VOTE: Your Transmission 6MT? Butter smooth? -or- Problems?
 

Lately, there have been a ton of people saying their gearbox is having issues and I can't stand to see another post about somebody blaming the assembly from factory (especially when their car isn't even turbocharged).

I lean heavily in favor that the people destroying their gearboxes are destroying them from their own noob skill. For sure, there are a certain few that are busting them from power. And lastly, a miniscule percentage (0.08-1%) of owners that genuinely received a miscalculated assembly from factory.

But I'm betting it's the very large majority of us that are rowing this AZ6 just perfectly fine. In fact, it is only getting smother and smoother as time goes.

Please vote. I hope the poll speaks for itself.

Crunches into second when cold from the 300km mark of ownership. Tried different oils, one made it slightly better other worse. Dealer says the crunching is normal and won't do anything about it. Going to try some Motul Gear 300 and mtech springs to fix. If no good will contact Toyota directly to get it fixed.

Not a manual noob, driven nothing but manuals and double de clutch on the downshift in all the cars I've owned. Car is stock as a rock.

Sometimes going into 2nd is a little choppy when its cold outside, but this car is a joy to shift when warmed up and driving hard.

All gears are smooth but every once in a while i get a slight rub going into 3rd. I'm not sure if it's the cold tranny or if it's just sensitive to rev matching. It's not really a grind but you can definitely feel it when shifting. Also, I've been meaning to ask, i test drove the 2015 limited prior to buying the Series blue. Not sure why but shifting feels much better on the series blue. I'm not aware that they changed anything between the trim levels.

Super smooth except when cold where 2nd is reluctant. I like to let the car warm up before driving hard anyway so... No big deal. You've got to listen to what it's telling you, not just have your way wit it...

Same as my old FC3S or Camaro SS with short shifter, notchy when cold, smooth when warm. The price you pay to have short, engaging shifting.

It is absolutely butter now when warmed up after switching to Motul Gear 300. Just to be clear, it was fine before, but perfect after the fluid swap.

2nd gear when cold has always been notchy.

4th gear in high RPM's causes slight crunch.

I should maybe ask...

How many people voting are new manual transmission drivers? Or have been awhile since they've had a manual gearbox?

Motul Gear 300 won't fix it, I'm running that (less than a year old) and still get crunching when shifting too fast when it's cold. By shifting too fast, I mean faster than it wants, not slamming gears.

Doesn't happen every shift, but I'd say about 30% of the 1-2 shifts until things are up to temp have some sort of crunch. It's not a full out grind, but still not great.

I've been meaning to get it checked before my warranty is up, really need to get on that now that I'm over 90k km's!

Experienced manual driver. Crunchy 2nd when cold. Motul fluid change didn't help. I learned to live with it.

It's been about 6 years since the last time I drove a manual transmission vehicle. My last was a '95 mitsubishi eclipse. So I'll freely admit that the shifting problems I encounter are my own. When I do get my shifts right, it's butter smooth. Like everyone else, 2nd is stiff in the cold. Although it does scare me a bit about people and their tranny problems.

I live in California, so my BRZ doesn't see any cold weather.

I have 0 problems with my manual transmission. I've only grinded once and that was driver error.

Mostly smooth, a little notchy when cold going to 2nd, I find double clutching when it's cold makes it a non issue.

Don't do that unless where you live is really hot. I tried it, as have a few others. It didn't help at all and at about 5-7 deg C it was down right dangerous as I (we) couldn't get the transmission into second.

My car is in storage presently, but before it went in I switched to a mixture of redline oils, the one rated for our transmission and the next step down. That was on par with the factory fluid for shifting smoothness. The next time, I'm just putting in the next step down fluid.

Lots of guys are running Pentosin <SP?> and reporting good results aswell. I would have gone that route but redline is about half the price for me.

Mr. Pedo, :)

Go see the guys at ISI Automotive on Blue Water Rd. They put the Motul in my FRS. (Which I supplied. I got it from an online vendor in a warm climate.:mad0259:) ISI then put a Redline mix in mine a couple weeks later after the Motul didn't work and I asked for their help. The owner, Steve, was fantastic to work with. He'll be corner balancing my RCE's sometime in the spring.

