2008 xD Transmission problems
 

Hey guys. New member here, but Scion owner since 2008. We bought our xD brand new and its been a pretty good car for us. Only issues were a grinding noise on startup at around 60K miles, but dealership said there was an issue with the journals in the crankshaft, so they replaced it, and its been good ever since.

Recently, ive noticed the car sometimes jerks into gear, especially when going up a hill. Its done it 6 times now over the past few months, but when it does this, it slams, really hard. Also does it when accelerating out of town when setting cruise. Its like it "snaps to attention", if that makes sense. It shifts smooth most of the time, but occasionally feels a bit muddled. The tranny fluid is full but is getting very dark (brownish black, but still red int here) and does not smell sweet anymore. The car has 113,000 miles on it right now, and we bought it brand new, so it has never been abused or neglected.

We have not ever changed the ATF though. Dealership said it never needs changing. Now im thinking ive screwed myself letting it go this long. Help me guys!

I got a coworker who's husband own a certified lexus repair shop, and I asked him about the transmission fluid because it usually something you check during a 40k service and he lets me do all my own work at his shop. He said because the toyota transmissions are fully enclosed there is no way to check the fluid, but it should be changed at about 90k. So old transmission fluid could be the issue. I would try to get my hand on some redline transmission fluid, i know your xD has a lot of miles on it, but it will help things run smooth until she croaks

My XD does have a dipstick, but it says right on there "under normal driving conditions, no need to replace ATF"....I call bullcrap on that one. I just hope i didnt seriously mess something up already. Im hoping to get 300,000 miles out of this car. Its been babied since i bought it. If my 1994 olds cutlass can do it, then this scion sure should!

Looks like it's time for me to find a new mechanic then :/. Did some research, found the dip stick to check the levels...... The only other thing i could think of that would make the car jumpy is if you're timing belt is off, or your gears are just having a hard time catching.

If it was the timing belt, would it be a frequent occurance, this jerking? I mean, its still pretty infrequent, considering how much we drive this car.

Im not sure though if worn out ATF would cause things like this. Dealership said they can hook it up to the tranny fluid machine and get mostly all of the old stuff out for $160. Kinda steep but the drain the pan and refill techniques leaves 1/2 of the old crap behind....so I might as well do it right the first time. Im going to have them check the pan for particles....hopefully its clean.

Unless there is something inside the transmission itself that's causing the random jerks.

Also, did some looking on my car, mines a manual, and i don't have the dipstick like autos do. I searched everywhere, and found nothing

Dulas, I had this problem too, and was hesitant about changing the ATF also, but I did change it around 90k and it made a difference. My car is not jerking anymore. Try it and see.

I havnt changed the ATF yet, but i was driving home the other day and it did it and the guy driving with me was like, "holy crap dude, that will kill your transmission"....

Anyways, he said in addition to the ATF, one other thing to check for would be a sensor that controls the transmission.....what would that be? Remember, it seems to happen as I climb a hill, and the car (on cruise control) punches it down to maintain speed up the hill, then she slams once and done.

Has there been any recalls about this issue? At 113,000 miles, my car shouldnt be doing this, and i have utterly babied this thing since the day it rolled out of the showroom. If indeed i have damaged the transmission based on not changing the ATF (following toyotas recommendation!!!!) id like to hold them liable.

Also goes without saying it would probably be the last toyota anything I would ever purchase.

Well im going to get the oil changed and have this thing power flushed by the dealer on January the 8th. $169 for the flush I guess.

Ive already given it alot of thought and ive decided if the problem persists after the flushing, the car is getting sold. Its a damn shame, but KBB values the car at $7,000 yet, but with impending transmission issues, im not going to sink a fortune into this thing. I'll be switching to Kia.

That being sais, my wife and I both really hope the power flush just fixes the problem and we are good for another 100K miles!

My family's 2011 xD R3 (Automatic w/~34k miles) experienced the jerking you mentioned three times recently while going uphill and while downshifting (both automatically and manually from D to 3).

Since the car is still under warranty I went into the dealer and they told me it will be difficult to diagnose so I told them that they can have it forever long they like until it is diagnosed and repaired because I really don't want this issue lurking and with my luck, breaking the tranny soon after the warranty ends.

This is the first issue with this car which has performed as computer with only highway miles and monthly long distance commutes to grad school.

I'll report back after I discover more...

And the good times keep on rolling....

Had the car in the garage for the past week or two, thought we would take it for a spin around town tonight to keep everything fresh until we brought it for the oil change and tranny flush. Backed it out of the garage and let it idle in front of the house to warm the interior. Piled the family in the car, put it in drive and the yellow ABS light and the red BRAKE light both came on simultaneously. Brake pedal now feels softer than usual and the brakes are grabbing a bit and it also is taking longer than usual to stop. On my oldsmobile, this happened and i had blown a brake hose. I see no fluid leaking out of my scion though tonight.....ideas?

This is strike 2 for this ____ing car.

Got the fluid flushed. Tranny did grab a little (not like before) on the ride home so im going to keep monitoring it and see if it acts up any more. Hoping fluid is just still being worked through.

Bad news is the brake light situation is the right rear wheel speed sensor. A 600$ part. Not exactly happy about that one at 113,000 miles.

Got a letter in the mail today from Scion.

Seems that now they have recognized another problem on the scions i noticed years ago. That annoying creaking from when you accelerate or deaccelerate. I thought it was my ball joints. I even brought this up to the dealership at around 75,000 miles and told them to check it. They claimed they found nothing wrong. Turns out its some bolt in the suspension that is prone to rusting that causes the noise.

