2019 Corolla hatchback manual transmission gear oil

Thanks for the update. We all make mistakes but the dealership made good on it. I would not worry at all you drove less than a week on it. If stuff like this happens well, I just laugh it off with the service manager but let them know I would like it corrected. It is better to be perceived as a good customer. The service manager is the one with the problem he has to eat the inventory and labor cost. I always say thanks for taking care of me too. You have another four years on the warranty.
 
Originally Posted by wdn
Thanks for the update. We all make mistakes but the dealership made good on it. I would not worry at all you drove less than a week on it. If stuff like this happens well, I just laugh it off with the service manager but let them know I would like it corrected. It is better to be perceived as a good customer. The service manager is the one with the problem he has to eat the inventory and labor cost. I always say thanks for taking care of me too. You have another four years on the warranty.


That's a good policy. I always try to be professional and civil. It can be hard at times, but this is a good reminder. Thank you.
 
Originally Posted by wdn
Thanks for the update. We all make mistakes but the dealership made good on it. I would not worry at all you drove less than a week on it. If stuff like this happens well, I just laugh it off with the service manager but let them know I would like it corrected. It is better to be perceived as a good customer. The service manager is the one with the problem he has to eat the inventory and labor cost. I always say thanks for taking care of me too. You have another four years on the warranty.


I test drive a new fluid for about 500 miles before I make a decision on the shift quality of an MTF.
 
Originally Posted by MolaKule
Originally Posted by wdn
Thanks for the update. We all make mistakes but the dealership made good on it. I would not worry at all you drove less than a week on it. If stuff like this happens well, I just laugh it off with the service manager but let them know I would like it corrected. It is better to be perceived as a good customer. The service manager is the one with the problem he has to eat the inventory and labor cost. I always say thanks for taking care of me too. You have another four years on the warranty.


I test drive a new fluid for about 500 miles before I make a decision on the shift quality of an MTF.


I've driven nearly 200km (120 miles) with the car mostly at operating temp and I'm not optimistic. Out of those miles I've only had two cold starts, but you have to remember that I drove 9000km with the factory fluid. Changing it to an incorrect fluid and back to the correct fluid won't magically fix matters unless the factory somehow managed to under fill the gearbox.
 
More thoughts - the car performs and shifts so well when it's warm, that I'm compelled to believe nothing is wrong with my car.

I'm hoping the shift quality is improved when cold, and Ill find out over the next week, but maybe I'll just become accustomed to dealing with it if nothing has changed
 
There are also other mtfrs' fluids to consider using. Redline's claim-to-fame is smooth shifting cold. So is BG's. If you have a modicum of space and four ramps you can do this yourself at little cost ... if you're so-inclined.
 
Originally Posted by pleopard
More thoughts - the car performs and shifts so well when it's warm, that I'm compelled to believe nothing is wrong with my car.

I'm hoping the shift quality is improved when cold, and Ill find out over the next week, but maybe I'll just become accustomed to dealing with it if nothing has changed



But you mentioned that when you compared to the rental and your car was on the Toyota OEM original when you first got it, that the shifting wasn't the same.
Your vehicle had slight grinding resistance not just notchiness.

The reason the shop manager is defense is because he knows he hasn't done his job properly and should be called out on it too, to the dealer principal.

Why not take your car to another store and get their view on it? I would. Nothing to lose.
 
It wasn't a rental - just an identical brand new car on the lot that they let me drive.

You're correct. The other car shifted better than my car did with the original fluid. I'm just going to give it a few more days / a few more cold starts to fully assess how things are.

I can take it to another dealer and may do that - the issue is having to leave my car overnight again and needing a loaner. I'm not sure another dealer will let me do that without getting Toyota Canada involved.
 
Country Hills Toyota is also telling me it shifts fine when cold. This means one of two things - they're outright lying to me or it really is normal for these Corolla manuals to be quite rough.
 
