Have you done the shift sensor replacement? Im told that the CD4E transmission has a bad shift sensor that causes hard shifts on occasion, and mainly from 1st to 2nd gear. But I dont know a lot about it as I have the MTX tranmission in my tour.
98 Corolla LE 1.8L DOHC 1ZZFE
TEIN H.Tech Springs
Tokico HP series Struts
Short ram air intake
Tsudo Axel Back Exhaust
... if a jelly fish stung me.. would you pee on the wound?