Super smooth in every gear. Changed oil at 11,269 miles (506 miles after I bought it). ~7 years manual experience.

Tons of experience with manuals.
1 - 3 on the tree spring clutch manual in an old 1982 Ford pickup
2 - 5 speed Ford Ranger manuals
1 - 5 speed Toyota Supra manual
1 - 6 speed Suzuki GSXR manual
Not to mention the many vehicles that have been manuals I have driven that I did not own (friends, rentals, etc...)

And for the record while I love my FR-S to death it has by far the worst manual out of anything I have ever driven (in regards to smoothness and grinding).

Stock power.
1. Can't shift into first from any temperature or speed over 15kmh.
2. Started crunching into second when cold. No resistance when shifting from first to second and crunches in. Double declutching does fix it though. (I think, I can't tell if it's because of the double declutch or because double declutching pauses it and causes me to shift at a lower rpm) Started developing and progressively got worse. I really want to fix this one. Anyone think a change of the syncro/ tranny fluid would help? Or at least possibly confirm that it doesn't damage my tranny?
One of those people who treasure their car or at least the working components.
Around 24k

totally different car when cold than when warm. Recently it has been in the teens and it is incredibly rough and chunk-y, especially in 1 and 2. When warm though it is pretty much always very smooth.

Here is more info about why we have the 2nd gear "clunk".

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31929

It's -15°C here in Canada at the moment. Just be super gentle with the gearbox when it's cold and DO NOT force gears in! I only ever get gear lockout when it's winter, first thing in morning, and I didn't warm up the car before driving. But I am also not an idiot blaming the gearbox because I know this gearbox was not spec'd for cold use. These aren't Toyota Corolla gearboxes here. They need to be warmed up to come alive.

I suspect a lot of issues are from people who impatiently didn't bring the fluid temps up before smashing gears.

Yes, I get the 2nd gear clunk when cold (like how the gearbox was intended to act), I NEVER forced any gears into place, and my gearbox is only getter smoother over time. In fact, I find my transmission smoother this winter than it was last winter (since it's more broken-in).

I'm finding it hard to believe so many people are having problems with the gearbox. Maybe they just suck ass at driving a stick shift, not taking it easy of the box when it is cold, or just plain abused it from misshifts and driver error.

If anything, this is one of the best gearboxes I have ever driven (warmed up of course).

I learned to accept baby shifting this b***

background:First Manual car, had it for just over 6 months. Learned how to drive stick pretty easily and fast, only stalled the car a total of 4 times in the first 2 days of ownership,(literally stalled twice on my way home from the dealer :eyebulge: that was rough) only grinded twice.

I notice the crunchy-ness but its does not bother me at all. It smoothed out after maybe 3-4k miles, then I switched to Motul 300 and I actually could feel it even more, especially when cold. *regret* ("cold" being Socal 40's, 50's in the early morning)

on top of that.... I used to be able to get into 1st and 2nd easily, before switching from stock gear oil, when driving to work in the morning after its been sitting all night. Now i'm only able to easily if double clutching. Strange right? everybody says the opposite.
so now as i leaving my housing community i drive slowwwww and @ around 2k-2.5k rpm in 1st or 2nd gear. that seems to warm the trans up quickly (also helps warm up the car well, low load higher rpm/oil pressure)

I might go back to stock fluids for giggles even though i have 6 quarts of motul sitting around. or i might try throwing in a little bit of redline shockproof. not sure need to do more research.

otherwise the transmission is just crunchy/knuckly. been boosting for over 1k now (10,500 miles total)and it seems to be more crunchy and knuckly, going to change the fluid soon and see whats up.

wont be upgrading the clutch because the stock clutch holds power up to my goals. and plus i'd rather fly/burn up clutches(consumables) then destroy anything else along the drivetrain. i'd rather be swapping out oem clutches more often.