As mentioned in an earlier post - my sense is there are variations in the feel of any two manual transmission cars... and not just in the feel... but in the synchro performance between the two. Buying even a brand new 5mt or 6mt car can be a crapp shoot. Just try to find the best fluid for your car + perform some personal adaptations to your drive routine to compensate a bit... and I say this knowing that when at full op. temp it shifts fine. It doesn't have a knackered synchro... just a slightly inferior performing one compared to the other Corolla you tested.
 
Agreed. -16C this morning and I decided to plug the block heater in for 4 hours. I'm sure the extra heat helped, in addition to my more slow and purposeful shifts into 2nd. The roughness is certainly still there but I think my adaptations are helping.

That being said, I'm now strongly considering a switch to Redline MT-LV 70W/75W. The only thing that gives me pause is that if that fluid makes things worse, switching yet again back to the Toyota fluid will really cost me. My dealer charges $85/L for the stuff. However, there are one or two Corolla hatch owners on Toyotanation that switched to the RL MT-LV and they claim it improved the shift quality.
 
Originally Posted by pleopard
Country Hills Toyota is also telling me it shifts fine when cold. This means one of two things - they're outright lying to me or it really is normal for these Corolla manuals to be quite rough.



What you should do is have the tech or manager ride along with you in your car and an identical car on the lot at this other dealer. I bet any amount of money that your car is outside of what is normal, maybe not by a lot but enough to be a drivability issue.

As for manual transmissions being a crap shoot when purchasing this just isn't true and hasn't be for decades. The truth is that most dealerships are
incredibly lazy, and most will lie if they think the customer will tolerate it. I will not. Don't accept this.

I've been trying to find complaints similar to yours around the web and I can't find any to speak of, of course the manual isn't very popular but there are still quite a few out there, and I don't see any similar complaints, I'd wager you have a problem vehicle.
 
To the OP, you might want to watch the embedded YouTube video by Redline. They do not speak about the MT-LV 70W-75 product, as that is the most recent one... but still, it is useful to listen to this info. Interesting, in that hinted-at within the video is a comment about Racers at times wanting to go to a bit heavier viscosity product for more gear tooth protection... so this echos what VW says, re the balance between synchro smoothness and overall balance-of-transmission-component longevity. Having said this, I would NOT stray from the Mfr's recommended SAE viscosity... nominally 75W (or, 70W-75... i.e. that is not a problem). I say this because, say, in the case of my Mazda - the speed-gears run on splined journals - with radially-fed oil holes... not on half-shell-caged needle bearings (like my Camry 5MT does). On the Mazda the shafting that has spine-type speed-gear journals is fed by an "oil-funnel" splash-lube trough system. Playing with a higher viscosity MTF could potentially negatively affect the ability of said system to properly lubricate the speed-gears with this design of oil delivery system. Not sure what the Aisin-Warner trans is like, in your Corolla. (Not 100% sure it is an Aisin-Warner... either). In any case Do Not play around with viscosities beyond what the Mfr. recommends!

https://www.redlineoil.com/mt-lv-70w75w

Cheers
 
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AC1DD, I've seen a couple complaints about hard or notchy shifts when cold on this car. It seems the Honda folks have it even worse.

I drove around with the shop manager on my first visit (first of four now) after the car sat overnight. Watching him shift, it was clear he wasn't having any issues. It baffled me. I've driven plenty of manuals, so it's not as though I'm inexperienced, and when the car is not freezing cold I have no issues.

Quite maddening, but I'm going to change the fluid to Redline assuming the dealer won't void my warranty for some silly reason.
 
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Originally Posted by pleopard
AC1DD, I've seen a couple complaints about hard or notchy shifts when cold on this car. It seems the Honda folks have it even worse.

I drove around with the shop manager on my first visit (first of four now) after the car sat overnight. Watching him shift, it was clear he wasn't having any issues. It baffled me. I've driven plenty of manuals, so it's not as though I'm inexperienced, and when the car is not freezing cold I have no issues.

