Did some of my own diagnostics and I came to the conclusion the whirring sound many of us experience on idle, in neutral, clutch out, is the first gear synchro's. On the way home from class today I had the area to roll around at 5-10mph. If I am coasting(regardless of speed, but slow enough to get into 1st smoothly), and I have the clutch pressed in and it is in first, I hear the whirr noise. If I keep the clutch in, shift into neutral, noise is gone. Shift into second, no noise, go through the gears except 1st and reverse (duh) no noise. As soon as you begin engaging the shifter into first, noise appears again. So I came to the conclusion that these transmissions just have very noisey first gear synchro's.

It also could be the bearing for first gear that is making noise. Gears are always meshing in the trans, but the bearing could be making noise for first gear when engaged.

 

Mine makes it 2 but I thinks Mine is due to the light weight flywheel and upgraded clutch

 

Depends when yours makes the noise.

 

Sorry to bump this thread but I'm just doing some research because I'm in the market for 2012 TC. Any updates from Engineer? I was interested in the manual transmission but this problem is scaring me.

 

I just got a 13 tc2 6 speed probably a week and a half a go no issues what's so ever I love it about to turn 800 miles no problems stop and go

 

Nope, no update. He cancelled the appointment with me and I was told that I would get a rescheduled date. Two weeks went by, I called the dealer and they said they're still waiting on him to give them a date on when he is able to come in. Since then, I have not heard anything from the dealer. The noise has not worsened, nothing changed as far as shifting. I am just going to keep driving and keeping an eye on it. I have a hard copy of the work order stating that I came in with a noise complaint so if the transmission does fail on me I have proof.

Many members may not notice this noise as it is hard to describe this noise over the internet. It may be existent in all 2nd gen tC's, just some notice it more than others.

P.S. I am actually almost at 9k miles. I noticed this noise around 4k miles. It may have been present before that too, but it has not got any worse since 4k miles.

 

Went to another dealer, same thing, they have no clue what it is. Again they contacted the engineer rep and he is supposed to get back to me. Hopefully he actually does get back to me as the first dealer failed to following up with me.


On a side note, I was at a benefit car meet and someone had a tC2 with 50k on it (also a 6-speed). His trans made the exact same noise and he hasn't had any issues with the car.

 

I've experienced the same issue when I'm rolling downhill in first and I have the clutch depressed. Doesn't bother me any though (Btw I just hit the 10k mark). You've stirred my curiousity though. I'll be checking in to see what, if anything you find out. Good luck

 

Mine has made that noise since day one, I have a 2011 and am on 40,000 miles, don't worry about it. I think it is the synchro's. I have never had any issues with mine and I drive the hell out of it.

 

67,000 and counting. No problems that I'm aware of

 

I am not too worried about it considering I am under warranty still, I just want to know what is causing that noise.

The fact that others have this issue makes me believe it may not be a design flaw.

 

I wish I knew what this noise sounded like. I've only driven one car with bad synchros and it made a very loud and annoying sound after depressing the clutch on first [G35]. When I do test drive a manual TC2 though this is one of the first thing I'm going to look for.

 

At 10 seconds I release the clutch pedal. At 35 I push it in, and let it out, etc..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVj1vEMPNRM

 

Clutch should never be at half way. All the way in, or all the way out. You'll smoke it if you keep doing that. If any noise concerns you take it in, but odds are you will get the line of bs that I got. As long as your car moves they will pass it on as functioning as designed. Warranties aren't what they used to be. I'm about to hit 68,000 and I taught myself how to drive stick on my car. It lasted through the warranty so my advice would be to fix it when it breaks and not worry about it too much. It sucks spending a lot of money on a car and they don't care about the customer. Toyotas customer service used to be as top notch as the quality of their vehicles, but now they are forgetting about the customers satisfaction. I have continuously been lied to by service, and they also tried to sell me a part that does not exist for the car. I wish they would take the scion brand seriously because I think they will loose a lot of life long customers as a result of them brushing everything under the rug. I hope this issue is resolved for everyone under warranty even though I will have to pay full price for an issue we have all had since day 1

 

I've noticed this from day one my 13 tC RS now has 12xx miles on it and it continues to make this noise. All of my associates that have modded evos, wry, STI's etc say it sounds like str8 cut gears and that it is normal. Only way to truly find out is to take the transmission apart and look at the gears and syncros. Realistically who wants to do that to their new car?

 

So how do you expect to take off from a dead stop? Drop the clutch?

What I was showing in the video in the clutch engagement point in relation to the noise. When the clutch starts to engage, noise appears (transmission begins to spin), when clutch disengages noise goes away (transmission stops spinning). I know how to drive a manual and how a clutch operates, so I know what will and will not burn a clutch.

As for warranty, I completely agree. I had two dealers so far give me a puzzled face as to what the issue is, one even stated that their 25+ year experienced tech doesn't even know. My father had an issue on his 11' Venza, they tried to blame him for somehow disturbing a fuel vent line under the car which resulted in a CEL.

 

The way I see it is that a new car shouldn't make any weird noises, but who knows, maybe Toyota cut some corners somewhere on cost and this is the result. Doesn't mean the transmission is unreliable, just noisey. Only real complaint I have is that 2nd is a _____ to get into when it is below 40F outside.

 

Thanks for the video, I greatly appreciate it. I will watch it when I get home.

 

No problem. I don't have any issues with the car while in motion, no noises while driving, just on idle at a stand still.

 

sorry for bringing this from the dead just thought I'd let you all know that toyota has a Dealer Read only TSB that has them replace the transmission on these cars from the transmission noise, unless your me. by that i mean i went in before the TSB went live and was told that they were going to rebuild my transmission, well they replaced 6th gear and synchro as well as first gear and syncro. It got rid of the whirring noise, but now i suddenly got a sound like a bearing or metal rubbing on the casing of the transmission under hard acceleration.