Hi folks: I love Toyotas and have several different years trucks and 4-runners. Most of what I've owned have been 5-speed manual transmission, but I've had a nice 99 Tacoma X-cab, V-6automatic. I bought it new. About 40,000-50,000 miles and it had a noticeable problem that I had the Toyota service center check out continually and made sure everything was properly greased, etc. The techs didn't know what was wrong and how to remedy the problem. When coming to a stop and holding the brake and then letting off the brake to take off, no matter how slowly you executed the stop and go, you get a kind of a clunk, almost like someone lightly rear ended you. I would look in the rearview mirror to see if something was happening back there. This continued and got worse and I finally sold the truck because of that and thinking that when the warranty was off, I'd have a big $$$ transmission overhaul job or something just as bad. Especially since the dealer couldn't remedy the problem. Since then I have a 98 4-runner V-6automatic also that has the same tendency, but not bad. I now have a 2003 Tundra that binds up like that too, but not near as bad as the 99 tacoma. What is it with these automatics? Any ideas? I've looked at so many of the questions and answers on this forum and none so far are related to this problem. I'm surprised. I thought it was a Toyota thing. I'm curious to have an answer.

Francis

On the Taco, it's usually caused by something called axle wrap. Worn leaf springs are the main culprit for this and remedies include new leaf packs or traction bars.