2nd is a little tough to get in when cold, but's no different than Speed 3, NC Miata, 350Z I owned either.

I really think 90% of these complaints are driver error.

It gets pretty cold here. I have not had a problem. I mean it's notchy when it's cold but that makes sense? I have a lwcp and have no problems rev matching or shifting period. Scratched a few times but that was my fault.

Hahah yes, Mr. Pedo. Many forums/games have "Thorpedo" blocked as as user name as it includes the word "pedo". :lol::lol:

Thanks for the advice! So the mix made a big difference? I don't drive mine in the winter either so its only really the first shift to second in the morning where I experience resistance. Just FYI, pretty much any motorcycle/powersports shop around can get Motul fluids, you just need to ask!

I can't say i've noticed that you're from halifax before, Yours isn't the one with the intercooler clearly visible through the "mouth", is it ;) Why the hell haven't I seen you at autocross or AMP?!?!?!

I was commenting in another thread which resulted in this poll.

As for the noob skill comment, thats B.S. I have a lot of manual driving experience, mostly with Subarus. I have never had an issue with any gear boxes ever, or clutches. My previous '07 WRX had the stock clutch for 88,000 miles. Before that I had a 2.5i Impreza, '07 as well. Had it for 50,000 miles, second owner, stock clutch up until 99,000 miles, no gear box issues.

There is a legitimate issues with some of the gear boxes, and I don't see how that is hard to understand. I believe the issues is a quality control issues, but that is my opinion. Synchros are the problem, and it is common. I've called several dealerships in the Bay Area to get my gear box replaced, and most of them have pulled and replaced a Transmission.

My car is notchy as can be going into 2nd, and on the colder mornings (~45 degrees F) I cannot get second until the transmission has warmed up some. There is a crunch going into 4th, which has been there since ~5 to 7,000 miles on the clock. 3rd gear is now starting to crunch.

I have never been to a track or an Auto X event, but I do drive spiritedly, and do long highway stints on the weekend. I have put 23,000 miles on my car in ~8 months of ownership.

OMG! No way! I R Pro Driva and my skeelz are aboslute. It has to be the gear box!

bwahahaha

New driver, stalled my car like 6 times on the way home. Since then stalled 3 times, one of which was because i was sleepy and started the car in gear and let of the clutch.
Pretty rough when cold, but again, it's 0 F here right now. shifts fine, it's not buttery smooth but nothing out of the ordinary.

Compared to Motul 300, the mix made a huge difference. Compared to the stock fluid it feels about the same, which is to say, it's still a little crunchy going into second when it's cold, but once it's warmed up everything works well.

Now, as this topic has been covered ad nauseam in the maintenance section, I'm going way off topic.

Nope, that would be Dan Marshall's car. He's on here, but he just left on the Freddy on his way to the Gulf so I doubt he'll be able to get on much. He's got some horrible screen name that ends in 69, I can never remember what it is. He's an electrician in the Navy. Seems like a decent guy, but maybe a little in over his head with that turbo kit.

I went to AMP twice with an old car, those were the only two times it ever broke down. The first time the alternator belt fell off and the second time it over heated. Both times there was no apparent cause even after going over everything with a fine tooth comb. That car saw well over 300 drag races, with dozens of those being hot lapped, and was beat to hell on the streets for over 270K Km's. It never let me down even in the slightest, except at AMP. I used to do 5000 rpm launches all weekend and would drive the car home from Miramichi without fear. I took those two break downs as a sign that maybe I'm not meant to be there. Besides, it's just not really my thing, I love to drive and mod, but I hate the idea of moding a car to fit a rule book. I've gotten hell from a few guys for not going out though. Maybe I should give it a try, I could try to beat Neil MacInnis's record for how often he got lost in an auto slalom. :lol:

Butter smooth at above 4000 RPM, a little notchy below that and there is a lot of track time on my gearbox. I've experienced many worse feeling transmissions, and very few I liked more (S2000/RX8 comes to mind).

