Multidrive Cvt Transmission Problems

[Ritchie75]

Hi,

I own RAV4 with Multidrive S (CVT) transmission. Yesterday the car lost the power and it became very difficult to accelerate. The engine would rev up normally in neutral.

There were no warnings, no leakage, no noises, etc. I noticed that something was wrong while driving on highway using cruise control (I wanted to overtake a slow truck and the car would take ages to accelerate).

The transmission would ignore any "change" of gears in Manual mode.

Eventually, the "check the engine system" and "check 4x4 system" warnings would come up (after 70 or so miles).

The diagnostics showed these errors:

PO746 Pressure control solenoid "A" performance or stuck OFF

PO776 Pressure control solenoid "B" performance or stuck OFF

The car is fairly new. It is 18 months old only and the total milage is approx. 11k miles. It is driven on sealed roads (mostly with my wife who is very smooth driver).

Can this be fixed or the transmission is gone and it must be replaced ?

Is this a common problem with Toyota CVT transmission?

Any advice and/or thoughts will be appreciated.

Cheers,

/R

Edited June 10, 2011 by Ritchie75

[Davrav]

Hi,

I own RAV4 with Multidrive S (CVT) transmission. Yesterday the car lost the power and it became very difficult to accelerate. The engine would rev up normally in neutral.

There were no warnings, no leakage, no noises, etc. I noticed that something was wrong while driving on highway using cruise control (I wanted to overtake a slow truck and the car would take ages to accelerate).

The transmission would ignore any "change" of gears in Manual mode.

Eventually, the "check the engine system" and "check 4x4 system" warnings would come up (after 70 or so miles).

The diagnostics showed these errors:

PO746 Pressure control solenoid "A" performance or stuck OFF

PO766 Pressure control solenoid "B" performance or stuck OFF

The car is fairly new. It is 18 months old only and the total milage is approx. 11k miles. It is driven on sealed roads (mostly with my wife who is very smooth driver).

Can this be fixed or the transmission is gone and it must be replaced ?

Is this a common problem with Toyota CVT transmission?

Any advice and/or thoughts will be appreciated.

Cheers,

/R

Hi Ritchie,

Presumanly, at that age/mileage, the car is covered by warranty. I would suggest you get it to your nearest dealer and get them to sort it out

[Ritchie75]

Hi Ritchie,

Presumanly, at that age/mileage, the car is covered by warranty. I would suggest you get it to your nearest dealer and get them to sort it out

Hi Davrav,

That's what I have done. The car is with the dealer now. They suggested that the transmission may need to be changed.

I am a bit worried because they never done it before (as they told me), but I assume they are professionals :P

What really worries me is if the transmission is really gone does not this indicate that the Toyota CVT is a fragile piece of kit ?

If they are prone to break often, next time it happens it will not be covered by warranty and I bet it is not cheap to change ...

I hope this is really an exception and nobody else had this issues.

Cheers,

/R

[Parts-King]

Cant see it being a transmission issue, probably an engine issue and losing power not the transmission

Kingo

[Ritchie75]

Cant see it being a transmission issue, probably an engine issue and losing power not the transmission

Kingo

Hi Kingo,

I have done a bit of googling around and it does seem it is a CVT problem (the symptoms are very much the same as those reported on Nissan Murano forums).

More precisely, those two error codes correspond to Solenoid Valve DS1 and Solenoid Valve DS2 malfunctions. Those are the valves that control the amount of fluid flowing into the primary pulley (shift up control) and the amount of fluid flowing from the primary pulley (shift down control) respectively. I managed to dig this info out from K111 CVT description (RAV4 is supposed to be using K111 CVT). The same material does not list solenoid valve DS1 and DS2 as serviceable components!

I still have not heard from the dealer yet, but so far it looks like the transmission will have to be changed...

Cheers,

/R

[Ritchie75]

Well, I heard from the dealer now. The problem is indeed with the transmission (the oil pressure valves are not serviceable on Toyota CVT !!!) and the transmission will be replaced.

This is a bit scary! Anybody else out there with CVT problem? Or is my broken CVT just an exception to otherwise reliable product?

Cheers,

/R

[anchorman]

You CVT is very rare so no previous reports. It may be your transmission will come with modified valves.

[luke4x4tech]

hi appart from about 4 sensors and a switch , there is nothing to fix or service i have changed one on an avensis as the belt burnt out and it lost drive ( hand brake comes off at 20mph) on cvt unlike the autos and manuals and i am sure it won't ever come of in reverse !

Simple job to do and they weigh more than a dead horse :-/

[Ritchie75]

The car is fixed, finally! The CVT box was replaced and covered by the warranty (no questions asked by the dealer).

I asked the dealer what it would cost if I was to pay for it myself. He was not sure, but he said about 10.000,- EUR.

I was shocked! So I looked up the price of the CVT box online:

Part no.: 3040042030

Supplier TOYOTA/LEXUS: TRANSAXLE ASSY. CONT

Price: 11.892,47 €

Ridiculously expensive (it is 43% of the price I paid for the brand new car). I ordered the extended warranty immediately,

but I guess if it happens again after my 5yr warranty is over, the car will be a write-off.

Let's hope for the best though :P Anyway, thanks a lot guys for your help and support.

[Cyker]

!Removed! hell!!

