The U340E Transmission in your Yaris

[coolcat21]

Hey guys,

So I've recently purchased a JDM 2004 Toyota Allex.

Now as you know, in Japan they have lots of different names for lots of different types of cars. Most are not sold globally.

My Allex is basically a fusion of corolla and a yaris.
The frame/chassis is 100% corolla (if you google you'll see it's basically a euro corolla 9th gen).

Now the running year, I BELIEVE, is all yaris:

1NZ-FE engine
Transaxle : U340E
Tyre: 175/70/R14

This is all from the vehicle info on the door wall.

Does the majority (mostly US-bound) of Yaris in this forum from year 2004-onwards have the U340E ?

My question is about the characteristic of these transmissions.

Alot of people in other forums have said that the Toyota U-Transmissions (camry, rolla etc.) are nowhere near as smooth as the A-trans from the 90s.

And I think I agree with that alot.
My car has an electric p/s , electric throttle , abs, ebd, ba.

You can really feel the shift especially from 1st to 2nd.
Mostly this is if your feet is on the pedal somewhere between "light" and "heavy" , it jerks.
And it almost always jerks if you coast it from a dead-stop and let it shift to 2nd (from 1st) without any gas input. (slight downhill etc.)


Any of you guys experiencing this ? My tranny fluid looks pink, smells like candy. And on the stick there's a label saying "No need to replace under normal usage"

[CTScott]

The U340 is the automatic transmission that we get on the Yaris here in North America. It is not the smoothest shifting auto that I have experienced, but it does seem to be robust. I attribute its odd shifting behaviors to the ECM also controlling it. Cars with smoother ATs usually have a separate ECU for the transmission.

[coolcat21]

The U340 is the automatic transmission that we get on the Yaris here in North America. It is not the smoothest shifting auto that I have experienced, but it does seem to be robust. I attribute its odd shifting behaviors to the ECM also controlling it. Cars with smoother ATs usually have a separate ECU for the transmission.

When you say U340 ...you mean without the 'E' ? What are the differences between them ?

It's definitely not the smoothest. My first car, a 93 corolla with the 4a-fe engine and A240E transmission is so smooth.
But i don't think it has a separate computer for the tranny ? Isn't that only for luxury cars ?

What kind of rough shift are you experiencing ?

[CTScott]

The Yaris does use the E version of the 340 as well.

I am not sure which use a separate ECU for the tranny, but the reason I say that I think that is part of the cause is that it kind of feels like the ECM has run out of bandwith when the tranny does its odd little behaviors. It's not that it shifts roughly, it is just that it sometimes shifts oddly.

[coolcat21]

The Yaris does use the E version of the 340 as well.

I am not sure which use a separate ECU for the tranny, but the reason I say that I think that is part of the cause is that it kind of feels like the ECM has run out of bandwith when the tranny does its odd little behaviors. It's not that it shifts roughly, it is just that it sometimes shifts oddly.

Ah i see.

It shifts ok for the most part. But I can pretty much always feel 1st to 2nd ...and sometimes 2nd-3rd.
Do you always feel 1st-2nd ?

[CTScott]

Ah i see.

It shifts ok for the most part. But I can pretty much always feel 1st to 2nd ...and sometimes 2nd-3rd.
Do you always feel 1st-2nd ?

Yes.

[coolcat21]

Yes.

cool thanks. This makes me worry less.
Still jerky though. I guess toyota trannies made in 2000-about 2010 aren't as smooth as their predecessor. Hopefully still very reliable.

My car has only done 41,000 miles.

[caineroad]

Yes.. I've driven Audi's. It's noticeably smoother, but that's not to say the Yaris is bad. For an economical car, i actually think is very very good. Also it seems like it never dies, I've always shift it to 3, 2 and L like driving a manual just for fun, still have not yet experienced any noticeable degradation in the tranny. Good engineering!

[japle]

Did anyone mess around with this gearbox before? I am using the same u340e as well, was wondering whether can it be modded

[CrankyOldMan]

Did anyone mess around with this gearbox before? I am using the same u340e as well, was wondering whether can it be modded

It's an automatic. Why would you want to mess with it?

[jack black]

Corollas AT had smooth shifts but it shifted gears all the time in city based on gas pedal input. When I serviced corolla's AT filter at 60,000 miles it was full of debris. Yaris AT has very conservative shifting and only does it when needed (ie mainly on speed input, like old fashioned AT). I serviced it also at 60,000 miles and the fluid and filter were almost spotless. Looks like Yaris is optimized for longevity, but not for the NVH touchy feely stuff.