What would make the 2001 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner jerk between 40 and 60 with over drive on and when its off it doesn't jerk?

Answer 1

I don't know when this question was posted but I just had the same problem. My truck is a 2002 pre-runner V6 3.4L with an automatic transmission.

In my case it was an ignition problem. I changed the spark plugs and spark plug wires. That solved the problem. One of the wires must have been arcing out causing a miss-fire. I experimented with the overdrive off and on and found the same thing, it would miss-fire/shutter/jerk when the over drive was on but when I turned the over drive off it would barely do it at all. In reality it was miss-firing all the time but it just wasn't very noticeable until I got into fourth gear (if you have an automatic transmission that is). I had 135,00 miles on the truck and it still had the original plugs and wires. They are supposed to be changed every 60,000 miles so they where way over due. I should be on my third set at this point. Hope this helps, that problem was very annoying.