5th gear not working
 

I wanted to share a problem and the solution for the collective. The transmission would not go into 5th gear and I think it is fixed. This site is a great resource which i have used several times and i would like to pay back a small portion.

The Details. The car is a 2007 Scion tC with a five speed manual transmission and 137,000 miles. The clutch was replaced a year ago and has less than 15,000 miles. My son reported that fifth gear was getting hard to get into and the transmission felt jerky. I test drove it and could not duplicate the problem, so I told him to keep an eye on it. Several months have passed and I have forgotten all about this. Yesterday he comes home with a report that fifth doesn't work at all. all the other gears plus reverse work but just grinding when trying to shift to fifth. I exercised the gears with the car turned off and was able to easily shift into all gears including fifth without the clutch. My test drive was normal until i tried 5th and got grinding, tried double clutching without success. as i am heading home i can now hear gear noise which quits when i engage the clutch. I'm thinking big headache and a fist full of money to fix.
I went to work on Google and was directed to a thread here on Scionlife. found several good threads with similar problems and possible solutions and some good directions on tearing into the transmission. I was armed with enough info to feel comfortable to open it up, I didn't have much to lose.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sci...1c70d50be6.jpg


What I discovered when I opened up the fifth gear access cover was a very loose 30mm nut which allows the smaller drive gear to wobble. Now this nut cannot loosen up on its own, it is safety tied by a crimp on the nut and a flat spot on the shaft, there must be some wear which caused the looseness. I worked to un-crimp the nut, took it off and had to use a file to fix some threads I buggered up.Then I tightened up the nut and for good measure took an impact wrench to it. Crimped the nut to keep it from working loose. I also did a visual inspection of the fifth gear and engagement mechanism and didn't see any wear or damage to the teeth. I cannot do anything else so I install the cover, add gear oil, and take it for a test drive. To my surprise and joy we find that fifth gear works again. Now there may be a problem lurking and this is just a temporary solution but time will tell.

Blessing to you all,
Tim

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