shifting issue

[mtnbkrgrl]

In case anyone else is interested, I found out what the problem is. I have a neighbor that's a retired master mechanic for Toyota (yeah, I know, pretty convenient ). Anyway, when I originally called him, he was still away on vacation, but he called me back this evening. Said that there were no transmission problems with this year of Toyota (I was thinking synchros). He had me go out and double clutch (because my clutch is hydraulic) and sure enough she went into gear nice and smooth. It's the master cylinder or the slave cylinder, but I'll replace both. Better than any synchros, but not sure how much it's going to cost to get her fixed. Geez, pretty soon everything under the hood is going to be new! Hope this info helps someone else.

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I have a 1996 Corolla station wagon that so far has been virtually trouble-free. We bought it new in '97 and I've been the primary driver. A little history: back in March it set for 3 months because my mechanic wrongly told me I blew the head gasket, later to find out that was not true. It was actually the heat sensors on the engine going bad. My neighbor did the work for me. My problem now is that lately I've been having trouble with the shifter. It almost seems like something is obstructing the shifter and not allowing it to go into gear. After a couple of tries, it seems to loosen up and it will shift fine. I took the boot off and looked around in there with a flashlight, but everything looks good in that area. I've never worked on newer cars. My experience has been with older, pre gadget cars (my other car is a 1966 Mustang). So, I'm clueless. I can tell you the clutch is fairly new, had it put in about 5 years ago. Any ideas as to what could be causing the problem? Thanks in advance for any advice, comments or instruction for fixes.

[speedy25]

You may be able to get away with bleeding the system. If that doesnt help, look for leaks to determine which part is at fault. Dont forget to look under the boot of the clutch master cylinder inside the car. Some people lose fluid and wonder where it went when they dont see any leaks under the hood.

-SP

[Bitter]

any manual transmission can have synchro problems, some are just more noted for it than others.

[mtnbkrgrl]

Thanks for the advice, guys. It's only going to be around $300 to replace both the master and the slave and that includes the labor. My neighbor's going to do the work for me. I realize I could bleed the system, but at 13 years old, it's a pretty safe bet they are leaking. I'll go ahead and have them replaced because I'm sure next month something else will go.

[hungt1999]

You might as well ask him to change the transmission oil too (75w90 GL4 gear oil)

[sequoiasoon]

Originally Posted by hungt1999

You might as well ask him to change the transmission oil too (75w90 GL4 gear oil)

If you change the fluid I HIGHLY recommend BG Synchro Shift II. I had light grinding (at high RPM and down shifts) that was diagnosed as synchro issues even after changing the fluid 3 times with regular dino and other brand synthetics, as well as changing master and slave with a pressurized fluid flush and grinding remained. My friend that works for BMW recommended the above as they were using it in them for the same issues and it cleared many up. $60 and 3 qts of BG and a 25 mile drive later all grinding was gone and stayed gone for the rest of the vehicles life (until wrecked). Some say Redline is also good but I stuck with what worked for me and changed it every couple years for good measure/piece of mind.

The final determination was that the other fluids were on the thick side of the 75W-90 spec and caused the synchro's to slow down to fast causing the grind. The BG is a GL4 but I think like 75W-80. My Corolla with 220k on it was shifting better than my '07 Sonata that replaced it even when new and after trying 3 different fluids. The Sonata HATES going into second gear when cold until fluid warms up.

[ford_jj]

Originally Posted by mtnbkrgrl

Thanks for the advice, guys. It's only going to be around $300 to replace both the master and the slave and that includes the labor. My neighbor's going to do the work for me. I realize I could bleed the system, but at 13 years old, it's a pretty safe bet they are leaking. I'll go ahead and have them replaced because I'm sure next month something else will go.

Good luck. I gain more from you. Thanks.