Yaris Diff Bearings

[AngelaTS]

I've been informed that the front diff bearing on my 2003 Yaris TS are shot. I realise that this is going to be a big job and a very expensive job. But how big and how expensive? And is this a common problem cars only got 78K on the clock so I wouldn't have expected these to go?

[Madasafish]

You may be cheaper to get a second hand gearbox..

[AngelaTS]

I don't put second hand parts on my car. I do too many miles to risk have someone elses problem. I just wanted an idea how long the job would take.

[Raeman]

I've been informed that the front diff bearing on my 2003 Yaris TS are shot. I realise that this is going to be a big job and a very expensive job. But how big and how expensive? And is this a common problem cars only got 78K on the clock so I wouldn't have expected these to go?

How do you know they are shot? Who told you that? I would have got a price off Toyota for repairing it. Least you know it will be done right, new parts will be OE and hopefully it might not be as much as you think. :)

As for it being a common problem, i've never heard of this problem on a Yaris before.

Good luck with it though.

[AngelaTS]

Watched my local garage test it. I've got a budget for getting it fixed. I wondered if anyone else has had this job done so I could have an idea on cost? Will probably take to a toyota specialist rather than toyota as if I had enough money to pay for that I wouldnt be driving a 7 year old car.

[alfiejts]

In this case madasafish has a point. The bearings are inside the gearbox and will requre specialist knowledge (and a significant labour time) to remove and replace.

Gearboxes on the Yaris are normally quite robust so it is probably not an unreasonable idea (and may be cheaper) to just swap the gearbox as a unit rather than paying for someone to dismantle it and replace internal components.

If it was mine, I'd do a bit of research on the 'Net to see how much an "exchange gearbox" was. There are gearbox companies who sell these under guarantee and there are online breakers who will give you a price for what you want.

And I'd then open my Yellow pages to find a gearbox specialist and I'd go to them for their diagnosis and quote.

A garage should be able to take a gearbox out and put a replacement in in around two hours, I guess, so that's probably around £100 labour. How long to dismantle the gearbox internals,to replace the bearings themselves, I couldn't say.

My other worry, is that as this is a part that doesn't usually fail - what else is wrong with the internals of the gearbox that caused the failure. You could fix these parts and then have another gearbox component fail quicky afterwards.

[Raeman]

Has the car been driven hard or been used for a few 0-60 times?

[AngelaTS]

I think this will be my last post. This car has a full service history and the last two years that I have owned it, I have done 50K commuter miles.

Has the car been driven hard or been used for a few 0-60 times?

Why would anyone want to do this with a Yaris? Unlike other people on this forum I don't think the Yaris is the "coolest car in the world". I was bought for practical reasons but has turned out to be a dog. I have already had to replace the VVTI controller, and the engine management light has been on almost all the time scince I bought it because it have a Jap ecu and the cat is failing Jap emissions(this is a uk car). Time to trade it in so that it'll be someone elses problem. Will never buy a Yaris again. You can keep your Japanese **** boxes.

[Madasafish]

I take it this is a windup.

[AngelaTS]

Not a wind up. I forget that no one on this forum knows anything about cars, as they all drive Yaris's. Hopefully won't have to drive mine for much longer.

[Raeman]

Not a wind up. I forget that no one on this forum knows anything about cars, as they all drive Yaris's. Hopefully won't have to drive mine for much longer.

We do actually know quite a bit. And why be so nasty?, we were only trying to help you!

And the question i asked about the 0-60 times was a reasonable enough question. As you have the T-Sport, they can be prone to being driven hard, hence that's why things can break!

But then again you will have known that being much smarter than us who drive Japanese sh*t boxes!

To quote the words of the famous song....

"Go, walk out the door, don't turn around now cos your not welcome anymore!"

And that will be MY last post in this topic so sod off. ;)

[AngelaTS]

Maybe I have been I bit nasty, but no one actually answered my orginal question and thats why I took it out on you guys.

Have I bought the only Yaris that has ever broken?

More than P'd off with this car. My previous car was a Vreg clio which I did similar mileage on in fact more had over 160k when I sold it. Don't get me wrong it broke( alot) but it never had any problems with the engine or gearbox. Only wear and tear items and at 30k a year what do you expect. The Yaris was ment to be trouble free motoring. But the things that go wrong with it are the most expensive things. If it wasn't for this I would like to keep the car but I've got to draw the line somewhere and when I'm looking at probably a £1000 bill, my line has to be drawn.

[alfiejts]

There are a lot of very knoweldgable people on this forum, including Toyota master mechanics and its an excellent community.

I think you've actually hit the nail on the head - the reason that you have had little feedback on this issue is that I don't believe I've ever heard of that fault ever being raised before, so no one will have any experience to offer.

On this occasion, all we can provide is the "general advice" regarding the various options you have regarding an exchange gearbox as its very unusual for this internal gearbox failure to occur...

[PuervesGrundy]

Hi, sorry to bump an old thread, but I think my car has a similar problem to the above.

I don't know whether the original owner's gearbox had completely failed or was simply quite noisy, but my car ('00 Yaris 1.0 VVTi) is the latter and still drives perfectly. Everything else is perfect, except for a noisy gearbox in 2nd and 3rd gear.

What I'm wondering is should I be worried?

[Cookie-monster]

From what I've read, the gearboxes on the 1.0 are not the best in terms of a notchy gearchange, and they do start to whine as they clock up the miles, but they usually keep on going even when whining.

I would be strongly inclined to change the gearbox oil as it is not listed a service item, it gets neglected, and that is a main cause of gearbox wear. I changed the oil in my gearbox last month and it was pretty black and smelly, and my car has only done 54K miles, but its 12 years old.

If there is a leak on one of your output seals (usually a driveshaft seal) then your gearbox could be low on oil, which will cause rapid wear.

The gearbox uses GL5 75W90 gear oil and about 1.5 litres is needed for a change and refill - and you will need a 24mm socket to get the refill and drain plugs out.

[PuervesGrundy]

Thanks for that, think I might go ahead with doing an oil change. I was contemplating it for a while.

Like you car, mine is low mileage for its age also (48k miles). It's a nearly 11 year old car so what you suggest would probably be a good idea.

[PuervesGrundy]

I looked up that oil on Halford's website and it's quite expensive at €14.99 (I live in Ireland). After a quick search on eBay it threw up this: My link

Anyone have any comments?

[Cookie-monster]

The stuff on eBay is the right oil, but the postage costs will be more as you want it delivering to the Irish Republic. Ask the seller for a quote, but it wont be cheap I shouldnt think. You may be better going to a motor factors or car parts shop rather than Halfords, as they should all sell 75W90 gear oil cheaper. I use EuroCarParts, but they dont have any branches in the Republic - the nearest one is in Belfast, and delivery across the border is 21EUR.

[PuervesGrundy]

Alright, thanks for that. You've been a great help.