Avensis Gearbox Problem

[avensis_13]

Have taken my Avensis to 2 different garages and they both reckon I have a gearbox problem (or possibly differential). Fixing it £1000+ One garage told me that they'd seen a similar problem, and Toyota did the repair under a 100,000 mile warranty that exists on the gear box. I rang my local Toyota garage and they know nothing about this. Is this fact or fiction? Anyone been through this and know what to do? Car has done 86,000 miles with full service history (not always serviced by Toyota, but I trust my mechanic). Help! Car is Y 2001, so original general warranty long since over. Ta.

[moonstone mart]

What is the problem?

Martin

[avensis_13]

Vibration noise from front of car while in motion, and gears engaged. Not had full diagnostics as yet. Local Toyota guy came back eventually and said he did not think I would be covered as warranty on specific issue was for lesser of 5 years or 100K miles (car is 2001, 86K miles). Rang Toyota HQ and spoke to customer relations. Waiting for reply but not sure they will help given car >5years old. Any ideas or tips? Had enough grief with this motor already (engine problems fixed under warranty).

What is the problem?

Martin

[moonstone mart]

Cant really say as not seen/heard the noise but we have replaced a fair few gearbox bearings. In some cases a new housing was needed as the bearings had damaged the inside of it.

Hopefully yours is something easy to sort though.

Mart

[avensis_13]

Thanks for this. Any idea how much this typically costs to get fixed? Is it worth trying this before getting a recon gearbox? I'm getting gear box oil changed, but my mechanic seems to think this is a 10% chance at best of fixing it. After that he is thinking recon gear box. Any idea how the bearings issue gets diagnosed? Sorry - a barrage of questions, but I have a redundancy looming and this is the last thing I need! Ta.

Cant really say as not seen/heard the noise but we have replaced a fair few gearbox bearings. In some cases a new housing was needed as the bearings had damaged the inside of it.

Hopefully yours is something easy to sort though.

Mart

[moonstone mart]

I would say a recon box would be the cheaper option. Im not too sure on the dealership price but it would include.......remove box, strip box, replace any parts (i THINK that the rear housing is a £100-£200 alone!) then rebuild box, refit box.

Labour at our place it £75+VAT per hour.

Then again, this may not be the problem lol.

Mart

[Paul_W]

I would say a recon box would be the cheaper option. Im not too sure on the dealership price but it would include.......remove box, strip box, replace any parts (i THINK that the rear housing is a £100-£200 alone!) then rebuild box, refit box.

Labour at our place it £75+VAT per hour.

Then again, this may not be the problem lol.

Mart

I had the same prob on both my current Avensis (01) and my old one (98); both times recon boxes were hard to get hold hold of, so both times I had my box removed and reconditioned. The first time was about £1000 for the work alone; the second time the box wasnt as knackered so it was a bit less, in that I still paid £1000 but I also had a 60k service, and the door check strap replaced.

Downside was that having my box sent away took a couple weeks.

Both of these were done by a local independent garage.

Paul

[GnzYza]

Avensis gearbox will time and time again give drivers problems, i replaced the gearbox in my 2001 1.8vvti with a celica 6 speed gearbox and clutch. and now it even drives alot better with 6 gears, mpg is fine, and i dont have to worry about my gearbox breaking up again.

the clutch is abit grabby at pull off, thats because the clutch was also from a celica.

[shroud]

Avensis gearbox will time and time again give drivers problems, i replaced the gearbox in my 2001 1.8vvti with a celica 6 speed gearbox and clutch. and now it even drives alot better with 6 gears, mpg is fine, and i dont have to worry about my gearbox breaking up again.

the clutch is abit grabby at pull off, thats because the clutch was also from a celica.

Hi, I have seen your comment about this before. Can you just put in the celica box as a direct replacement without changing the clutch ?

I had my draftshaft bearings done but still get a rattly noise when pulling away and when accelerating from low speed in high gear and wondered if my box was causing the problem ?

I checked the brake shields already and they seem fine.