Faulty - Gearbox/Computer - Options

[Beagle23]

Hi

I have a 13 year old Hybrid Auris. Three times in the last month the car has slipped into and remained stuck in neutral whilst driving, each time I was able to steer into a side road before the car came to a stop. 
It seems this is not an uncommon problem for old hybrids and I've booked it in with a Toyota dealer in a few days from now. 
The core of my question is financial, I was made redundant at Christmas and I need to minimise spend as much as possible. Based on your experience would you say a Toyota dealer is more likely to find and rectify the problem than a Halfords or Kwik Fit (I'm assuming the former will be considerably more expensive)?

 

Thanks   

[Mooly]

I suspect that is a bit of an unanswerable question at this point. If the fault is as you say...

11 minutes ago, Beagle23 said:

It seems this is not an uncommon problem for old hybrids

 then do you know what the cause is and what most common rectification is? I suspect (but do not know for sure) that Halfords and Quickfit might end up sub contracting work out themselves if it was beyond what they were capable of (or wanted) to do.

My instincts say use Toyota for this.

[Beagle23]

1 minute ago, Mooly said:

I suspect that is a bit of an unanswerable question at this point. If the fault is as you say...

 then do you know what the cause is and what most common rectification is? I suspect (but do not know for sure) that Halfords and Quickfit might end up sub contracting work out themselves if it was beyond what they were capable of (or wanted) to do.

My instincts say use Toyota for this.

Thanks for the reply. I expect you're right. Toyota want £150 for the diagnostic compared to £50 for Halfords. I'm wondering, if the problem is vanilla enough, that one of the cheaper companies may be able to ID and fix. 

[furtula]

If we're talking only diagnostic, then i see no need to pay Toyota to do it, i mean it's just connecting the cable and checking the codes.

Can't say much before you have the codes, as it would only be guessing.

That said, i would go with Halfords only if they have Techstream diagnostic, as it should provide more info as opposed to regular one that can work on more brands.

You can also try asking on the forum if there is a member near you with Techstream diagnostic and would be willing to check your car for codes.

[TonyHSD]

Hi, yes if you are a diy person instead of going to any garage you can invest in diagnostic cable or dongle obd 2 and buy an app like Carista  so you can do check the faults yourself and take it from there. If you prefer a garage then go to Toyota as the others are really full stop, not even tyres bother to purchase from them as their mechanics often know nothing about cars and all they care is to take your money and earn their living. Faulty gearbox on hybrid Toyotas is very uncommon and if happened is likely to be caused by negligence or abuse from the driver/owner. Can also be a firmware issue and these cars had a recall about this particular problem few years ago.
Best to check if your car has a recall done, and book it to be done if hasn’t, then when was serviced and was a hybrid Battery health check completed? Most important is wherever you go to do diagnostic to obtain all fault codes and share with us to get further help and advice. Last question: has the fault happened when under hard acceleration and what is the current mileage ? 
 

[Beagle23]

 

21 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, yes if you are a diy person instead of going to any garage you can invest in diagnostic cable or dongle obd 2 and buy an app like Carista  so you can do check the faults yourself and take it from there. If you prefer a garage then go to Toyota as the others are really full stop, not even tyres bother to purchase from them as their mechanics often know nothing about cars and all they care is to take your money and earn their living. Faulty gearbox on hybrid Toyotas is very uncommon and if happened is likely to be caused by negligence or abuse from the driver/owner. Can also be a firmware issue and these cars had a recall about this particular problem few years ago.
Best to check if your car has a recall done, and book it to be done if hasn’t, then when was serviced and was a hybrid battery health check completed? Most important is wherever you go to do diagnostic to obtain all fault codes and share with us to get further help and advice. Last question: has the fault happened when under hard acceleration and what is the current mileage ? 
 

I wouldn't trust myself to dabble under the bonnet, it's likely the car will never move again.
It may not be the gearbox, from reading about similar issues it seems there could be half a dozen reasons but all of them linked to MMT and costing £1000-£2000 to put right. 
The car has a new Battery as of last year.
The fault does happen under acceleration but not 'hard' as such. I neglected to mention that each time it has occurred the solution has been to turn off the engine, withdraw the key and then restart once all lights are off, simply turning off the engine and then restarting within ten seconds does not fix it. 

Mileage is 56,000

 

[TonyHSD]

2 minutes ago, Beagle23 said:

 

I wouldn't trust myself to dabble under the bonnet, it's likely the car will never move again.
It may not be the gearbox, from reading about similar issues it seems there could be half a dozen reasons but all of them linked to MMT and costing £1000-£2000 to put right. 
The car has a new battery as of last year.
The fault does happen under acceleration but not 'hard' as such. I neglected to mention that each time it has occurred the solution has been to turn off the engine, withdraw the key and then restart once all lights are off, simply turning off the engine and then restarting within ten seconds does not fix it. 

