Aurion gearbox shuddering

[rob_o]

Hey guys,

My mum just bought a new Aurion Touring. She's pretty happy with it, however she's picked out this one thing which happens every now and again (I've noticed it too).

The car sometimes shudders under low acceleration - generally when driving up a slight gradient. It only does this for a second or two before it kicks down and works fine. It's the same kinda shuddering you would get if you were driving a manual and had it in 5th gear whilst doing 40km/h and trying to go uphill.

Is this a known issue, or is this just the gearbox bedding in because the car is so new? The car has < 200 km on it and hasn't even been in for its free 1000km check-up.

[wa5]

wouldnt be the traction control working would it?

I think there would be a light in the dash that would flash if this were the case...

[MRMOPARMAN]

id doubt it would be the gearbox not run in yet. modern autos these days are known to be 'slippy' through gear, to smooth them out. possibly a software issue. id bring it up with the service people when it goes in for the 1000km service.

make sure you/mum gets a service advisor/forman in the car so she can demonstrate the problem. do not take no for an answer if they say its not needed! the chances of the car being fixed reduces dramatically if the techs cant fault it and no one knows what its doing.

[oldcorollas]

it is probably doing exactly what you say.. struggling because it is too low in rev range for the load...
as above, go get it checked now, rather than possibly cause problems later

[rob_o]

Yeah I thought it might've been something to do with the ECU selecting the wrong gear at the time.

As for the traction control... I don't think my mum would ever see traction working she drives like a bit of a granny.

[wa5]

the traction control on Aurions apparently comes in very early...

this only happens going up hill? and its been raining a lot of late........

[thechuckster]

mounts or transmission? - seeing as it's under warranty, take it in and make it their problem.

[Norbie]

I have the same thing happen in my Century - it only occurs intermittently and usually while going uphill. It scares the crap out of me because I start thinking about how expensive a transmission repair would be. But as soon as I force it to kick down it's fine again. I don't think it has anything to do with traction control because the light never comes on, and I doubt it could break traction while underway even if I wanted it to.

[deviant]

I would take it in to be looked at and dont take the "They all do that mate" answer.

Try and get another Aurion as a loan car to see if it is the same.

Dont forget that while it is under warranty they will not pay out if there is a failure of a part that has been building over time...E.G. You cant take it in for a new gearbox if it has been playing up for 6 months and you did nothing.

If there is no knocks or clonks it seems like it just is not selecting the appropriate gear for the load / RPM / throttle position etc....maybe a software issue?

[rob_o]

the traction control on Aurions apparently comes in very early...

this only happens going up hill? and its been raining a lot of late........

At around 10% throttle in the dry, I don't think it's TC kicking on.

I have the same thing happen in my Century - it only occurs intermittently and usually while going uphill. It scares the crap out of me because I start thinking about how expensive a transmission repair would be. But as soon as I force it to kick down it's fine again. I don't think it has anything to do with traction control because the light never comes on, and I doubt it could break traction while underway even if I wanted it to.

That sounds exactly the same as what's happening with the Aurion. Only when it's on very light throttle and only happens intermittently.

[too_quick]

The traction control light flashes when your giving it heaps. The light is yellow on the right hand side of the dash.

I wouldn't say it kicks in early, I would say late.

We have about 12 of these at work as Fleet cars and none of them have this problem and we got them new. The only problem we have is the tires arnt lasting 20,000km. But 200kw in a fwd and you will expect them not to last long.

[oldcorollas]

maybe mum just needs to give it a tap ont eh throttle to "get it up the hill".. or is there some spot setting for the shifts?

[2jzhilux]

Get you toyota dealer to plug in the "Intelligent tester 2" and bring up the transmission compensation codes out of the ecu and get them to confirm that they are the same as the code printed on the sticker on the top right of the gearbox . (They should know this)
It will be about a thirty digit number and you need to take the intake pipe out to see it
These have been known to vary sometimes(different code from ecu to gearbox) and if they do the gearbox will do strange things like this
If the car is under warranty just take it in and get them to sort it out.