Quite maddening, but I'm going to change the fluid to Redline assuming the dealer won't void my warranty for some silly reason.




Did he double-clutch, first-to-second? I can avert all crunchiness by really-accurately double-clutching 1st to 2nd...
 
Originally Posted by Cdn17Sport6MT
To the OP, you might want to watch the embedded YouTube video by Redline. They do not speak about the MT-LV 70W-75 product, as that is the most recent one... but still, it is useful to listen to this info. Interesting, in that hinted-at within the video is a comment about Racers at times wanting to go to a bit heavier viscosity product for more gear tooth protection... so this echos what VW says, re the balance between synchro smoothness and overall balance-of-transmission-component longevity. Having said this, I would NOT stray from the Mfr's recommended SAE viscosity... nominally 75W (or, 70W-75... i.e. that is not a problem). I say this because, say, in the case of my Mazda - the speed-gears run on splined journals - with radially-fed oil holes... not on half-shell-caged needle bearings (like my Camry 5MT does). On the Mazda the shafting that has spine-type speed-gear journals is fed by an "oil-funnel" splash-lube trough system. Playing with a higher viscosity MTF could potentially negatively affect the ability of said system to properly lubricate the speed-gears with this design of oil delivery system. Not sure what the Aisin-Warner trans is like, in your Corolla. (Not 100% sure it is an Aisin-Warner... either). In any case Do Not play around with viscosities beyond what the Mfr. recommends!

https://www.redlineoil.com/mt-lv-70w75w

Cheers


The trade-off between protection and shift quality is an interesting one indeed and something I suspect may be a factor in this case. I guess we'll see - might take 5-10 years of otherwise trouble-free operation before I can conclude that. :). Now, if I do end up putting RL MT-LV in and the transmission fails after a few years, I'll never know for sure if I should blame Toyota or RL. Haha. Seriously, all I can do now is laugh. Frustrating.

It's not clear if it's an AW transmission. Toyota says it's their all-new design, but Toyota is so tightly linked to AW that it's likely AW.
 
Yes, indeed, that might be the time-frame a person would need to wait - to see those results.

Related, I found a 2002 dated discussion by Redlne... which includes their MTL product (which of course was in existence at that time). The tech matters discussed, here, speak of the modified and higher coefficient of friction that their transmission and transaxle lubricants are imbued with. They also talk about stick/slip phenomena - causing synchro notchiness. I found it interesting. I will attempt to attach it.

Cheers!
 

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I have a 2019 Corolla XSE 6M and I haven't experienced any harshness or rough shifts in the cold in nearly 9K miles. Coldest my car has seen was 15°F which is cold but not brutal. It sounds like you could have a mechanical issue. I leave the iMT on 24/7 and the car shifts, rev-matches and drives very well.

My last 5 cars have been manual transmissions and the 2019 XSE feels just as smooth if not smoother than my 2002 Celica, 2015 Fiesta ST, and 2017 Focus RS.

I would find another dealership or go back and have Toyota remove the Mobil fluid and replace it with the original Toyota fluid at no cost. Sounds like the dealership wanted to get you out of their hair and did a fluid dump and fill to document something. The fluid they installed isn't to Toyotas spec and you shouldn't be changing it out of your pocket. You've got a warranty and it's possible something isn't mechanically sounds.
 
The original poster DOES, now, have the OEM specified Toyota-branded oil back in there... 75W. So I understand that he is assessing it currently.

Certainly, 15F is cold enough to exhibit cold shifting behaviour - and it is notable that yours is not rough. Having said this, and also, reading the Redline paper, a couple of posts up, about cold-shifting roughness, etc.... it appears that notwithstanding your- and Others experience of having very smooth synchro's - still, cold roughness is quite common. I do know it is really common in a Subaru BRS / Toyota 86 / Scion (whatever its model-designation-is).

Good that you have one that shifts smoothly.
 
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