Mileage is 56,000

 

Are we talking about hybrid Auris or non hybrid automatic? 

[Beagle23]

2 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Are we talking about hybrid Auris or non hybrid automatic? 

Hybrid

[Catlover]

But you mentioned MMT

can you take a photo of your gearstick and a photo of your engine bay. That will help us to solve your problem,.

[flash22]

Given its age, has the 12V Battery been replaced ? (YES) if so is it the correct type, has it been tested ? a weak Battery will make the electronic do strange things

No. the Hybrid uses an eCVT (nothing like a standard CVT)

 

I wouldn't trust qwikfit or halfrauds to look at a lawn mower

You need to pull the codes a decent independent will be able to do it

[mcntosh]

This problem has appeared on the forum before:

 

Also a hybrid (albeit 2nd generation), as can be seen in the video:

 

It looks bizarre, as normally you have to hold the selector in N for 2 seconds to get it to engage - I don't understand how it can just slip into neutral.

Edited January 17, 2022 by mcntosh
Added comment.

[flash22]

That looks like a selector issue as it's not engaging drive - IIRC it's electronic and doesn't use a cable

i will dig up some more info shortly

 

[mcntosh]

According to the manual, it should shift into N when you're moving only if you press the P button, or try to shift from D or B to R (or vice versa). 

My guess is an electrical fault with either the drive selector or the P button. I'm pretty sure flash22 is right and that the selector has no mechanical connection to the transmission.

[TonyHSD]

Yes, selector issues likely, has it ever been flooded with water or fizzy drinks? It also could be internal issue, I remember only once I heard of that previously again on second gen Auris but never on any other Toyota hybrids. 

[Beagle23]

16 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Yes, selector issues likely, has it ever been flooded with water or fizzy drinks? It also could be internal issue, I remember only once I heard of that previously again on second gen Auris but never on any other Toyota hybrids. 

Definitely never flooded with anything.

I'm trying to think of what extra details I can give. I'm fairly certain that each time it happened the car would have been trying to shift gears. The first and third time I was ascending a hill, the second time I was starting up a ramp at a local carpark. I have no idea how the selector works but it does sound like it might be a failure of the ?? to select a gear and resetting ??

[flash22]

I may be wrong but didn't the Auris hybrid not come out until 2010 (UK built)

 

So is it a hybrid or not ? what size engine ? petrol or diesel

[TonyHSD]

6 minutes ago, Beagle23 said:

Definitely never flooded with anything.

I'm trying to think of what extra details I can give. I'm fairly certain that each time it happened the car would have been trying to shift gears. The first and third time I was ascending a hill, the second time I was starting up a ramp at a local carpark. I have no idea how the selector works but it does sound like it might be a failure of the ?? to select a gear and resetting ??

Do you get any warning lights and messages when this happens? Like “hybrid system malfunction” or only shift to P message or anything else on display? 

[TonyHSD]

1 minute ago, flash22 said:

I may be wrong but didn't the Auris hybrid not come out until 2010 (UK built)

 

So is it a hybrid or not ? what size engine ? petrol or diesel ?

Yes first Auris hybrid is from 2010, the facelift of gen 1 Auris . He probably needs to update his profile and the car is max 11 years old and obviously a eCVT if it’s a hybrid.  First ever built Auris hybrid is from June 2010. On 10 plates and shortly after they went to 60 reg like mine that is from November 2010. 

[flash22]

I was doubting myself as i couldn't find the selector for the earlier Auris, it maybe an MMT C50 or C53 as the OP says it changes gear

edit. MMT will drop in to neutral as a fail-safe

[TonyHSD]

12 minutes ago, flash22 said:

I was doubting myself as i couldn't find the selector for the earlier Auris, it maybe an MMT C50 or C53 as the OP says it changes gear

edit. MMT will drop in to neutral as a fail-safe

Yeah, very confusing post., Joe is right to ask for pictures of the car. 👍

[Catlover]

To give you the correct advice we need the photos I asked for….. engine bay and gearstick.  I reckon it’s NOT a hybrid Auris. We need to get the reality before we can move.

[Beagle23]

Pics tomorrow.

 

The car model is: TOYOTA AURIS TR (124) 2008

[Catlover]

Just a couple of photos would help today. There is a massive difference between a hybrid Auris and a Auris with a MMT gearbox…. But without the photos………

[flash22]

It's not a hybrid, 124bhp makes it a  1.6 (1ZR-FE) TR MMT, tax is 200-210 a year

[Catlover]

If Stephen could confirm his Auris gear stick is like that photo of yours Bob, then that confirms it is not a hybrid. 
The AurIs hybrid gear stub has D, R, N, B
Bob, the bhp of an Auris hybrid ( and Gen3 Prius) is close at 122bhp, 99 from the engine plus the hybrid bits, you probably knew that.