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Hi All:

___My friend Jesse from work (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3997) has a Yaris with Auto and he says during warm-up, it will not let go of second gear even after attempting a few fake shifts in the 30 mph range. After she has warmed up after maybe ½ mile, she will run right up through the gears like most would expect. The Corolla has a touch of this in colder weather but I don’t remember it happening in the summer months. Is this a fairly common Yaris w/ Auto trait, a quirk that will go away with a few more miles of break in (he just finished his first tank at 37.x mpg) or something he needs to have looked at?

___Thanks in advance.

___Wayne

Sounds a lot like my car.

If it's like my car at all (Corolla clone), I'd guess it'd eventually let go of second gear at a higher shift point. The shifting funkiness appears to correlate pretty well with water temps...at around 85°F it'll let go of second; at around 135°F, third. Third is acceptable for highway speeds.

Idling the engine would warm up the water and allow it to shift out of second sooner, but of course it's also a waste of gas. A block heater or spoofing the water temp sensor might also solve the problem. My main recourse has just been to use the lowest throttle position which will maintain speed until it's warm enough to shift out of second. Fortunately, even on the coldest winter days, it'll do this before I'm accelerating up to speed on the expressway (perhaps a half-mile from work).

It's usually not a problem in the morning because I normally warm-up P&G in the 15-30 MPH range anyway, plus the car is already at least 40°F from staying in the garage.

Hi Bruce:

___Jesse just read your post and thanks you for the reply!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I posted on this thread last night but it looks like its gone off into the ether.

This was discussed on the YarisWorld forums without any consensus on the workaround. I would just try swapping out the transmission fluid for a synthetic such as Redline's 75W-90 NS.

I think the Automatic transmission shift schedule delays upshifting to 2nd on purpose. Toyota's Yaris owner manual specificaly requests that you start right out instead of warming ups the car, they further conto tell you to take it easy until the 'COOL TEMP' lamp turns off. I think they are purposley reving the engine higher to warm it up faster. My Yaris Sedan works the same way.

Hi Mkorejwo:

___I will thank you for Jesus as that is what he still sees as well … He just wanted some verification from others that this is a Yaris’ “feature” and not a “problem” is all. That feature sucks by the way ;)

___And the owner’s manual has it right. Never sit still and idle away for warm up.

___Good Luck

___Wayne