I know there has been a lengthy post on this already, but I'm getting kinda mad now. I think there should be some sort of TSB or Recall for the 5 speed tranny. I know a lot of people here have experienced the wall between first and second gear, it can happen at any rpm, usually above 4k though.

I love my xB, but somethings gotta be done about this. sometimes the damn thing will grind even when I'm shifting slow. Most every other gear switch is smooth, a little notchy, but still smooth. I don't drive like a total moron either, i mean sometimes i rev high but who doesn't?! will changing tranny fluid really work?

I'm gonna make an appointment with Tarbox Toyota (crappy dealer, don't go there) and _____ them out. When i brought it in to get my security installed (second mistake) I talked to the service manager about it and he said it would work itself and not to worry. I even asked for a mechanic to drive it and set up an appointment,
and they talked me out of it. here i am 2000 miles later with the same problem. I wanna bring the car to fox scion because they are really great there, but imma _____ out the stupid ___ dealer I gave all my money too and have them take care of it.

I guess I got off topic but its 1:15 am and i just got home from driving all night and its not me causing the problem! thanks for listening to my rant lol

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just outta curiosity, do you have any aftermarket floormats in your car? I had put some thick plastic ones over the scion ones to protect them, but it prevented the clutch pedal from going all the way down, and i had that grinding prob too. then i took out the floormats, and voila! problem solved. hasn't happened since.

 

nope, stock scion floormats, I thought that myself too, so I took out my floormat, and still happened. thanks tho

 

That was the first thing I noticed when I drove mine for the first time and 4500 miles later it still does it. And has anyone had it grind on them when putting it in reverse?

 

Man, I was hoping second gear would smooth out over time (only 280 miles so far). I haven't had any problems with reverse, but my old 1990 civic hatch would almost never go in on the first try. With the stick still halfway into reverse, I would let the clutch out and quickly press it back in just before it would catch, push the stick back to neutral and finally pull it all the way back into reverse. Kind of a weird ritual - hopefully it won't become necessary with this car....

 

ill tell you... that damn wall is driving me nuts!! i drove my xB like a baby for the first 500 or so miles.... the wall between 1st n 2nd didnt annoy that much....

THEN...

i figured id play with it a little to see what our xB really has.... i slammed it into 2nd and my ____in shift **** almost flies off!! i was like wtf?!?!? our 2nd gear really sux. havent missed it yet, just kinda hoped id break something to loosen it up a little... no luck tho.

i am getting more n more unsatisfied w/ my xB

 

I don't know, but I only had a problem with 2nd/3rd gear at about 3000 RPMs. Higher RPMs, it goes in fine...

 

Got the same problem with 2nd and reverse. I was wondering if the shortshifter would help.

 

the gear has no prob..... try to improve your shifing
:D
when shifting from 1st to 2nd:
u r in 1st rpm 2500-3000 press the clutch all the way down completly push the stick to left [keep it left holding] then to 2nd

for reverse:
dont sihft to reverse if the car is still moving [even a liitle bit] that will cause the gear to grind
whenever the gear dosent shift to reverse shift to 2nd first then to reverse

hope that helps
it helped me in my xA

 

it's past due to drain out all that break-in tranny oil..

put in some redline synthetic.. you'll love your transmission after that!

 

Long long ago transmissions didn't have synchromesh. Shifing without a crunch demaneded attention from the driver: to synchronize the speeds of the driving gear and the driven gear while passing through neutral, before making the upshift. That means as the other writer indicates: get the engine rpm just as close as possible as it -must become- the instant the shift is acomplished.

This old technique is valuable even today, to minimize wear to the syncrho clutches. It's just good for the transmission and for synchro problems, as all synchro wear is banished when we shift with care.

Failing the finesse shift, yes, a thinner gear oil, even synthetic type, may make the synchro clutches react faster.

It is in downshifting that double clutching or smart use of the gas pedal really saves the synchros a lot of guff.

feel free to question my correctness on any of this stuff: I haven't driven a gear shift car in twenty years. But my planned Xb will be the five speed- syncrho shortcoming or no.

And no- a short shifter kit can't possibly cure that 2nd gear synchro snag, imo.

 

Yeah, the guy above my last post got it right: improve your shifing technique. You learn by feeling the car.

Notchy shift? I suspect you are forcing the synchros to work their utmost. See, they have to slow down the whizzing gear you want to latch onto. This is a braking action. And if my comprehension is correct, then then actual meshing is -delayed- until the -syncrhonization- of two gears that were spinning at wildly different rates, are matched in surface speed.

