Well I have been having transmission issues with my 2006 Xa for a while now. It grinds going into first sometimes, even at a complete stop. It is so hard to shift sometimes it feels like I am going to rip the shifter right out of the floor. My car has 9200 miles on it by the way. I just replaced the transmission fluid with Redline MT-90 and while it helped a little bit I am still having most of the same problems. I took the car to Toyota and they of course say nothing is wrong with the car. The two Toyota dealers in my area are awful. They always try to get out of doing any warranty repairs. They even forgot to fill my Moms Tacoma with oil on one of her oil changes. She drove around with two quarts of oil until the next oil change which they denied they had anything to do with. Anyways I have a TWM short shifter to install as well as Corsport bushings. I hope this helps a little as well. I am trying to pay this car off as soon as possible. I don't think I will be buying a Toyota again after the bad luck with this car and the horrible service from the dealers in the area.

 

kinda sounds like a snycro problem. If i were you I would take it back to the dealer and drive the guys around in it yourself and point out the problem as it occurs.

 

First, don't let a bad experience with a dealer ruin a car for you. This is your car & you have a right to drive it & enjoy it.
First is take the car to the dealer, insist that you drive the car with the shop foreman, just don't leave it hoping that some Tech will find the problem. Once you identify the problem to the foreman & he/she verifies that you have a legitimate concern, leave the vehicle & insist that you do not wish to have the vehicle returned to you until the problem is fixed. If they still give you the runaround contact Toyota USA customer service & voice your concern of dealer service & competience.
Now onto the actual problem, true a synchro could cause you to have shifting problems, but if you are experiencing shifting problems into more than one gear (not just first), then it must likely will be a more common problem to the transmission, i.e. the clutch assembly, more specifically the pressure plate. A pressure plate with a defective diaghram spring will cause hard shifting into any gear as it would simulate like if you are not pressing the clutch in all the way.
Relating to above if the clutch inside the car is not making it ALL the way to the floor when pressed, then that will also cause hard shifting. Simple explanation to why it wouldn't reach the floor, floor mat bunched up behind pedal, or some similar sort of interference.
On a totally long shot, air inside the hydraulic clutch line, much like how air in brake lines make the pedal spongy & do not allow full brake pressure, air in a clutch line would cause the clutch to not fully disengage when the pedal is depressed.

 

I had a tough time shifting smoothly from 2-3 and sometimes from 1-2. One morning I set out to work and the transmission locked into 2nd gear. That afternoon I dropped by the dealer and they took several days to troubleshoot it and make the repair.

First they told me that my aftermarket shifter was to blame and that they would have to replace the shifter. I asked them how the only solid piece of steel in the car could break, and they would have to save all parts replaced for inspection or I wouldn't pay for any repair costs (2005 xB with 14K miles).

They re-examined the situation after the service advisor got my response, and told me I needed a new 1-2 shifter cable. It took them, a Houston dealer, 3 days to get the part.

I put in a short shifter, brass shifter bushings, and replaced the oil with Redline. The redline did the most good. It still shifts like crap sometimes, and I think I need the other shifter cable replaced, too. Just one of many irritating mechanical and electrical events Toyota has provided me.

If you remove the shifter cable at the trans and can manipulate the transmission's selector shaft smoothly by hand, then you probably are in the market for a new shifter cable.

I'm sorry that you have a POS like mine. 2005 Scion xB, my first and very last Toyota.

 

I agree completely. I had to do this when I had a Saturn because it had a lot of problems.

Take it back to the dealer. Be polite, stand your ground, and make sure they understand and can reproduce the problem. If that doesn't work, ask to speak with the service manager and make him understand the problem. If that doesn't work, complain to Toyota/Scion. Make sure you write down names, dates, and summary of each conversation.

 

I know these things are real sensative to "skip shift",
seams like even when coming to a stop, if you don't down shift through every gear (even without releasing the clutch,
just make the motions), then it doesn't want to go into the
lower gear. If the car is constantly driven that way, it starts
to get a lot worse quick.
I may be wrong, but I know mine won't go into 1st ,rolling,
unless I come down from 2nd..

 

Thanks for all of the help guys. I will probably take the car to the dealer sometime in the near future. I work full-time, and I'm in school full-time so I can't really afford to not have a car, plus I am too young(20) for the dealer to give me a rental car. Don't get me wrong now I am and always will be a hardcore Toyota fan. My entire family owns Toyotas and my first car was a 1995 tercel which I miss dearly. The dealers in this area are just so bad.