Transmission Grinding Into 6th
 

I started to notice a slight bump shifting into 6th at highway speeds around 5,000 miles. Now at 6300 miles I get a noticeable grind shifting from 5th to 6th at passing speeds (~70mph).

I brought it to the dealer this morning for State Inspection and decided to get it checked out at the same time. The foreman was able to not only reproduce the problem, but he said he could feel the grind shifting into 6th at pretty much any speed that he moved into it. I guess he is much more sensitive to this then I am.

Toyota was called up, and the result was a transmission fluid change. Before this they verified the clutch was correctly adjusted, and the factory fluid was at the correct level.

The grind is still occurring after the fluid change, so the dealer is doing a nice interior detailing why they wait for Toyota to tell them what they can try next.

They are not sure exactly what is wrong, but the foreman has verified that this definitely should not be happening, and they have not once tried to push it on me as aggressive driving. The car has never been raced, but has been pushed for fun on occasion, but all the hard work is done in gears 1-2-3.

Stay tuned...

Whoa. Shifting at 5000rpm in 5th to 6th is waaaaaay higher than 70mph.

Unless you're saying this has been happening since 5000 miles on the odometer and has gotten worse since rolling through 6300 miles. Which, of course, is what you really mean to say.

When this happened to me they tried to blame me too with absolutely no evidence of abuse (haven't tracked it either). That's bullshit. Do not let them make repairs before you are 100% sure it's warranty work. These transmissions are having serious problems in some cases, they should have checked the fluid they flushed for debris. They found a lot of metal in mine and I ended up with a new tranny at 5,800Mi.

See my thread here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47531

Pay attention to this one: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46208

Ah sorry for the confusion, I mean mileage on the car, I will fix it to make it more obvious :-P. I'd be hauling to be at 5k in 5th haha.

As an update: I talked to the technician who worked on my car, he felt a grind shifting into 6th at any speed. He called Toyota, and that resulted in a fluid change. There were no shavings in the pan, fluid change did not fix anything.

I picked up the car this morning, they are pushing on Toyota to let them do more. My dealer agrees with me that it is abnormal and has not tried to push any of it on me, so now we are just waiting to hear back from Toyota. I would definitely recommend them to anyone Southern NH/northern MA, free detailing and free tube of touch-up paint for my troubles over the past few months.

Thanks for the extra threads to comb, I'll have to educate myself a bit more on the matter.

Update:
The dealer called me, they have no idea what is going on, and Toyota could not provide a real answer either.
The result is that Toyota will be giving me a new transmission under warranty, they are in the process of ordering one now, it should be in the shop later this week.

Great news!

I had the exact same issue with mine at approximately 8k miles. Went into dealer, replaced fluid with no change... Subaru got the go ahead to swap transmission. Replacement trans shifted smooth but was stiff as hell getting into second gear. Had them check to make sure all linkage and settings were correct after instal. Now its 2k miles later and I have a grinding in 4th and 5th on the down shift as well as a grinding and a noticeable clunk into second gear both up and down shift. Took it to the dealer and they claim to not be able to replicate the issue but are bringing a Toyota specialist in to drive with me in the car and attempt a diagnosis.

Hope you get a good trans as your replacement unlike me. I am fearing that these first year models are lemons.... :(

Everyone gets the clunk I think...so far it has been deemed normal for the transmission type/brand.

i havent gotten any grinds yet but i get some extreme feedback from the transmission when shifting in to various gears. i did notice recently, going into 6th you can feel the shifter vibrate violently as it goes in. but no grind. guess only time will tell

My trans has been grinding/clunking all over the place since about 5k miles, I have 15k now and no dealership I've been to wants to help. One dealer even searched me up on the forums and told me because I'm on the forums that means my car is extensively modified and abused and raced. Wish I was as lucky as you because this problem makes me hate my car.

I'm having this same issue. Heading to the dealership now, hopefully everything goes smooth.


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My last 4 vin# was in the 2XXX and I never experienced any grinds up to 9.6k miles. It makes me wonder if Subaru was training some new people to build transmissions at their factory who could have messed up a certain number of batches... who knows. Glad to hear Toyota is working on the issue and getting it resolved.

Mine is 2xxx fwiw.


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@LeeMaster I'd have to check the VIN...
EDIT: Last 4 on VIN: 3XXX
I guess I will stand by my dealer then, they did not question, did not challenge if it was my fault or not. New tranny is in today, I am dropping it off tonight and they are giving me a loaner for a few days.

They also took care of my chirping, that was 1500 miles ago and they are still not back *knock on wood*. When they did the crickets one of the mechanics got my interior messy, I mentioned it and they immediately addressed it by having a full inside/outside detailing done by a local shop.

Hopefully this will be the end of my issues, I absolutely love the car, but having warranty items makes me weary of modifying the car. I have had good luck so far with them, but I also have no performance modifications.