The hitch?

Scion is calling this an extended warranty to get this part fixed. Cool! Well not really, see I already paid major money to get my warranty up to 100,000 miles when i originally bought the car. Scion will fix this part UP TO 100,000 miles under this "extended warranty" because they "care about customer satisfaction and building quality vehicles".... Guess im ____ out of luck on this one too.

Bull____. They know the part is faulty, just like these $600 wheel speed sensors. Just issue a goddamned recall so we can all get these problems fixed! Im thinking they are just dangling the carrot so we all run out, get the problem fixed out of our own pockets, then they issue a recall later and say "oh sorry, we would have taken care of it but i guess you already did"....

Im very, very close to being done with this company forever.

Anybody interested in getting together and seriously filing a lawsuit? Im furious right now with toyota corporation.

Im sorry to tell you dear chap, your problems with xD are inflicted by you and no one else.
Lack of periodic inspection, not just Oil change and tire kicking business, will bring the most reliable vehicle on the planet to its knees.
Not changing ATF for over 100K tells me you're profoundly misguided and illiterate when it comes to routine maintenance of your vehicle.
You've fallen into category soccer mom drivers.
My xA up until roll-over was the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. It has never given me troubles because I simply TOOK CARE of it. I've Auto-xed it, Rallied it, simply drove it like I stole it...Never a glitch or a hick-up...
It is just sad to see such reliable platform fall to pieces in disorganized hands such yours.

:come:
Couple things I have a problem with here:

For one, I am FAR from the only one experiencing these problems, so your excuse of me neglecting my car is broken right there.

Secondly, you have the gall to tell me ive neglected this car? Buddy, I detail my engine with a ____ing toothbrush. You dont know me. When the dipstick reads "No need to change ATF"....what does that mean to you??? This is the first import ive ever bought. Excuse me for failing to realize Toyota lies to the people that keep them in business. Im used to GM cars which seem to run...oh about 300,000 miles with no problems (my faithful Cutlass)....But maybe i just "neglected" those cars like a soccer mom too. Oh yeah, and if this suspension bolt is being recognized BY TOYOTA as a faulty part, then give me your "expert" explanation as to why they as a company wouldn't want to just issue a full recall and have all faulty parts replaced. Could they be motivated by money? Or are you so ____ing blind you actually believe the malarky of "we care about our customers"?

You are a true idiot. Dont you dare tell me I neglect my car. You have no ____ing idea of the time and money I have spent getting this thing serviced.

Some people's children.......

The noise im getting from this recent "extended warranty" sounds a helluva lot like ball joint noise to me, but i had them inspected long ago and they turned out fine. I never had a jerking motion accompanying this, and it was mainly noticeable in turns and while accelerating and slowing down.

I too got this letter in the mail, but unfortunately I am 14,000 miles too late.

Have you consulted your state's attorney general? Do you have this letter? Mail them a copy and ask what your options are. That letter seems a near to a recall notice/admission of a crap part as anything. They discovered a defective bolt/part. Whether the car has 10 miles or 500,000 miles the part is defective and has been defective. Being out of warranty don't absolve them of this and allow them to pretend like it did not happen.

Toyota has gone downhill these last 10 years, from 2.4l engines that have head bolts that come loose due to vibration and take the block threads with them to water pump issues with the 2.4l. On top of that Toyota has the distinction in 2003-2004 of offering the only manual transmission that was more unreliable than any auto trans(5spd C59 trans on the matrix/Vibe/Corolla)

I have a 2011 XB with both the rest of the factory warranty and a extended warranty to 75,000 and I only have 20,000 miles on the car. Toyota tries to get out of warranty work all the time with me, they tell me it is a wear item and that it is not covered. So the reason I have a clunk in the steering is because it is a wear item??:question: I have a stripped out automatic shifter knob and it will not tighten. It has been like that since shortly after I bought the car. They tell me that they don't warranty cosmetic issues?? WTF? scratches on the shifter are cosmetic, that fake chrome pealing is cosmetic. A shifter on an auto trans car that is stripped out is not cosmetic. Toyota went cheap and used a plastic threaded insert for the shifter and it cracked because it was brittle due to the heat of the sun and then there is the coolant smell coming from the car since the first day i owned it, Toyota techs verified that there was a coolant smell BUT will not diagnose it unless i pay them a diagnostic fee, I find this highly insulting, why should I pay a fee to have Toyota fix it when their own techs verified it smells like coolant. They should fix their junk

Oh and to the poster that says if our Scion's have issues it must be the owners neglect, I am anal about maintenance and all gets preformed. I have a binder filled with paperwork from dealers(almost filled and I have not even owned the damn thing for a year yet

I had a chance to talk to the former owner of the XB(I bought it with less then 10,000 miles on it) He traded it in for a Chevy Cruze and the reason for this was Toyota refused to honor the warranty and fix a speaker(The passenger side front one never worked from day one) but toyota said it was not a item that was covered

I pay this car off in July 2013 and after I get the title from the bank, I am dumping this car and will never buy another toyota again. Right not is sits in my driveway, I don't plan on driving it again till the time to dump it.

Has anyone solved the hard shift/lurch while accelerating uphill yet?

We are on a trip to Maryland right now from Texas and our 2010 Xd started doing this
its like it tries to downshift but hesitates or something an then lurches, scared the hell out of us the first time it did it.

I can not believe this issue would be related to the suspension clunk noise bulletin.

Regards,