirty fluid/low fluid seems to be the culprit.

 

[apollo18]

thanks for input all! feels like this thread will def help others
to dulge in a tad deeper, i am not the best to tell if im having a flare, slamm or slippage. i noticed however 2 days in a row that the 3-4 shift was the most noticeable and felt very delayed. the others werent that bad. however literally the next 3-4 shift it made was good enough and didn't feel an issue

just to add more, i also noticed recently that my idle in reverse gear is pretty rough compared to idle in drive or park. any idea on this? plugs are fresh, and always fill top tier gas with some techron hear and there

wondering if that tells us anything about trannyny or fluid

 

[Hall]

compared to a cold start in the North, albeit 42 degrees, the shifting patterns and overall driving experiences vary

That's what I was alluding to with the cold/fast idle that they may not be used to but even with that, it should calm down in ~2 minutes vs 6-8 minutes.

 

[ripcord]

My mother had a Mercury Cougar that took about a minute to kick into drive when it got well below freezing. And it shifted like crap for the first couple of miles. Once it warmed up it was fine.

They used to call that C4 Morning Sickness