Hey guys,

Car in question is a 2007 Camry LE. It's the 4 cylinder and the odometer just hit 140.000 miles. Aside from regular maintenance we never had a problem with it. It's always been maintained at the dealership. Lately she's developed a problem with downshifting. Any time you drive above 50mph and slow down, there is a really harsh down shift that happens right around 25mph that makes the car shudder, and sometimes creates an audible "clunk". Up-shifts are all silky smooth. Sometimes it happens at slow speed too (accelerate to 30mph, slow down to 25mph), but those are intermittent. Accelerating to 50mph and then slowing down to 25mph will create a harsh downshift every single time though.

I dropped the car off at the dealership about a month ago and mentioned the rough downshift. They called me back later and said the transmission fluid was very dirty and black and that it needed to be flushed. I thought that was odd, as I had a drain&fill done at the dealership right at the 100.000 mile mark(I know the manual states it is life-time fluid, but I take that with a grain of salt), and then they said the fluid was nice and clean.

Anyway, they flushed the tranny, then proceeded to charge me out the @ss for it, but the problem is still there. I'm hesitant to go back to the dealership, as I just sank $1200 into this thing (also needed new alternator, some brake work and it leaked power steering fluid, but all that's resolved now), but not really sure what to do next.

I found Toyota TSB 0033-08 (attached) which talks about the exact symptoms my Camry has and says the Line Pressure Control Solenoid Assembly will need to be replaced. I am wondering if someone else has had the same downshift problem with their Camry and what the fix was. I like to be armed with some more information before taking it back to the mechanic, so I can hopefully prevent sinking a ton of money into things that don't fix the problem.

 

Might chime in at the Toyotanation,com website, Camry section.

The TSB does seem to cover your symptoms. A dealer can check your VIN to determine if the TSB was already applied.

The fluid is supposed to be synthetic but its not "life time". Toyota dealers have a color chart to compare the trans fluid color to. Based on the color, the fluid condition is appraised.

Good job on running the TSB repair down. The repair is straight forward, simple and a DIY job if having some auto repair skills. Do you know anyone friends that work on cars?

The part is about $200 at the dealer plus according to the TSB 1.9 hours to install. There may be cheaper aftermarket parts. The part is called the SLT solenoid which controls the torque converter lock/unlock. See link below:

https://www.sonnax.com/tech_resource...-solenoid-info

The dealer should have researched the repair then advised you (since the car is now off warranty and you will be paying).

Always leery of third party trans shops as they only seem interested in doing a complete trans overhaul. Perhaps your area has an independent shop (and cheaper) that handles Toyota's. The repair doesn't require a transmission shop.

 

Thanks for the detailed answer, Toyomoho. I do have auto repair skills, so I can probably do this myself. 10-15 years ago I did all maintenance on our cars myself, but as I have gotten older I find less and less joy in working on my own vehicles. I often just get lazy and take it to the dealership, though I had quite the sticker shock when I was presented with the bill for the previous work that was done to the Camry, hence my hesitation to bring it to the dealership again.

I did try to locate some clear instructions on how to install the SLT solenoid, but came up blank. Does anyone here have a workshop manual that details the work involved?

On a side note: we just took the Camry on a 700 mile road trip between yesterday and today, and after an hour or so of driving the downshifts become smooth again. So it seems to only happen when the transmission is not yet at full operating temperature.

 

See private message.

 

I checked, but don't see a pm?

 

Check again.