Hello -

My 2006 tC has started giving me problems with shifting. Once this morning I shifted into 5th and it popped back to neutral. I thought perhaps I didn't engage the gear properly, and shifted back up with no problem. No further problems on my commute.

On the way home was a much different story. Almost every time I shifted into 5th, I would immediately get denied and forced back to neutral.

To give you some background on my car. It's a 2006 with ~31K, well maintained and mostly highway driving. I never beat on the car as I try to optimize my fuel economy. I do smooth shifts and never skip gears or rev high.

From reading some messages across various forums and websites, I'm starting to think I'm having a synchronizer issue. Could this be the case? Is there any sure signs that would point to this?

So I'm out of my basic 3/36 warranty, however I of course still have my powertrain warranty. So while I would love to think that the syncs would be covered, I'm not sure either way. Some friends have said yes, but then again they own Hondas so they can't speak for Toyota-specific warranty.

Has anyone here been through this issue, was it covered under powertrain, and if not what's the most cost-effective way to fix this issue.

Thanks in advance for feedback...

- J

** by the way - I've been a long time reader/poster of this board and forgot my exact username so I had to create a new account...is there anyway to validate through my email address?

 

after a little more digging...

Is it possible that my issue is related to the shift fork? Could this impact only one gear?

 

this is covered by your powertrain warranty. stop fretting over it, and just take the car into your dealership.

 

Took it to the local dealer - and they said they'd have to tear down the tranny, determine the exact damage and then assess the damage to see if it would be covered under warranty or not. Before they do that, of course I'd have to sign agreement that I'd cover the cost of the 10 hours of labor to rip the tranny apart. They also said that they have not seen issues with the 06+ tCs having Synch issues. So with all that being said, I'd be taking a big gamble. I'd like to feel a bit more comfortable in what the issue might be.

As I had mentioned - any chance this could be fork related?

 

if it was something wrong with the shifter fork, they would check that out before tearing apart the transmission.

 

This should the synchronizers. You do any hard driving lately. 31K is too early to be having synchro problems. Go back to the dealer if the year amount isn't up on the warrenty.

 

I don't do any hard driving - however this specific dealer is trying to make it sound like theres much more of a chance that it won't be covered under warranty. Perhaps I need to take it to another dealer.

 

Yea try another this should be covered it's considered part of the powertrain.

 

uhm... lol

but yeah take it to a different dealer

 

yeah I agree... this should fall under your powertrain warrenty.... I cant remember of the top of my head...but thought the 3/36 is "everything" minus non-manufacturer defects in the clutch/assembly.

and for some reason a 5/60k powertrain warrenty is sounding right to me. So you might still be covered.
Don't hate if I'm wrong....but that sounds right by memory.