Vibrations when accelerating at low rpm/high gear (AT)

[Alecd27]

Hey everyone - I picked up a new 2023 3.0 AT and love it so far, however I’ve been experiencing a potential issue when accelerating at lower speeds/RPMs in higher gears. Basically, in automatic/comfort mode, the car likes to sit at 1,000-1,200-ish rpm’s. When the car gets to gear ~5-8 and I accelerate slowly to maintain speed, there can be a fairly noticeable vibration (almost like a grinding sensation) before the car either 1) downshifts, or 2) gets above that RPM range. It’s especially bad in traffic or if I’m cruising at ~mid 30s mph. I brought the car to Toyota and they can’t find any issues (but did notice the transmission fluid was slightly low, however wasn’t leaking - topping this up didn’t solve the problem). They’re trying to track down another supra to see if this is normal behavior for the car or if this is abnormal/there’s an underlying issue. Is this normal? If not, has anyone had this issue? What was the cause if so? Thanks!

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[FLtrackdays]

I don’t think there should be a “grinding” sensation. But… I personally can’t stand running in the comfort/standard automatic mode. And the sport mode is too aggressive in town, imo. So I slap that stick to the left and run it in manual. The normal mode is set for great gas mileage. Not what I bought the car for. When in very low RPMs, normal auto mode, it sounds and feels awful when you hit the gas, in such low RPMs. This is my opinion ofc and my way of agreeing with you.

If driving in manual mode isn’t what you want to do. There is a bimmercode section on this forum where you can select another sport mode and tons of other features we don’t have access to.

Hope it’s not a deal breaker for you! Keep driving her around and you’ll get the hang of manual mode and then clicking it over to auto when not accelerating too hard. Hope it’s nothing more than that

 

[Alecd27]

Thanks for your response! That’s definitely not a deal breaker for me - I also put the car in manual mode most of the time to be honest. The only time I find it a bit annoying to use manual mode is when I need to drive the car in traffic which can be somewhat frequent. I just want to be sure there’s no underlying issue with the car before doing any kind of mods. Maybe grinding isn’t the best way to characterize it - it’s more just a pretty strong vibration that I can feel through the floor/pedals & steering wheel momentarily before the car downshifts or gets above ~1,200rpm. FWIW, this vibration occurs in the same RPM range in manual mode.

 

[ShakaDaKine]

Hey everyone - I picked up a new 2023 3.0 AT and love it so far, however I’ve been experiencing a potential issue when accelerating at lower speeds/RPMs in higher gears. Basically, in automatic/comfort mode, the car likes to sit at 1,000-1,200-ish rpm’s. When the car gets to gear ~5-8 and I accelerate slowly to maintain speed, there can be a fairly noticeable vibration (almost like a grinding sensation) before the car either 1) downshifts, or 2) gets above that RPM range. It’s especially bad in traffic or if I’m cruising at ~mid 30s mph. I brought the car to Toyota and they can’t find any issues (but did notice the transmission fluid was slightly low, however wasn’t leaking - topping this up didn’t solve the problem). They’re trying to track down another supra to see if this is normal behavior for the car or if this is abnormal/there’s an underlying issue. Is this normal? If not, has anyone had this issue? What was the cause if so? Thanks!

I'm experiencing the same condition...low rpms/high gear engine lugging, accompanied by vibrations. It's starting to bug the sh!t out of me. I have tried using manual mode for a while, but in stop and go traffic it sucks. Sorry to hear about it, but am glad I'm not the only one. I saw a thread where others (tuned) are having this issue, but my Supra is stock.

 

[Alecd27]

I'm experiencing the same condition...low rpms/high gear engine lugging, accompanied by vibrations. It's starting to bug the sh!t out of me. I have tried using manual mode for a while, but in stop and go traffic it sucks. Sorry to hear about it, but am glad I'm not the only one. I saw a thread where others (tuned) are having this issue, but my Supra is stock.

Thanks Shaka - has this happened for as long as you've owned the car? Has Toyota checked it out? Mine is stock too.

 

[calmeda1]

Mine has always done the same, and it's more noticeable with an aftermarket downpipe

I always thought this was something normal. Another friend of mine told me it's normal for him

Edit: mainly the vibrations. It's nothing that bugs me, really

 

[suicidaleggroll]

Always been an issue for me, basically the RPM is too low for the load and the engine is bogging. The stage 2 xHP transmission tune fixed it for me by raising the shift points in normal mode to more like ~2k RPM, making it actually usable now.

 

[Joker328]

All engines have more vibration under load at low RPM (lugging). You don't feel it in a lot of cars since they have soft bushings on the engine mounts to reduce NVH, but it's a sports car. You're gonna feel it when it's not happy. As others have said, it seems like it's just the way the AT is tuned. Get it tuned or go manual.

 

[NitroYellowMKV]

My car did it as well. It was the center carrier bearing, eventually got undrivable

 

[D3ad_Hand]

I'm pretty sure everyone here feels it. It's more of the tuning of the car, it's very common for the car to change to the next gear which sits at 1000-1200 rpm. It's kind of annoying ngl, but after a while you just deal with it. My car is stock btw, but not planning on keeping it that way. I'm going to get me a downpipe today.

 

[FLtrackdays]

Always been an issue for me, basically the RPM is too low for the load and the engine is bogging. The stage 2 xHP transmission tune fixed it for me by raising the shift points in normal mode to more like ~2k RPM, making it actually usable now.

This exactly! The standard mode is awful (to me). But stellar for gas mileage no doubt. I really enjoy driving the car in manual mode and using the paddle shifters. And in heavy traffic, low gas pedal input (acceleration), I flip it over to auto, sometimes….

I’ll have to look into the “stage 2 xHP transmission tune”. Is it a bimmercode thing or do you mind sharing the link to get er dun?

 

[suicidaleggroll]

I’ll have to look into the “stage 2 xHP transmission tune”. Is it a bimmercode thing or do you mind sharing the link to get er dun?

https://www.xhpflashtool.com/

https://speedindustry.com/xhp-supra-transmission-tune-xhp-flash-combo-flash-license-map-pack

There are lots of places you can buy it, they’re all the same thing and should all be the same price. I originally got mine from Visconti but I’m not finding it on their site right now. It’s the OBD adapter, license, and map pack. Then you just download their phone app, activate the license, and go from there.

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/xhp-reviews-and-feedback.13166/

There have been numerous app and map updates since that thread was started, so you’ll find most of the things people were complaining about at the beginning of that thread have since been fixed.

 

[ShakaDaKine]

Thanks Shaka - has this happened for as long as you've owned the car? Has Toyota checked it out? Mine is stock too.

As far as I can remember, it's always shifted into 7/8th gear as quickly as possible, when cruising under low load. I would notice the vibration from time to time, when the car was new, but the vibration is more pronounced now. The next time I'm at the dealership, I'm going to mention it, so it's at least on record.

 

[Alecd27]

Thanks everyone, this is all super helpful! Sounds like nothing more than an annoyance really. All the more reason I should use sport mode as much as possible . Will also look into tuning options.

 

[antonio88x]

Mine did that when it was new, but eventually went away after some time. I think it just needed to break in and the ECU needed to learn. I used to drive it exclusively in manual mode for that reason, but now it went away.

Also the buzzing from the door lock pole/stick eventually went away. I think the plastic that was rubbing eventually wore and stopped rubbing.

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