elgueaga

Hi I have a 2009 scion tc 5 speed with 14000 miles on it. Every other day it feels hard to shift into second and on other days it shifts smooth as butter in all gears. i am wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what can i do about it?

draxcaliber

mine is like that on the colder mornings. sometimes it helps to just run through all the gears when starting the car up and whenever sitting at a stop.

elgueaga

still it gets to the point where i don't enjoy driving it. At what mileage did yours start doing it ?btw i changed the transmission fluid to eneos 75w90 gl5 awhile back would going with something gl4 like redline be better ?

draxcaliber

well mine started about 45k miles, but there was a lot of stuff going on with my tc back then, clutch, flywheel, lsd, ss clutchline etc. and it wasn't an incident free install.

but i'm running mobil1 synthetic gear oil, and just monday morning i noticed it was getting alittle stiff again between gears, but nothing that really degrades my driving enjoyment. i currently have 76k miles.

elgueaga

still. let me elaborate more when my car would have rough shifts i could shift in smoothly under 1700 rpms but any hgher it would be hard to get into second. ive been suggested to that my second gear synchro is messed up and that might be the cause?idk seems like it might be from what Ive heard any one else have this problem?is it covered by the warranty ?

elgueaga

still with my tranny still pretty much stock other than oil changed to synthetic i feel like it shouldn't be doing this at 14000 miles.

draxcaliber

just feels like the tranny is full of molasses and is stiff to get through the gears. but nothing troubling.

Nunyo

If the vehicle is still stock, take it to the dealer to have it looked at under warranty. the transmission is considered part of the drivetrain which is covered under warranty.......

Jan06xB

If you changed the tranny gear lube then you put the WRONG stuff in it. Get some "normal" gear lube in that box before something wears out and give it some time to work itself into the syncros before you start stifting at higher rpms. ALSO make sure you press the clutch all the way to the floor when shifting - NO THICK CARPET floor mat under the pedal.

elgueaga

our specs for the tc transmission are 75w90 gl4/gl5 the eneos is supposed to be within spec though

Jan06xB

The only other typical thing is damp clutch - it tends to drag and grind gears if you don't get it all the way in to release. Shift slower giving it time for the scynros to do their thing meaning get it out of gear and let it stay in neutral longer before going into the next gear. From what I have read here in SL the syncros are very particular about the type of oil used because of the metals they are made of and certain oils that work well in other cars don't do so well in the Scions. I switched my xB 1st Gen to Synlube and the gear lube was a little too slippery at first so if I shifted with too much force it would grind a little in every gear but using less pressure like ONE finger shifts perfectly and goes in at low RPMs really quick with a little clunk really easy. I find the Synlube is way better that the stock Toyota gear lube btw.
2nd gear gets a lot of use since it is speeding up the clutch plate from 3rd on a down shift and slowing down the clutch plate from 1st gear up shifts so it tends to wear out a little faster and show lubrication issues.

rosedaleny806

I have eneos and now with the weather getting colder its getting stiffer to go threw the gears aswell, normal really bc its synthetic oil, but with stock oil it was worse in the winter. but I'd stay with eneos over redline, redline grinded my gears and made it almost impossible to go into gears.

NYcarbonTC

yeh its covered i blew out my tranny and i know what ur feeling its better to get this checked out

elgueaga

could you elaborate more on what happened to your tranny? Can anyone tell me if i can keep the eneos or will the dealer give me any problems if so what should i switch to?

rosedaleny806

its jus oil, they wont say anything

nodsetse

I agree. In the tC, it seems very easy to "beat" 2nd gear when upshifting, I grind it half the time when shifting at higher revs, even though the clutch is all the way down before I move the lever. I think part of the problem is due to the really heavy flywheel, it takes a long time (relative) for the rpms to slow down to the extent the synchros have a chance to do their thing. I've found the only solution in that scenario (performance driving) is to slow down on the shift from 1st to 2nd. I really think a lighter flywheel would help the situation a lot, but I'm not inclined to spend the time, effort & expense, I'll just get used to pausing between that first shift when driving hard.

Jan06xB

If you drain it and check it for metal wear you may find out what is going on in there. If the dealer drains it they may not save it to examine it.

elgueaga

maybe i plan on getting amsoil gl4 fluid tomorrow so i can see if it caused any damage hopefully the amsoil is better for our transmissions

elgueaga

no I didn't find any evidence of metal wear

Jan06xB

Let the oil sit in a clear plastic bottle for a few days and see if anything settles out of the oil. Look for magnetic steel particles or gold colored brass particles (syncros).