Hi I have a 2009 scion tc 5 speed with 14000 miles on it. Every other day it feels hard to shift into second and on other days it shifts smooth as butter in all gears. i am wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what can i do about it?

 

mine is like that on the colder mornings. sometimes it helps to just run through all the gears when starting the car up and whenever sitting at a stop.

 

still it gets to the point where i don't enjoy driving it. At what mileage did yours start doing it ?btw i changed the transmission fluid to eneos 75w90 gl5 awhile back would going with something gl4 like redline be better ?

 

well mine started about 45k miles, but there was a lot of stuff going on with my tc back then, clutch, flywheel, lsd, ss clutchline etc. and it wasn't an incident free install.

but i'm running mobil1 synthetic gear oil, and just monday morning i noticed it was getting alittle stiff again between gears, but nothing that really degrades my driving enjoyment. i currently have 76k miles.

 

still. let me elaborate more when my car would have rough shifts i could shift in smoothly under 1700 rpms but any hgher it would be hard to get into second. ive been suggested to that my second gear synchro is messed up and that might be the cause?idk seems like it might be from what Ive heard any one else have this problem?is it covered by the warranty ?

 

still with my tranny still pretty much stock other than oil changed to synthetic i feel like it shouldn't be doing this at 14000 miles.

 

just feels like the tranny is full of molasses and is stiff to get through the gears. but nothing troubling.

 

If the vehicle is still stock, take it to the dealer to have it looked at under warranty. the transmission is considered part of the drivetrain which is covered under warranty.......

 

If you changed the tranny gear lube then you put the WRONG stuff in it. Get some "normal" gear lube in that box before something wears out and give it some time to work itself into the syncros before you start stifting at higher rpms. ALSO make sure you press the clutch all the way to the floor when shifting - NO THICK CARPET floor mat under the pedal.

 

our specs for the tc transmission are 75w90 gl4/gl5 the eneos is supposed to be within spec though

 

The only other typical thing is damp clutch - it tends to drag and grind gears if you don't get it all the way in to release. Shift slower giving it time for the scynros to do their thing meaning get it out of gear and let it stay in neutral longer before going into the next gear. From what I have read here in SL the syncros are very particular about the type of oil used because of the metals they are made of and certain oils that work well in other cars don't do so well in the Scions. I switched my xB 1st Gen to Synlube and the gear lube was a little too slippery at first so if I shifted with too much force it would grind a little in every gear but using less pressure like ONE finger shifts perfectly and goes in at low RPMs really quick with a little clunk really easy. I find the Synlube is way better that the stock Toyota gear lube btw.
2nd gear gets a lot of use since it is speeding up the clutch plate from 3rd on a down shift and slowing down the clutch plate from 1st gear up shifts so it tends to wear out a little faster and show lubrication issues.

 

I have eneos and now with the weather getting colder its getting stiffer to go threw the gears aswell, normal really bc its synthetic oil, but with stock oil it was worse in the winter. but I'd stay with eneos over redline, redline grinded my gears and made it almost impossible to go into gears.

 

yeh its covered i blew out my tranny and i know what ur feeling its better to get this checked out

 

could you elaborate more on what happened to your tranny? Can anyone tell me if i can keep the eneos or will the dealer give me any problems if so what should i switch to?

 

its jus oil, they wont say anything

 

I agree. In the tC, it seems very easy to "beat" 2nd gear when upshifting, I grind it half the time when shifting at higher revs, even though the clutch is all the way down before I move the lever. I think part of the problem is due to the really heavy flywheel, it takes a long time (relative) for the rpms to slow down to the extent the synchros have a chance to do their thing. I've found the only solution in that scenario (performance driving) is to slow down on the shift from 1st to 2nd. I really think a lighter flywheel would help the situation a lot, but I'm not inclined to spend the time, effort & expense, I'll just get used to pausing between that first shift when driving hard.

 

If you drain it and check it for metal wear you may find out what is going on in there. If the dealer drains it they may not save it to examine it.

 

maybe i plan on getting amsoil gl4 fluid tomorrow so i can see if it caused any damage hopefully the amsoil is better for our transmissions

 

no I didn't find any evidence of metal wear

 

Let the oil sit in a clear plastic bottle for a few days and see if anything settles out of the oil. Look for magnetic steel particles or gold colored brass particles (syncros).