Better off buying a Manual Corolla than swapping it even if they are relatively rare. If you got the money, time, resources, and knowledge to do it, go for it. If you got none of that, don't waste your time.

 

Given the rather poor reliability of the manual in these particular models, you're probably better off keeping the auto and taking care of it with a pan drop/ATF change and spending the time/money on other things.

It'd be a different story if you had two vehicles, one with a good motor and manual trans but bad body, and the other a blown/worn out motor with auto trans but good body, and were just swapping between the two. Also would be different if the manual were stronger/more reliable than the auto, as is the case with some other vehicles. In this case, actually taking the time to seek out a manual trans and doing the work to put it in would likely not be worth it.

You could always keep an eye out though, maybe one day a rear-ended 2005-2008 will show up when you have more time, money, and ability and can swap it out into what you have now.


I'd agree with the above as well too, you'd be better off just finding and buying something in good condition that already has a manual if you want a manual. Of course, it doesn't have to be a 9th gen or even a Corolla. Instead of doing a manual swap, you can spend the time and money getting and installing a new clutch.

 

Given the rather poor reliability of the manual in these particular models

Do you actually have data, or is this anecdotal? I have an '05 manual with ~200K, and today is the first time that anything broke on it (starter motor - no big surprise).

 

transmission
clutch
pedals
master/slave cylinder/hose
ECM, BCM (?)
harness(???)
programming

The only "easy way" is to have donor car and transfer everything, including BCM and key

 

"Poor reliability of the manual in these models" !

Can you elaborate on this ? Why are they not reliable ? Is it a clutch issue ? Anyone ....?

 

I replaced man. transmission about a week ago. Some guy checked old one, he said most likely forks were bad.
I really want to take apart old one, find out what was the problem, fix it and sell transmission.
Couple of special tools are needed to take it apart.

 

car5, but your having a problem with the transmission in your car isn't proof that these cars have transmission problems unless this is a widespread thing, which is what I'm trying to find out. I know 7th generation Civics for example have a common problem with the head gasket and it's very common. Do these Corollas have a common problems with their manuals ?? What I'm noticing is that owners seem to have to replace the clutch prematurely, which makes me think maybe they have a clutch design issue.



Any feedback on this will be appreciated.

 

That you hear these cars have problematic manual transmissions is likely indicative of poor to no maintenance by the owner. This has been voiced by other longtime members like hardtope72 who have noted those with failing manual transmissions reported never changing the manual transmission fluid. My 2005 corolla 5mt that my brother now drives has over 200k miles with no transmission issues. I've got a corolla xrs with 78k, although that's low milage it's got no transmission issues. Ideally you want to replace the tranny fluid with every 30k-40k miles with GL4. I have heard of premature clutch failure on the matrix xrs of this generation but across the board the manual transmissions of this generation are quite reliable.

 

OK. Thanks for the reply, bt. That's reassuring. I got rid of good running 7th gen Civic because of their common input shaft bearing problems -and the head gasket issues- and I sure don't want to deal with bad transmissions on my first Toyota.

The clutch was changed on my Corolla only a year ago when it had about 120,000 Kms (75K miles), which is premature I think but I know some people don't know how to drive stick. I'm assuming the transmission oil was changed when they did the clutch but I know I should check it. So, use only Toyota oil for this .

 

There is a variety of quality oils you can use as long as it's GL4. Some good ones include redlineMT90, royal purple and amsoil. I'm not sure if toyota sells gl4 oil, though it's likely you can get it from a dealership. They should have changed the oil after replacing the clutch but we all know some mechanics aren't the most scrupulous people. It never hurts to check.

 

OK. Thanks again for the reply and the info, bt. I heard good things about Amsoil and that it can make shifting smoother but I just wasn't sure if it's something I could use in my car. So I guess it has to say GL4. I'm also wondering if it's synthetic oil.

 

No problem. That should be ok as long as it's 75w90 viscosity and GL4 compatible. I'm a fan of redline, it improved the shifting in the older corolla I had. I have no experience with amsoil but if it gets lots of praise and is compatible I would use it too.

 

OK thanks. I'll check out Redline too.

 

This is the first time I can remember hearing about "poor reliability" of the manual 5spd on the Corollas... lol