questions about my yaris(vitz)

[apples]

ok i imported my vitz from japan, and the owner's manual is in japanese. It's the vitz 2005 model (yaris 2006)
Now since the owner's manual is in japanese there 2 things i can't understand.
1. my yaris is an automatic. It's gear sequence goes like this. first reverse (R) then neutral (N) then drive (D). It's fine till here. but after that i don't understand. Towards the right of (D) is an (S). What is this S? What does it do? How do you operate it?
Then after (S), if you move the stick down there's a (B). What's the (B)? What does it do? I tried driving in B, but the car went slowly and made a lot of noise. Is it for mountains?
What's the S?

2. What's teh thing on the inside of teh car roof. i know there's the door lights, but other than that there's a button with a fan drawn on it. What is this? What does it do? How do you operate it?

Thanks a lot.

[ism3t]

cough...PICS!

[ism3t]

oh and welcome to the forums!

[apples]

This is the gear box. i didn't take it myself, took it from the iternet. but my gear box/car model is exactly the same.
http://www.cars-directory.net/pics/toyota/vitz/2005/toyota_vitz_3446429_5_orig.jpg

[Kaotic Lazagna]

maybe similar to 3, 2, 1?

[apples]

how to use it?

[Kaotic Lazagna]

same as you would for those "3, 2, 1" gears? how fast were you driving on "B" it may have made a lot of noise because it's a lower gear. and if you were driving, say, 40 mph, then it would be in the upper range in rpm.

[apples]

at abt 30 mph
what does the 321 gear do?

[Black Yaris]

I would only use "D" for driving forward Apples if you do not know what the others are for

[apples]

that's what i'm doing till now. but now i want to find out what those two gears do.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

at abt 30 mph
what does the 321 gear do?

they're used for mountain roads (that's why you see signs saying trucks use lower gears) for more engine braking and for high loads, i think.

[my little snow ball]

all cars have other selections other then drive. the first thing you need to find out is if your car is a four speed or three speed automatic because if it is a three speed the s would be second gear and the b would be first gear and those gears are for when you have low traction and need to take off slower.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

really? i thought that the lower gears have a shorter gear ratio, meaning more torque (?). so wouldn't you want to take off in a mid-range gear if you have low traction?

i.e. say a Viper. one is more likely to lose traction while taking off in 1st gear rather than 3rd gear.

[Edd]

Usually if you lack traction, you take off in second, so yeah, you need a higher gear (lower torque, higher speed for given RPMs vs 1st). Really, the only reasons to use the gear limiters in auto are:
•Overtaking on a highway
•City driving, where the car will go 3-4, 4-3, 3-4, 4-3, so by limiting it to 3rd, you will [ideally] save fuel from the transmission not having to shift so much
•Hills
To avoid slipping (in snow), some automatics have a winter/summer mode button. When you are in winter mode, the car starts in second and shifts earlier, to give you less torque (as it will be wasted by uncontrolled wheel spin anyway).

[Kaotic Lazagna]

so i was right...

[hasher22]

the manual would tell u?? im guessing it will be kinda the same as 2 and L??

[cleong]

I asked one of the local JDM Vitz owners and he said that B is just a low gear. The slot corresponds to L for a regular Yaris.

I would surmise that it is a towing/heavy load gear. It maxes out at 20kph and won't shift up according to him. We cannot however figure out why it is B instead of L.

The thingy with a fan on your roof interior is probably an air ionizer gadget thingamajig. You might check eTimago's Toyota Thailand parts ordering thread to see if it looks the same. There is a roof-mounted ionizer in that menu of parts.

[apples]

the manual would tell u?? im guessing it will be kinda the same as 2 and L??

because the manual is in Japanese.

[Kunst1]

Your Vitz appears to have a CVT rather than a 4-speed auto. I read at some Japanese sites that 'S' stood for 'Sport' and it will keep the engine RPM higher, and 'B' stood for 'engine Braking' - equivalent to low gear.

[apples]

Really?? Thanks!

[apples]

OK, S is not sport.
Wikipedia says S is the same as '2'.

So now what is B?

[bearda]

OK, S is not sport.
Wikipedia says S is the same as '2'.

So now what is B?

Got a link to that?

[Kaotic Lazagna]

B is probably the lowest gear, which would be "1".

[Edd]

B - braking (1st)
S - steep (2nd)

???

Here's an easy way to work it out (if you have a tach). Rev to 2500 rpm and look at the speedo for each, write it down (when you're stopped obviously :biggrin:) and let us know. From that we can probably work out what gear it is limiting to.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

yup, or if he has a tach, put in "B" and see where it redlines. basically another way of doing what edd said.

[apples]

It doesn't have a tach.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

oh, that's going to be hard then...ummm, you can try to leave it in "B" and press the gas pedal 1/4 or 1/2 way down and see if your speed becomes constant, then switch to "S" with your pedal at the same spot (don't take your foot off, keep it where it is on the pedal throughout the entire time) and see if your speed goes up. if it does then maybe "S" is second gear and "B" is first. i'm not sure about this tho.

[apples]

i went on 20 mi/h on B but it started making a lot of noise. i don't want to blow my engine. :p

[Kaotic Lazagna]

yea, that's most likely first. at 20 mph in my car in first, the rpm's in the high end.

[Edd]

Yay, now do the same in S. :biggrin:

[apples]

S is 2. That's what wikipedia says.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

you should also try to find a more credible site. anyone can put up anything on wikipedia. i can go there and say that "S" is 1...but it sounds right. so "B" is 1, and "S" is 2.

[Meteorite Man]

Ok, by looking at your location you are in California. The gateway to the US from Asian countries. You're telling us that there isn't ANY way you can find a local Japanese Car Club, BookStore,Grocery Store or Library where someone can translate this for you? How about a Translation WebSite? Punch it in and you should get fairly close to what you want. Gotta do some legwork on this one. It's not gonna fall out of the sky.

Any colleges around? You may have to drive a few miles if for some reason they aren't ACROSS the street. Who knows, by the time you get there you might of already figured out how to drive this car. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

This might of been the homework BEFORE the test?

Good Luck

Chuck

[apples]

you mean a hunt for a japanese.
I wish i had time, but unfortunately these days I have a tight schedule. And I can't use a translator because my windows doesn't support Japanese.

[Meteorite Man]

Hunt? Hmmmm..Probably a better word than that but yes, that is what you may have to do. Crack open the yellow pages, white pages, local newspapers.

It's there if you want it. I'm sure you did a bit of work to get the car here. I'd bet it is less work to get this worked out.

Keep trying...

Chuck