Mk1 Crunchy Gear Changes

[OperationYarisTree]

Hi all,

Very pleased to have joined first and foremost :D

My query is about my Mk1 1.3 Yaris. It's done around 57K and I bought it as my first car around 6 months ago now (had 52K). I have noticed an intermittent problem when it comes to changing gear.

The problem is sometimes when changing up through the gears, all the gear changes result in a slight shudder, no matter how I change gears. I initially thought being a new driver my technique is probably wrong in some way but I read that others might have this slightly annoying problem. This is sometimes associated with a very slight crunch (bear in mind clutch pedal is as far down as it can go). It's especially noticeable sometimes when shifting into reverse (again, only sometimes).

Some of the time the gear changes are absolutely perfect and smooth so I'm a bit confused by this :S

Any pointers would be appreciated, I can put up with the issue as long as it's not causing massive damage to car.

Cheers,

David

[orangezorki]

Welcome from another David!

As someone who took his test in a manual, but has never owned one or that generation of Yaris, you can see that by the laws of the internet I am completely qualified to answer your question.

Nevertheless, have you checked that you are giving enough revs before down changing, or making sure that you are going fast enough for an up change? Both can cause what you are describing, and are much cheaper than a new gearbox.

All the best,

David

[MikeSh]

Sounds rather like the clutch isn't disengaging completely. Is the bite point near the fully depressed position, or extremely vague? This means the synchromesh is having to work hard to force the gears into synch which might cause the shudder, and when it fails you get the crunch. There isn't usually synch on reverse, so crunch is more common there.

When you get a 'good' gearchange is probably when you've got your throttle action near spot-on, so the synchromesh has nothing to do. (Which would mean you're good at it :) .)

Get that checked soon as if that is the problem you will wear the synchromesh out on some gears more quickly.

[OperationYarisTree]

Looks like most of it can be attributed to not enough revs, driving too economically! :) I'll keep an eye on it though as I still think there's a bit of reluctance to change gear with a slight shudder.

[Cyker]

I found with the 1.0VVTi I had to give it some power when shifting but I can't remember how it was like on the 1.3

My D4D has made me extremely lazy, esp. as I drive for economy (I have to NOT touch the accelerator if I'm economy and short-shifting or the car will shoot off when the clutch is fully re-engaged! )

Also, see if you can find when the gearbox oil and clutch were last changed in the service history - If the gears are crunchy, may be a sign the gearbox oil needs changing. If the clutch engagement is very juddery, may be the clutch spring isn't providing enough clamping force - The original one on my first Yaris was pretty shagged and wasn't pressing the plate properly flat, making me think the friction plate was wearing out when it wasn't.

Now that I think about it, it was quite common for the original clutches in the Yaris Mk1 to get very juddery as they got older; I remember my first one getting very kangaroo-like in the cold winters when I engaged the clutch - In that situation, you couldn't power out of it as it would just make it kangaroo more; Had to disengage and gently re-engage. The clutch changed sorted all that in my case tho'.

The average clutch change zone is about 60k miles which yours is pretty close to, but this is by no means a definite thing as it can vary quite wildly - I tend to wear mine out a lot faster than average (Maybe 20/30k ) due to city driving and lots of start-stop on hills (My increasingly heavy right foot isn't helping...! :P); Motorway drivers OTOH can take theirs well past the 80+'s!

[Mike169]

Hi

It sounds like the springs in the clutch plate itself have gone weak, my suggestion is have a new genuine or decent clutch fitted sooner rather than later otherwise it will only do harm to the syncromesh in your gearbox.

At 57k it's coming to the end of it's life anyway so having a new clutch fitted is not wasting money in my money.

I have worked in garages for most of my life and this is a reasonably common fault.

Good luck, Mike.

[Madasafish]

Before you spend any money, bleed the clutch system. Same reservoir as the brakes.. Probably never been done.. Tales 5 minutes - can be done under the bonnet. with a helper in car.

Our D4D shudders a little on cold mornings.. I assume it's condensation and rust on the flywheel as after 2-3 minutes driving it's gone.