Edit 5/14:

Intermittent grind noticed going into third, gear oil is probably due for a change. Will report back after. For reference, car has 14000 miles and around 25-35 hours of track time.

its not butter smooth nor problematic. It's a decent six speed, its no honda though.

I've been shifting gears for over 50 yrs. I had a bit of notchiness for the first 2K miles. I put on a KartBoy and a heavier knob. Shifts like a dream after breaking in. BUT!!! Your gears shouldn't grind if you feel the gear box. If it's resistant to go into gear don't force it. Listen to what your box is telling you. Most of the complaints I've read sound to me like poor shifting technique. These aren't racing gearboxes. I used to shift my racecar (Hewland box) both up and down with no clutch and never had any wear issues with either the gear dogs or the dog rings. Despite having 3X the power it was design for. Do what the box allows you to do and don't force it. Shifting is an art, take the time to perfect it.

If it happened after 20,000kms/miles, I'd believe it was driver error, but mine started crunching into second from 300kms, basically after it rolled off the production line. I didn't crunch it, miss shift or rape it and still don't. I also don't try to force it into gear when it's cold or try to flatshift/fast shift the box. I also don't rev the car over 3000rpm till it is up to temp. Can get it to not crunch when cold if I double clutch up gears.

Once it's warmed up it's smooth (except since this latest oil change) and no crunching, but we're in 2015 so I shouldn't have to deal with a crunching gearbox when it's cold (I live in Melbourne Australia so cold is ~10 - 20 degree C, not -12 either).

I've driven nothing but manuals since I learnt to drive 12 years ago and this is by far the worst gearbox I've ever experienced. It is also the first new car I've ever owned, previous cars that had run 300,000kms+ and had better shifting boxes than this!

Also, I'd believe it was driver error if it wasn't over 30% of owners answering that they have trouble with the gearbox. Sounds to me like a design or quality control issue, not 30%+ owners breaking their gearboxes/not knowing how to drive.

I've got 40 years of driving manual transmissions: 66 F-150, 76 Vega, 79 Mazda, 79 Scirocco, 84 Subaru, 88 MR2, 89 Toyota truck, 90 Suzuki Sidekick, 05 Corolla. I've never had gear crunches or worn out a clutch in less than 80K miles. My '89 Toyota truck's transmission was fantastic!

My BRZ's transmission is generally okay, but about 30% of the time the 1-2 shift crunches, even if I do it fairly slowly.

2nd is fairly difficult to get into when it is below 40 F. Shifting overall is almost normal when the transmission is REALLY WARMED UP.

Something is definitely odd about these transmissions. I'm waiting until this summer to see if the warm weather helps.

I have driven manuals daily for more than 30 years. My car grinds into second when cold – that is when it will even go into second. Some days it will go in just fine when cold, other days it is so stubborn that I just skip second altogether and go right to third. When it is behaving badly, even double clutching will not completely fix the crunch.

When the gearbox has warmed up, it shifts like a dream. If I have the time, the trick is to let the car idle for 2-5 minutes with the shift lever in neutral and my foot off the clutch. Then it usually shifts fine, unless it is seriously sub-zero.

The Aisin 6 speed manual tranny used for the twins is the AZ6, also used in the Mazda Miata MX5 roadster, the Mazda RX-8 and the Lexus IS200.

Here is a link to the Aisin website:

http://www.aisin.com/product/automotive/

I'm kind of stiff and cranky before I get warmed up. It may be temp related for sure. I'm in Miami and we just had a cold spell....it lasted 24 hrs and dropped to 57F...not anything like many of you experience. So my trany is always comparatively warm. I'm not saying that there might not be some issues, but, many of them are driver induced. I've read posts by someone complaining that they have to lift off the gas when shifting...WTF??? For better or worse this is a mass produced inexpensive street car, not a purpose built racecar.

Not exactly. The TL70 was developed for and is, so far, unique to our platform.

Kaizen Factor article

37 degrees F outside this morning. Cold shifting like butter. 60,000 miles on the car, Pentosin fluid(10,000 miles on this change), Kartboy shifter. Very happy with the way it feels.