i have noticed for over a month that when i put my car into 5th gear for the first time that is hard to do. i have to push the shifter harder into 5th then any other gear. and it only happen the very first time i do it. it doesn't have the grinding sound but it "feels" like it grinding if that makes sense. it happens when the car engine is just warm (10 mins. of driving or less). is anyone else having this problem or is it just me? do u think that ill have tranny problems in the future?

 

i know exactly what your talking about, mine does the same thing.

however dont EVER force it into gear, just put it back into forth and try again.

 

mine does the same thing as well...

except it also has a problem with 2nd gear that the dealer is hopefully going to address

 

I have the same problem, especially when cold. I only got 15k on my tc and I don't beat on it, but for some reason second gear synchro just does not feel right to me. I wondering if this could lead into future problems! I always bought manual trans. because they hold up better than auto's and plus there more fun, so I'm starting to think that this man. trans. in the tc may not be built very well for longevity! which would be a huge let down for a Toyota product! Hopefully it's nothing and everything will be fine!

 

actually i left my car at the toyota dealership when i had 8000 miles only because of 1st to 2nd gear shifting was like how 5th is now and after a week they said they couldn't find any problems. i still get the wierd feeling shifting from 1st to 2nd on cold starts sometimes but this 5th gear problem is a constant.

 

Yea. It's a sort of weird "grinding" - but not really grinding. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Yea, it happens when the gear oil and syncrhos are all cold. I don't think its a big problem unless you're experincing it even when everything is warmed up.

I'm sure autos have similar problems when cold - you just don't notice it since

1) you're not actually shifting
2) most people who drive autos don't pay attention to the smoothness of shifts compared to "normal" shifts

 

ok so kool its not just mine then. maybe it is normal then. i was going to add some lucas oil additive to the tranny oil. its supposed to help smooth it out. ill check with the dealer service dept. before i do tho. don't want things more messed up then it already is.

 

hmm... most people around here are just changing out their gear oil with Redline MT-90 and report significant improvement. Haven't heard of people adding Lucas to the gear oil.

 

ya. i had a real issue going 1st to 2nd on a cold start. After I put redline mt-90 in, it made a real nice difference. Not at first quite honestly, it had to warm up and work its way in, but it quickly began to do its job and has really eliminated most of the problems that I had. I dont worry about my shifting anymore. Maybe try that out, and if it does eventually turn into a real big problem, you can go back to the dealer and say SEE! lol

 

Maybe there is an inherited problem with the syncros? Try putting it from fourth, shake it in neutral, then try fifth, if it glides in nicely, it's the syncros.

~Stephanie

 

I wouldn't recommend doing that. Shaking the shifter in neutral is not good for the synchros. If you are worried that it could be your synchro, what you do is double clutch. You are driving in 4th gear. Put the car into neutral and let go of the clutch. Then, you clutch again and try to put it into 5th. That is what double clutching is - what the older generation used to have to do before synchros and why I wont let my dad drive my car! haha

 

Either way, you are screwed, because double clutching is bad for the transmission. I was just saying you should put it into neutral and then 5th just to SEE if it is a problem with the syncros, not to do it all the time. Or, you could (to prepare the syncros right) when you are driving it in 4th, put the clutch in, put it in third (with the clutch still held), and then try to put it in 5th. Keep in mind, all these are just options to diagnose the problem, not for daily driving.

~Stephanie

 

i never had any problems shifting into 5th...even in cold weather (20 degrees + wind chill in SE PA).

if you can't shift into 5th, that is a serious problem. you should have it checked out right away.

 

Why? If anything it would save wear on the synchros

 

If this only happens the first time you put it in 5th, could you just go through all the gears with the clutch pushed in? I dont really know mcuh about manual transmissions because this is my first manual car.

Also I did notice that on my last car (98 accord) that shifting when it was still cold was more rough, especially reverse, than after it was nice and warm.

 

ya, more wear on the clutch though. neither way is ideal and like she said, this shouldnt be done on a regular basis, just to test the problem

 

that's true, but then again it is just slipping at neutral which is a very, very small amount of wear.

But I've heard the same thing for other trannies... I'm still searching for the answer. I think there are even cases where people' trannys broke, but I'm not sure if it was because of the double clutching.

 

glad everyone else has this problem... good to know it's a common thing, though still not a good noise to hear

 

With a issue like this though the dealer is just going to say they can not duplicate problem, and give you the car back! They will only do something about it when it breaks or gets bad enough that even the biggest dumbass would notice theres a problem!

 

i serously don't understand your explination of double clutching.... that's like saying when your in third, or fouth, then your gonna start slowing down, then putting it in second and taking a turn or something because you didn't make a complete stop on the corner.... explain a little better for me wll ya?