gearbox rattling sound at high RPM
 

Hi,

I was looking to buy a Scion FR-S and I test drove one last Saturday. It was low mileage (11k) and manual transmission. I loved the car a lot, but the gearbox made this strange rattling sound at RPMs above say 4000. Also, I noticed the small emblem on top of the gearbox seemed to be lose as if someone took it off. I'm sort of suspicious someone worked on a problem with the gearbox. The CARFAX is spotless clean though. Any idea about this problem?

WELCOME to the forum, rennlistuser .......:)

A few folks have commented on that emblem coming unglued and making noise. The suggestion was made to just pop it off and glue it back on.

Does the "strange rattling sound", sound like a lose piece of plastic OR a deeper, heavier sound ... ??

Dealer or private seller .. ??


humfrz

Happy to be here. I test drove a lot of cars by this point. I was always very deeply disappointed but not by the FR-S. I'm not sure if I'll buy it right now, but very likely at some point in the future. That car was very impressive. I think I'll post separate thread on my experience with it.

I honestly could never figure out if the rattle was the sound of a faulty gearbox or just some lose plastic. It's not coming from the top of the gear-knob. It's a dealer car and the dealer said it's likely the locking mechanism for reverse gear that's a bit lose. He demonstrated by holding it down and the vibration was reduced. It's just worrisome that a car with 11,000 miles would have such rattles.

Maybe it's this.

Did he put in a kartboy short throw shifter? lol

Here was mine before I returned it

https://vimeo.com/101777935

Now - to be fair - whatever makes that noise is still there. It was gone for a long time but since I put in a carbon fiber drive shaft - I hear it at certain RPMS now. Not as loud as when the STS was installed but it is there and not part of the Kartboy. The Kartboy just made it horribly audible.

Also - it's not the emblem. Mine makes the noise with an Ashiko solid knob.

Yup, I think that's it from the detailed description on that thread. They mention a fix from Toyota for it. Nice. I'm pretty sure that's the rattle I'm hearing so no further investigation is needed in this thread.

Moderators, please close this thread if you can! The link to the other thread is more useful.

Nah, just leave it open so others can stumble across it. Might help someone else.

I had this problem with my 2015. The dealer replicated it with a brand new FR-S off the showroom floor.

I solved it by installing the Whiteline shifter bushing. http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_..._number=KDT926

according to the thread Sigh-on-Rice, linked you can see on page three that Toyota has a fix for it (S-SB-0014-13). Didn't they offer this for you instead?

That TSB doesn't apply to 2015 models - they had already applied that fix in the new manufacturing process for this year's model. We did review it when I discussed the problem, but it was quickly dismissed.