Mmt Gearbox - Garage Had Car For 2 Months+ - At Wits End - Help Needed

[tariqnahmad]

hi

Toyota corolla 2004, MMT. Local garage has had it for 2 months. Initially they diagnosed it as needing a new clutch.

New clutch was installed. Now they are saying that car works fine on the ramp (when wheels are off ground) - but

as soon as car is placed on floor, it refuses to move. Engine fires up, but car wont move.

Apparently it refuses to communicate with their computer?!

They have other "ideas" but need proper expert solution.

Any thoughts anyone pleaseeee?

Thanks.

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Sounds a bad situtation, no mention of cost and no mention of why they needed 8 weeks for a new clutch ??

Not something I have done, but perhaps getting / paying for an independant engineer / assessor / report might help move things along.

Believe the RAC or AA offer something like that if you are a member.

Google " independent vehicle assessment " and "independent vehicle engineers report" for such people.

[Cyker]

The problem with the MMT is it's very specialist. You might be better off getting Toyota to look at it, but it'll cost

What exactly is the problem then? It won't go in gear? Maybe one of the many sensors have died.

[tariqnahmad]

Hi, thanks for reply. Sorry for delay in replying. The garage is saying:

"it starts, but does not engage into gear. the N for neutral light is constantly flashing on the dashboard.

the wheels do not spin. we have free wheeled it on the ramp also."

they do suggest getting a new "clutch actuator" and a "gearbox ecu" but they said that may or may not fix the problem.

so, not sure what to do from here:

1. get the parts from a breaker and hope they do the job, but if they don't then its more money down the drain?

2. scrap the car, or part ex it in the condition its in. webuyanycar valued it at 3K. if the repairs cost, say 1k, then im

still looking at 2K. id be happy with that right now.

[alan333]

Bite the bullet and take it to Toyota. If it's had a new clutch it's possibly some setting that needs re-calibrated or something. Surely a diagnostic is worth the gamble.

[Devon Aygo]

You cannot just fit a clutch in an MMT car, once fitted the cars actuator and MMT control unit has to reset and recalibrated this requires Toyota diagnostic equipment otherwise the car will no allow gear selection

[Cyker]

Well that'd explain it!

(Personally I'd sell it and get a manual one but I'm biased against autos :P)

[tariqnahmad]

You cannot just fit a clutch in an MMT car, once fitted the cars actuator and MMT control unit has to reset and recalibrated this requires Toyota diagnostic equipment otherwise the car will no allow gear selection

Thanks for this reply. The funny thing is that at the beginning of September the garage _had_ taken the car to Toyota after the clutch was fitted, but he bought it back saying Toyota found something else wrong with it. I then rang Toyota and here is what they told me (I partially recorded the conversation):

"We need to determine if anything has been damaged when the clutch was fitted, to do that we need to remove the gearbox and strip it. You're

talking 1700pounds. When the car came in we tried to reinitialise what had been fitted but it wasn't successful. The mechanic has written a note

here saying 'please note that there may be gearbox damage as a result of the way that the repair has been carried out'. So we could fit a new clutch and

a new gear actuator and its not impossible that theres damage to the gearbox as well. We are not able to determine that until you strip the gearbox and inspect each individual component we wouldn't know that. We have seen this in the past where theres been damage to the gear actuator and the gearbox where an independent garage has fitted an MMT clutch incorrectly, through no fault of their own really they only do what they can do, its not done deliberately, but there are limitations for these boxes and they don't have all the equipment required to repair successfully. We have a quote here for 1792, im assuming that's clutch and actuator but we cant guarantee that there hasn't been gearbox damage as a result of the repairs that have been carried out. The independent bought the car in and we charge them 58.50+VAT for a repair that wasn't successful, the diagnostic at the time wasn't taken (???)"

Now the thing is, a few days ago I went and got the car and towed to another garage. This garage has opened it up and told me to get a new clutch actuator and gearbox ecu. But they have said that they don't guarantee that these will fix the problem either....

[tariqnahmad]

Well that'd explain it!

(Personally I'd sell it and get a manual one but I'm biased against autos :P)

That's the plan, as soon as I either (a) get this car working again or ( B) get a decent part ex price. On webuyannycar the value is approx. 3800.

[Mike169]

Hi, it seems you have 2 options, take it to Toyota and get them to fix it but give them a ceiling price not to go over, say £250.00 or just sell the car.

Personally i would just sell the car as my personal opinion is the MMT g/box is more trouble than it's worth but it's your call.

Do let us know how you get on.

Mike.

[Heidfirst]

he is going to toil to sell the car though as it is as if I am reading it correctly it is undriveable atm.

[tariqnahmad]

hi,

im between a rock and a hard place at the mo. do I get parts and hope it works and then sell for a few K, or do I scrap for a few hundred...

anyhow, can anyone tell me where I can get the part numbers from? the garage says I should get a clutch actuator and gearbox ecu. he says that the actuator has no part number?! so where can I get this part number from (ive tried toyodiy) and where can I buy these from? any recommendations?

thanks.

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Rock and hard place indeed !

Expect such specialised parts will only come direct from Toyota and from the tone of your posts I don't think I would be confident any non totota garage will be able to fix it ( unless they are good ex Toyota mechnanics who know all about that box)

Assuming the body etc is in decent condition perhaps you could sell for a reasonable price if someone was looking to put a complete engine in it or use the body for something similar like track racing ??

good luck...

[Wiz201]

personally I'd scrap it. I was looking at this option with my Yaris MMT and it was £750 at trade price. With fitting it was £1300 in total.

[tariqnahmad]

for my own piece of mind, I have to _try_. on the one hand ive got webuyanycar offering me approx. 3.5k. on the other hand ive got a scrap dealer offering me 800. even if it costs me 1.5k to fix up im still better off that the scrap option.

[Mike169]

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=97184

Hey mate, just click the above link, the MMT gearbox is plagued with problems and is one of Toyota's failures, this is the opinion of many although some may say their particular gearbox has been a good one but overall they are considered 'a mistake'

Best thing i think you can do is get rid of the car and absorb any financial loss and put this one down to experience.

Mike.