Until this synchronization happens there will be either: "notchy" resistance because you can't put two teeth into one hole so to speak :oops: OR if the speeds are nearly but not quite matchd you get that -grind- until the mesh takes place. Some mechanic could help me here if I'm getting the facts skewed. :

Anywho- if you learn to -double clutch-, esp. on downsifts, or just goose the pedal as you slip out of the prior gear, to get the flywheel revs where it will want to be at the up-shift, then ehe gear lever should feel like a trigger click and no harder than that.

In fact, if you sychro shift you may safely go up through the gears after first and back down into first -without touching the clutch pedal-.

I say this as a general thing. I haven't tried it with an Xb because I have not drivne a manual Xb. But I did get home in a VW beetle one time- far from home the clutch broke and would not disengage from the flywheel surface. That happened when I was rolling along. By creeping up to to every red light in first gear I got the nine miles home through city street, by -feeling out- the up and downshifts without the possiblity of using the clutch. It was a lesson for me and a valuable one. When I got to my driveway I stalled the car to a stop with the brake.

So, in a strange sense this is true: clutching is actually needed only for starting off from a standing stop. But yeah, use the clutch for speedy shifting and thougthless shifting.

While there may be a "problem" in the exho/scion's transmission synchro action, I am not yet convinced of it. The practical cure is, that if you grind, apply more thought to the movement of the shift lever in relation to road and engine rpms and up/downshift. Finesse instead of force is a good motto.

 

Yeah I have the same problem with 2nd and reverse. But when I put it in reverse once and a great while it almost feels like the clutch is burnt, then I let out and try it again and most of the time it will go in. But there are sometimes it sounds like I forced it in.

 

I don't think there are synchro clutches on any reverse gear. Someone correct me if that's wrong.

When planning a shift to reverse you know already- make sure the car ain't rolling at all. And to help the shift to R, do it from idle rpms. Don't goose the throttle nor rush the shift.

Reason for this: depressing the clutch disconnects the driving gear from the force that spins it. The driving gear soon comes to a complete rest, which of course, matches the motionless driven gear (car ain't rollin', remember).

Now, if reversis is hard to engage without a grind even if you pause in nuetral for several seconds, then there must be a slight fault with the cluctch: it isn't fully disengaging. Check then that there's nothing preventign the pedal from full motion. And if that's not the fault- go complain to the dealer 'cause you have a legitimate problem.

Another thought about this commom complaint of 2nd gear difficulty: I don't know but I "suspicion" as my buddy Steve says, that the -ratio- between first and second gear is wider here than between all the higher gears. Now, what does that import? That, in forced shifting where we lay all the brainwork onto the syncromesh clutches, that the second gear syncrho clutch is being asked to do more work than any of the other syncrhos.

Just feeling my way around a topic where I have no real experience- at least nothing up to date or Scion-specific.

 

its definatly not my shift technique, ive tried it all lol. I drive my friends cars who have sticks and i never have a problem, normal shifting or fast. I think i am gonna try to change the fluid to that redline stuff and see what happens.

 

I have no problems whatsoever going into Reverse.

But the 2nd gear thing has bugged me. I find that if I don't have the RPMs so high it goes in smoothly. But when trying to "race" off the line it always gives me grief and won't go into 2nd very easily. I don't grind though.

I think it can be improved by learning the car and shifting more thoughtfully...

 

im having the same problem a lot of yu are mentioning with second gear. it's only when i shift quickly when im racing or driving up steep hills thou. wut bugs me is how many peopl come into this thread and tell us that we don't kno how to shift. wut are the chances that soooooooooo damn many of us don't kno how?

 

I talked to Scion Customer Service about this issue. They told me that they have not heard about this issue. I was recommended to take the car into the dealership and have the techs take a look at it. I mentioned how many dealers were telling us it would go away, but after 10, 15 and 20k miles its still doing it. She said that all we can do as of this point is take it in and have them really take a look at what's causing the problem

I plan on taking it into Glendora this week, hopefully they can help me out because its getting annoying.

 

on cheap cars first gear doesnt have a syncro, either does reverse, as both of these gears are thought to be stop gears, ie to be used from a standstill and not to be shifted into while in motion. As for the first to second issue, i have it also and feel that the gap between the two gears might be on the high side which would cause the dramatic wall for the gearbox, basically the two gear selectors (you dont actually move gears around nowadays, just selectors). The selector has to be engaged into slots for the transmission to function, these slots may need to be broken in, or the tranny just wasnt designed to be throw around at high rpms.

 

i luv my tranny! every shift every clutch smooth as butta! woot :D no grinds cept for reverse*rarely... might be ur synchro's my friends XA grinds in 3'rd gear each time and hes going to be going bac kto the dealr for a new tranny