Clutch or Syncros

[kcty]

Hi everyone... I had a question about my Yaris and thought I'd pick your brains.

I have a 2007 Yaris Sedan with a manual transmission. I've owned it since day one (had 20 miles on it), and it now has 235,000 miles on it (378,000 km). I've not had to do much to it, and I've been very happy with it. Basically I've just done standard maintenance and have had recall work done to it. In the last few months, I've had an issue develop where the car grinds when putting it in gear once in a while. It almost always grinds if I try to put it in 1st when the car is rolling at all, so I try not to do that. However, if I come to a totally complete stop, most of the time it drops right into 1st, but once it a while still grinds. 1st to 2nd will also sometimes grid, but most of the time it's fine. Also, once in a while it grinds going into reverse. Sometimes the grids sound very slow, like going into 1st, I can hear just a few teeth before it goes in, and other times it's full-on grinds.

In all honesty, I'm a little hard on my clutch, so my first thought is the clutch. However, I've also heard of some issues with the syncros, and some people on here are getting over 300,000 miles before the clutch needs to be changed. So, I wanted to get your thoughts on it. While I have no problems changing out the clutch, I'd hate to do it, if that's not the issue. As for the transmission, I use quality transmission fluid in it when I change it. It's currently running Red Line, but has run Royal Purple as well. I wasn't fond of the way the Royal Purple felt when shifting, so I only used it once.

Any thoughts? Clutch, syncros, or something else?

[fnkngrv]

I would lean toward something internal to the tranny. I was having identical issue with only 25k miles on my car. Ibtook it to the local dealership and they told me it was ny shifting style. I called BS, but it did no good. I still have that original tranny sitting in my shed. I haven't had the opportunity to crack it open and upgrade.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[bronsin]

Change the clutch.

If you still got noise...change the tranny.

Or do what I would do and just drive it! I bought a 92 Honda Accord Wagon for my wife with a manual transmission with 90k on it and a flaky clutch.

60k miles later it was stolen and the clutch wasn't any worse.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Or do what I would do and just drive it! I bought a 92 Honda Accord Wagon for my wife with a manual transmission with 90k on it and a flaky clutch.

60k miles later it was stolen and the clutch wasn't any worse.

^^^^^ This. The clutch and tranny haven't sounded perfect from 235,000 miles through the 300,000 plus I have now on my blue Yaris, but there haven't been any issues with those systems that have kept it off the road during that time.

Trini, who is now going turbocharging his Yaris at 543,000 plus miles , got 448,000 miles out of his original clutch. At least one and maybe two other members got just over 400,000 miles out their original clutches (403,000 miles and 408,000 miles come to mind).

[kcty]

Thanks, everyone. None of it is real bad, so I think I'll take that advice and keep driving it. I can't tell that the clutch is slipping or anything like that, just the occasional grinding issues. I can do a few things to reduce the grinding, so I'll just take care and keep driving it. Like you all mentioned, I had seen several others that had gotten 400,000+ miles out of their clutch, so it seemed a bit early, even if I had been hard on it. I'm guessing that if it is an issue, it will probably get worse over time and it may become more apparent as to what the issue is.

Thanks again for the advice!

[bronsin]

Oh shoot I forgot! Its possible your clutch just needs to be bled. If theres any air in there the clutch wont fully operate when you step on the pedal.

I belld the clutch on my motorcycle twice a year and if I had one one a car every two years minimum.

Definitely a clutch bleed here is called for!

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by kcty

Thanks, everyone. None of it is real bad, so I think I'll take that advice and keep driving it. I can't tell that the clutch is slipping or anything like that, just the occasional grinding issues. I can do a few things to reduce the grinding, so I'll just take care and keep driving it. Like you all mentioned, I had seen several others that had gotten 400,000+ miles out of their clutch, so it seemed a bit early, even if I had been hard on it. I'm guessing that if it is an issue, it will probably get worse over time and it may become more apparent as to what the issue is.

Thanks again for the advice!

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/sho...ght=45k+clutch

^^^^^Park your Yaris in an empty or nearly empty parking lot, sit in the driver's seat, and perform the test outlined in post #12 on the Yarisworld page I provided the link to above. Between 200,000 and 300,000 miles I thought a few times that the clutch on my blue Yaris might be 'going'. I performed the above test and learned that it wasn't.

[2009Toyotoad]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Oh shoot I forgot! Its possible your clutch just needs to be bled. If theres any air in there the clutch wont fully operate when you step on the pedal.

I belld the clutch on my motorcycle twice a year and if I had one one a car every two years minimum.

Definitely a clutch bleed here is called for!

Yep I was just wondering how many heat cycles that hydraulic fluid was good for too. 235K is significant, even for factory fuild.

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by 2009Toyotoad

Yep I was just wondering how many heat cycles that hydraulic fluid was good for too. 235K is significant, even for factory fuild.

People who race motorcycles bleed their brakes for every event. Im pretty sure thats oveerkill and its not buying them anything. But thats what they do.

I dont know why manufacturers dont recomment changing brake fluid say every three years or 30k miles. But if you saw what brake fluid looks like after that lenth of time youd want it gone. If only for the long life of the components.

The brake fluid in my motorcycles (ST1300) clutch looks very dark after only 6 months and 5000 miles. I dont know how many times Ive seen a post that goes like this "Im on a trip with my wife around the country. Were 3000 miles from home and the transmission wont shift! Help!"

A change of the clutch fluid and all is well!