[Jan&tone]

WOW 10k !!!!!

Makes you appreciate the benefits of an extended warranty does that !!!!

Glad you got it fixed though

[Cyker]

Yeah, it seems if you get a car with a CVT the extended warranty is a must!! :( 10K euros! You could buy a top-spec Aygo for that much and still have some change!

I think I will stick to my manuals... :P

[leepulsar]

there a bulletin just out on the cvt belts in gearbox u just get a new box fitted

[Davrav]

Makes £1200 for a DMF look cheap

[Ritchie75]

there a bulletin just out on the cvt belts in gearbox u just get a new box fitted

Hi leepulsar,

Is the TSB for K111F transmission? If so, could you please attach the TSB here? I would want to find out if I got a fixed box or not ...

I have not really driven the car much since I picked it up, but I could sense a few differences.

The new CVT seems to be quieter and much more responsive to the accelerator (it lets the engine rev up sooner).

Cheers,

/R

[leepulsar]

there a bulletin just out on the cvt belts in gearbox u just get a new box fitted

Hi leepulsar,

Is the TSB for K111F transmission? If so, could you please attach the TSB here? I would want to find out if I got a fixed box or not ...

I have not really driven the car much since I picked it up, but I could sense a few differences.

The new CVT seems to be quieter and much more responsive to the accelerator (it lets the engine rev up sooner).

Cheers,

/R

new gearbox as we dont repair them cant put bulletin up as not at work till next monday

[benxt5]

My father had a rx400h for 3 years and 50k miles (80k km) and it never missed a beat. I'm guessing the CVT in that is very similar, all beit linked to the hybrid drive with 270+bhp with both petrol and electric working together.

I'd say it was a one off rather than a widespread problem.

[jedi134]

As said previously new box is fitted as the dealer does not have the experience or knowledge to fix them, There just parts fitters at the end of the day.

But a good gear box specialist may be able to, its just not worth while for the dealer to do so.

Also as your car is fairly new and a rare spec, dont be suprised that the dealer has`nt got a clue about it. A bigger dealership may be the better option next time.

I had a fairly new rare golf at the time, the dealer ship had no idea it was 4x4 had different rear suspension setup, different gear box oils and filters, and different service intervals.

Now this is scary, only took them 3 years to start stocking the parts to service it.

[Ritchie75]

My father had a rx400h for 3 years and 50k miles (80k km) and it never missed a beat. I'm guessing the CVT in that is very similar, all beit linked to the hybrid drive with 270+bhp with both petrol and electric working together.

I'd say it was a one off rather than a widespread problem.

Based on this link Lexus is using Aisin transmission (HR-10F) whereas Toyota cars are fitted with in-house produced transmissions (K311, K111, K111F etc.).

So my gut feeling right now is that there may be teething issues with these boxes. it is not nice to be on the bleeding edge ...

[Ritchie75]

As said previously new box is fitted as the dealer does not have the experience or knowledge to fix them, There just parts fitters at the end of the day.

But a good gear box specialist may be able to, its just not worth while for the dealer to do so.

Also as your car is fairly new and a rare spec, dont be suprised that the dealer has`nt got a clue about it. A bigger dealership may be the better option next time.

I had a fairly new rare golf at the time, the dealer ship had no idea it was 4x4 had different rear suspension setup, different gear box oils and filters, and different service intervals.

Now this is scary, only took them 3 years to start stocking the parts to service it.

I agree with you. The problem is that it is hard to take the car to a bigger dealership (which is 100 miles away), when it is barely drivable.

I switched from Honda to Toyota mainly to have the dealership near by. Though, I hoped I would never need to visit it that often with the car "Made in Japan".

To be honest, I never had so much trouble with 2 Honda cars in 10 years than I had with this car in 18 months.

[leepulsar]

how are we just parts fitters like ?we repair all the manual gearbox ??

[Davrav]

how are we just parts fitters like ?we repair all the manual gearbox ??

I think he's expecting you guys to make the parts too..............

;)

[Ritchie75]

I had a closer look at the engine and CVT today. The car specs said the CVT type is K111F.

The new CVT has this marking on top of it:

K112

81

Maybe the improved CVT from Toyota that is related to the TSB ....

Anyway I will try to ask the dealer tomorrow. I am due to pickup my extended warranty papers and

unfortunately I have a few things to complain about:

- the engine hood does not close smoothly

- the ventilation produces a quiet but annoying noise which it never did before

- and I suspect the cooling liquid is leaking somewhere

Man, I knew the car will never be the same the moment people start disassembling and reassembling it back,

but hopefully they can fix those issues and I will be relatively happy ...

[Ritchie75]

Well, I went to the dealer. They said the cooling liquid was not leaking, and they just filled up the tank.

As for the noise. It turns out it is not the ventilation. It appears the noise comes from the engine/CVT.

it is very faint whining/whistling noise, only hearable when driving slow and with radio and ventilation off.

We managed to locate that it happens when deaccelerating. They suspect it is normal operation noise of the transmission.

They say it may be that the oil pump is forced to work harder when slowing down ...

There is no noise when idling.

We test drove the same 2 months old car and it did not do it.

Any ideas?

[anchorman]

Give it a while and see if it goes. It might be the belts quieten down after a period of running in.