2009 IQ3 1.33 difficult to get into 1st and 2nd gear

[Jikky]

Hi all,a quick question somebody else may have experienced,ive just aquired an iq3 1.33(after px my belloved 18 yrs old corolla!)it has done 41,000miles,all seemed well with the test drive from a Mitsubishi main dealer 80miles from my home,but ive driven it around the last 2 days and im having problems getting it into 1st and 2nd gear(it goes into gear but with more push than usuall)is this normall with this car or is there is some way of ajusting this,before i call them up to get it repaired with warrenty,thankyou in advance.

[craggle]

Hi Jikky, Welcome to the forum.

I have the 1.33 iQ with the 6 speed gearbox and mine is exactly the same.

I bought my car with only 11k miles on it and mentioned it to the dealer soon after I bought it. They took it back and said they adjusted the gear cables but it made little difference. 

I have found that it gets a lot better in warm weather and when the engine and gearbox are up to temperature. On cold mornings though it can be near impossible sometimes to select 1st and going into second is normally accompanied by a grind of the gears as if you haven't fully depressed the clutch.

I have learnt to live with it now but it is somewhat annoying. I mean to do a transmission oil change one day to see if that eases the symptoms and I have a new clutch kit waiting in the garage in case I need it one day.

Craig.

[Soeley]

Hi and welcome.

Like Craig above I also have the 1.33 manual. I bought it 9 months old with about 2,500 mile on it. However, I have never had any trouble with any of the forward gears, I find it is a very slick gear change no matter what gear I am  going from or to. The only difficulty is with reverse gear, sometimes it takes a double press of the clutch to get in, but it could be me trying to select reverse too quickly after coming to a stop?

[Jikky]

19 hours ago, craggle said:

Hi Jikky, Welcome to the forum.

I have the 1.33 iQ with the 6 speed gearbox and mine is exactly the same.

I bought my car with only 11k miles on it and mentioned it to the dealer soon after I bought it. They took it back and said they adjusted the gear cables but it made little difference. 

I have found that it gets a lot better in warm weather and when the engine and gearbox are up to temperature. On cold mornings though it can be near impossible sometimes to select 1st and going into second is normally accompanied by a grind of the gears as if you haven't fully depressed the clutch.

I have learnt to live with it now but it is somewhat annoying. I mean to do a transmission oil change one day to see if that eases the symptoms and I have a new clutch kit waiting in the garage in case I need it one day.

Craig.

Hi craig,thanks so much for the reply,seems i have a water leak coming into the boot area now,from left rear light area(brought the car thursday!)got in touch with dealer today and its all going to be done with warrenty at toyota,hopefully all will be well,i will keep you posted!!!!!

[Seeker]

I don't know if the 2010 1.33vvti Yaris has the same gearbox, but my car exhibits the same issues in cold weather (as do others in the Yaris forum).  I've heard conflicting reports ranging from "mine's perfect" to "they all do that" to "it's the synchromesh slip rings on the French built gearboxes" to "get your cables adjusted".  I have taken over the driving/maintenance of the Yaris from my Dad and so took the car to the dealer who said: "it's fine".

No, it's not fine.  They may all be like it but when all other controls are light and smooth acting the gearchange action sticks out as being unpleasant (!).  I've read that other people have tried various lubricants with mixed success.  Recently I added some Molyslip gearbox additive, the sachet contains 65 ml and I initially put in about half and then half again, so about 45 ml.  My original plan was to drain out an equivalent amount before starting using a syringe but then decided it was such a small amount that I would just add it.

Has it helped?  Yes.  It's not a scientific evaluation because the weather has warmed up from approx 1°C  to  5°C, but the initial reverse selection from the garage is less balky as is the initial first to second.  On our car, the later gear changes got progressively better even before the Molyslip and that's still the case but now with an occasional "wow" that was a slick feeling change.  I still have that worry at traffic lights whether the car will "let" me have first gear and the Molyslip hasn't changed that, I'll admit it's early days (I've only done 200 miles or so with the additive) but the first gear reluctance seems to have been reduced a litle but, like I said, not eliminated; time will tell.

My gearbox hasn't been transformed into a class leader but for £10 it has been improved. (YMMV)  I will add that some Yaris owners say that their gearbox is balky cold and hot, in that case it may well be a cable adjustment issue, with our car the changes got better with temperature which is why, perhaps, the Molyslip helped.

Good luck.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Conversely the gearboxes in my 2009 and 2012 Auris 1.33's were fine in the 7 years I owned them.

[atkiman]

Hi

Had my 1.33 for nearly 8 years and it now has over 120 k (i've put around 116k of them on it)on the clock, gearbox still silky smooth whatever the temperature

[Seeker]

 

14 hours ago, atkiman said:

Hi

Had my 1.33 for nearly 8 years and it now has over 120 k (i've put around 116k of them on it)on the clock, gearbox still silky smooth whatever the temperature

 

Like I said in my first post, there are a many people who say; "mines perfect": that's wonderful  - I owned a brand new (2003) Corolla in California with automatic transmission and that was great too.  I think that most people who post on here with a problem want to know if: 1) has anyone else got the same problem and 2) can it be fixed cheaply?

My original thread was to indicate that, for the Yaris at least, a number (maybe just a few, who knows?) have an issue with lower gear selection when cold.  If you don't have the problem it makes it more frustrating to those who do, especially when told by the dealer that it is "normal".  If the dealership won't acknowledge that there's a problem then it's up to the individual to seek out a solution. Our car is 8 years old/34,000 miles - I think the only effective solution would be a gearbox strip and the synchro rings replaced which I'm not prepared to do.  The Molyslip has helped for an outlay of £10, for all I know it may cause the gearbox seals to leak, but, for now, things are better than they were. (YMMV - your mileage may vary).