I recently purchased a manual swapped 2005 IS300 SportCross that needs some help. The W55 transmission and all the required swap components came from a donor IS300 manual sedan. After fixing a cylinder 6 misfire (bad coil), the engine is running great. However, I am not too happy with that transmission. First off, it's really noisy. I want to hear the engine and exhaust, not gear whine/noise when I am rowing the gears. The other issue is with the shifter. It's notchy and not smooth to shift. It appears to be an aftermarket short shifter (maybe a KDS QuickShift Ebay special).

All other manuals that I have owned/driven (2008 Volvo C30, 1990 Acura Legend, Mid 90's BMW 3 series, ...) shifted much more smoothly and easily and were a joy to drive. The W55 currently in my SportCross is not.

Looking for input from those with experience on manual tranny IS300's,

- When new, how was the shifting and tranny noise on a manual IS300 sedan? Was it smooth and quiet, with smooth shifting? Or not?

I suspect that part of shifting issue has to do with the aftermarket short shifter, and that reverting to a stock shifter assembly would help.

For the gear noise, maybe adding more sound insulation around the tunnel (Dynamat) would help. But maybe it's just a worn out transmission.

The 2JZ-GE in this SportCross is stock and I will keep it that way, so I don't need to handle higher power levels. So, strength wise, the W55 is fine.

My possible courses of action are:

- Try to resolve issues with this W55 OR
- Get a rebuilt W55 and swap that in (not too expensive, not that tough to do) OR
- Go with a 2006 AR5 or a CD009 (will be expensive for conversion parts and lots of work)

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

There's always the possibility that the W55 in it was originally removed from it's car because it is bad and the a-hole sold it as a good used replacement. After that, there is a lot of room for installer error. Not to mention maybe cheap parts being used. How does the clutch peddle feel? Is it like the clutch isn't releasing enough to shift, or is it more of a feel of worn out synchros and you are getting a grinding changing gears? Also, does the noise change with the clutch peddle depressed and released? May have a bad TO bearing.

Hi TrueGS300,

The W55 came from a donor car (IS300 manual sedan). If the donor car was not driveable (probably a wreck), then the guy doing the swap probably didn't know how worn out the donor tranny was or wasn't. So, like buying a used or junkyard tranny, it's like throwing the dice.

Definitely room for installer here as well. I don't have much experience working on manual transmissions, so it;'s tough for me to assess. The clutch feel is pretty good, and it does seem to be releasing enough to shift. No grinding when shifting gears and engaging into the new gear, so the synchos seem to be fine. The throwout bearing was replaced during the swap. But I do hear some noise (not the gear whine noise) when the tcar is parked and the tranny is in neutral and the clutch is not depressed, and it goes away when I press on the clutch. Not sure what that is, and I should investigate that (maybe some adjustment needed) but it's probably secondary to the main issue.

Cheap parts being used? Maybe. The shifter appears to be some aftermarket short shifter. When I took the boot off and looked more closely, it looks like a cheap one that I saw on Ebay for $85. My first move is to replace that shifter with a stock IS300 manual shifter, but I can't find one anywhere. I have struck out at the local Pick-n-Pull's, and some of the used parts placed online don't want to sell the shifter separately from the transmission.

In the end, I will buy a rebuilt W55 for about $900 with a 12 month warranty and swap it in.

Bob

Here's a link to know what noise you are hearing. https://www.knowyourparts.com/techni...bushing-noise/

Excellent writeup - I will follow the steps and report back.

Try draining the trans fluid and putting 75w-90 synthetic gear oil in it. A lot of Lexus/Toyota novice owners make the mistake of thinking the W and R series Toyota transmissions take manual trans fluid but they take gear oil. Anytime someone says their transmission whines on FB I ask how old is their fluid and what is it. The majority of the time they don't even know so I tell them to change it out and see what happens. If it still whines after using new synthetic gear oil, that means the trans in internally damaged.

Most likely the short shifter is causing what you feel. Definitely try an oem one next. There's also a cup shaped bushing inside the housing you can take out and inspect. See that it is still in good shape.
There's also the chance that the synchros are bad, but that wouldn't make the trans fell notchy. That just would make it hard to shift into, and out of gears

Hi 1997Soarer,

That's a good point about the transmission oil. I just go ahead and do the drain/fill will the correct gear oil for that trans.

Yeah, I totally need to ditch that short shifter. Any idea where I can get an OEM shifter? I've been striking out with my usual used car part sources. I may just go ahead any buy a new OEM shifter for about $160 online.

Thanks,

Bob

From the 2005 IS300 service maual - confirming what 1997Soarer posted about the correct oil for the W55:

10. FILL WITH TRANSMISSION OIL
Torque:
Filler and Drain plug:
38 N·m (387 kgf·cm, 28 ft·lbf)
Oil grade: API GL-4 or GL-5
Viscosity: SAE 75W-90
Capacity: 2.6 litter (2.7 US qts, 2.3 lmp. qts)