Mr2 Transmission

[banner27]

I have a Mk3 (2002) MRT with SMT transmission. Recently the engine light has started to come on and this is often followed by the gearbox light (? - red cog with an exclamation mark in it). Once the 'gearbox' light appears the car then sticks in the gear that was selected. When the car stalls (it won't change back to first either) and a restart attempted, it is not possible to select neutral and hence start the engine. It can be started again after a little while but eventually the problem woudl come back. I took it to a local garage (non-toyota) who noticed that the Battery needed replacing, which we did, and this seemed to solve the problem temporarily. However, yesterday the problem returned :( .

From what the garage told me and a few things I have read, this problem may be related to certain codes being reset when the Battery voltage drops. Is this likely to be correct or just B/S? If it's likely that the Battery caused this problem I am now wondering if the issues could be related to the alternator, as if the battery is new it shoudl not be losing power, unless it is not charging. Feasible...?

I have the car booked in with Toyota this Friday but my past experience with dealerships has taught me to expect the worst case scenario i.e. whatever will cost the most. I therefore would like to get a few ideas as to what might be wrong before I see them on Friday.

Hope someone can help.

Cheers

Steve