Auris Gearbox

[englishoak]

Hello all; what a brilliant forum.

I have had an Auris 1.6 TR now on 24,000 miles bought with 5,000 miles on the clock,for two years and, apart from a very poor fixing for the rearview mirror, replaced under warranty, I haven't experienced any of the problems listed on this forum. I did have the nearside drive shaft replaced under warranty but this was a recall.

I have, though, always had a notchy gearchange especially 1st to 2nd and 4th to 5th. To obtain a smooth change from 4th to 5th I have to achieve 2,400 revs and keep it there for about 100m or so without increasing or losing revs and then change. If I'm pressing on and making the change at 3,000odd revs then things are ok. My dealer is very good and tries to solve all problems but is convinced that this problem is the linkage and happens to all of these cars. I think the dealer is wrong. Has anyone else had this problem, if so is it continuing, or how did you solve the problem? I've got to get a move on as my warranty expires at Easter.

[Rick D4D]

Speak to MR T but I will tell you that our T180 at 15k when we bought it in Jan09 was like this changing down to 2nd or 1st as the weather or car got warmer it was fine and now we have done 30k its fine all the time so I have put this down to being new and tight etc

[bobbo7070]

Same problem with mine englishoak, at least first to second anyway. I though it might just be a characteristic of the box?!?

Hope my experience will be the same as yours Rick, mines only done 12k so far.

[don21]

Cable changes can feel like this.You will get used to it.

[GregP]

Change from 1st to 2nd is usually the most difficult one and it is very long. My is sometimes notchy too when oil is still cold. I think you must practice when is the best time for change- rpms and speed.

[Mr Tall]

My T180 can be a bit notchy as well - particularly when coming to a stop and rolling it into first, it'll crunch sometimes. This thread has made me stop worrying about it :)

It's a 57 plate with about 20k miles on it.

[englishoak]

Thanks for all of your advice folks.

My big concern with a notchy gearchange is that it might prematurely wear out the box.

I tend to keep my cars for a long time. Previous car was a Nissan Bluebird 1.8 petrol that did 220,000 miles on same engine & gearbox.

So I was hoping that a Toyota might last at least as long.

[OldSkoO1]

I had exactly the same concerns and i have it on my t180 and pretty much all the rev's i've driven which is 5... 4 diesels and 1 petrol.

Especially 1st to 2nd and exactly the same on my t180 as explained above. Rolling to a stop, into first, is very tricky sometimes.

Anyway, toyota have a complicated gearbox design with a complex synchromesh assembly. Basically, like any other gearbox you have to correctly match the speeds to engage the gear, luckily we dont have to be masters at clutchless shifting to do this. In the old days if we mismatched speeds on the gear changes the teeth would be spinning at different speeds, wouldn't latch onto the locking rings, bang together and make a crunching sound. Now, we have synromesh which is a cone shaped clutch attached to each gear. To correct our incompetence, the cone clutch using friction to brings the two teeth of the gear to the same speed and allows the notches to line up to allow it to engage.

You will feel the notches during this due to the fine tolerances of the gearbox and therefore differs from vehicle to vehicle and the issue can be compounded by using the wrong gearbox oil.

There is a guy called anchorman on the rav4 forums that is very knowledgeable and i believe he likes the toyota synchromesh box, for its good design.

As this is part of the design, it shouldn't wear out your box. If it is almost impossible to select a gear then you should demonstrate this and request a replacement box. But, in my experience it does, certainly improve with age. Winter on barely 6k miles on my t180 box was difficult to find second on a cold day with a cold box.