2010 Corolla problems with hard down shifting - Toyota Corolla (2009 until 2018-19 “TNGA”)

Corolla issues

I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla with 97,000 miles. I am asking about hard shifts. From a stop and accelerating from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and OD, all is well and no issues. The issue is with downshifts from OD to 3rd or 2nd, especially when I need to pass someone. I will give a decent amount of throttle and it drops out of overdrive and waits... Then shifts into second. Almost like it missed third gear altogether and went to second. On the times it does find third, it lands into gear pretty hard and you can feel it jerk into gear. The concern is not only that something is wrong, but it's also starting to cause a safety issue.

This issue isn't constant and I can't always recreate it. Some days it drives like a brand new car and other days it seems like it's time to trade her in? I bought this car new and was hoping to drive it for many years not just 10. I’ve always maintained it, used premium oil and it’s in otherwise mint condition.

I'm running the original spark plugs. I started to think that maybe a general lack of power due to old plugs is causing an issue where the transmission is making up for the loss by shifting me back an extra gear when in normal conditions it wouldn't do that?. I'm honestly not sure. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome!

Sharon

Sent from my iPhone

2 posts

Hi, no thoughts or suggestions here, but I have the same problem on a 2010 Corolla XLE with a little over 100,000 miles on the odometer. Poster Listoff has described the same problem on a 2010 Corolla S under General Corolla:

https://www.corolland.com/index.php?threads/rough-shift-issue-in-2010-corolla-s.25916/

Any thoughts/suggestions would also be welcome.

320 posts

I don't think the transmission works that way. How old is the fluid, and is it definitely the right fluid? Still the right color? Still the right level? My first thought is often the fluid, since that tends to be what goes bad. The other question is how old the filter is. Over time the filter can get clogged and cause weird problems, even on an electronically control transmission.

My other thought is to reset the transmission, which is an electronic/adaptive type (like just about all of them today). Maybe it got into bad habits! Not sure but I think the method is to cut power to the powertrain computer for a while. Then retrain it when you reconnect it.