What would cause bearbox bearings to go - in 2 cars ?

[hippy1975]

hoping someone can advise, myself and my husband both have 4 year old Corolla's which we thought were fantastic little cars up to now. A few weeks ago a gearbox bearing blew in his and was going to cost a fortune to fix, we negotiated with the Toyota garage because we had bought both cars from them new and had always serviced them with them, so we felt whatever happened we certainly hadn't neglected the cars. Anyway, they didn't meet us halfway but did something which we really appreciated and we were happy enough to go ahead and get the work done, even though it's still a lot of money.

Now they reckon a gearbox bearing is on the verge of going in mine, in fairness the service guys are very good, they said they would get straight on to Toyota for us even before I had to say it, waiting to hear back from them now, but what I can't figure out is how on earth could this happen in two identical cars so close together , when they've always been serviced with the main dealer and looked after ?

We do about 20 / 25 k in km per year, high enough mileage but not overly so.

I was afraid they might say it's our driving ! But we never had this problem with any car before, 17 years driving various cars and never had anything like this.....including a Toyota Carina that had 300,000 miles on it when it left me - I'm beginning to think I never should have parted with that car it was the best ever.

Would really appreciate if anyone could advise what might possibly cause this, should we be arguing now for Toyota to fix both completely (they're out of warranty but are '06 cars and should still be capable of doing the job IMO)

 

[jmrc]

Could be a number of factors including a faulty lot of bearings... Funny, I've never hear of a "bearing about to go", its working or its gone.... no in between with bearings I'm afraid...

 

[hippy1975]

thanks jmrc, seems then that it must be a manufacturing fault of some sort, have been talking to a mechanic friend since and he reckons it's a common enough fault with the diesel corolla. I'm going to go back and insist Toyota do something for us, we shouldn't be forking out thousands on cars that were brought brand new and looked after in every way. Was thinking of changing next year anyway, fancied an Avensis but I think that's well and truly off the list now !

 

[SparkRite]

Could be a number of factors including a faulty lot of bearings... Funny, I've never hear of a "bearing about to go", its working or its gone.... no in between with bearings I'm afraid...

Can't agree with you JMRC, I have often heard bearings "whining" long before they give up, generally giving you ample time to change them.

 

[ollie323]

Would really appreciate if anyone could advise what might possibly cause this, should we be arguing now for Toyota to fix both completely (they're out of warranty but are '06 cars and should still be capable of doing the job IMO)

What was the oil level like in both gearboxes? A leaky seal could lower the level over time. A small leak might be missed moreso than a large leak.
I bought a yaris that had high mileage and checked the oil level in its gearbox after i bought it. It was low and it didn't feel like it needed oil. Nor was there much oil around the driveshaft seals to indicate anything out of the ordinary. Filled it up and there have been no issues yet, touch wood.

Unfortunately gearboxes tend to be overlooked during services so this kind of thing happens quite a bit.
The fact that they were serviced with toyota should count for something so you should push hard for them to share some of the cost on this. It's one thing for a diy mechanic missing gearbox oil levels but a franchised dealer should not miss this check. It's not hard once the car is up on a hoist.

Good luck!

 

[ollie323]

Can't agree with you JMRC, I have often heard bearings "whining" long before they give up, generally giving you ample time to change them.

+1
Nissans (of a particular age) sometimes have to have bearings replaced in their gearboxes. They make noise in the lead up to failure and the non observant driver (or one in a car full of noisy kids!!) may miss it and wreck the gearbox. The OP should check if there may be a common fault with the corolla.

 

[hippy1975]

Thanks Ollie, not sure what the oil level was like in the gearbox but will see if I can find out, thanks very much for the info. Yeah mine is making that whining noise now, we never recognized it before in the other car, and to be honest I dudnt think this noise existed I really thought I was imagining it after what happened the other car. So far the dealer is being great I must say, hopefully Toyota will do something for us.

Good luck with the yaris, you seem to know you're stuff so I'm sure it'll be fine!