[HELP!!] Wrong CVT grade

irda · July 1, 2019

OK. Here is the thing. I know I'm a stupid person for doing such thin without any proper research. But anyways now things are happened, I would like to ask your help guys!

Earlier this year I bought a KEI car (Daihatsu Move - Toyota Pixis Space rebadged) clocked around 20k(which is obviously tampered with the mileage).

After 2-3 months, I found out car is jumpy. So the mechanic recommended me to do a transmission fluid change. he used a generic CVT fluid(BG brand if I'm correct) (Remember, I don't have a knowledge of anything regarded to CVT transmission/oil grades etc...)

But after 1000 or so kms, the jumpiness is till there. Then I showed my car to a place in Old Kottawa rd, who says they are experts in gearboxes. And they told me the CVT oil is not the recommended one and want to replace it again. They recommended to use Suzuki Green 2 (which is surprised for me since this is a toyota/daihatsu). I asked 2-3 times and they said the oil brand won't matter and I then they removed the sump and cleaned filter and used green2.

So now I have driven around 5000Kms from the initial oil change and still the jumpiness is there and when I let go of accelerator and hit it slowly again, there is a jump. When I deaccelerate without using brake, when it comes around 10kmph, I kindda feel the little jumpiness and sluggish-ness. And it's hard to accelerate. Gears are not changing properly etc...

This being so hassle for me, I started doing research. Then I found out the recommended oil which can be used is Toyota CVTF TC. Asked from Softlogic Automobile and verified it too.

Then Last Saturday I again removed the sump and changed the oil with the recommended one.

Now, I see a lot of improvement. Vehicle is accelerating. But, the problem is jumpiness is still there. It's not bad as earlier. But definitely it's there.

So what can I do? I know that I was an idiot to trust these "maka bass" and let them change the oil as they wanted. But I'm being a guy who has 0 knowledge in motor mechanic knowledge, it's inevitable.

Is my transmission system is busted or is there anything that I can do?

Also I would like to mention that last week my Bnew spark plugs (Denso) failed at me (only 3000 or so KMs used it. It seems I was scammed with that too.:/ ). then I replaced them with NGks and did a tuneup.

Please help me guys.

Edited July 1, 2019 by irda

kush · July 1, 2019

If you don't know what you are doing best is the go through the agent. I know they too screw up some times but at least the risk is less.

iRage · July 1, 2019

For starters the Daihatsu is not a rebadged Toyota...the Toyota is rebadged Daihatsu

Are you sure you are not describing the typical behavior of a CVT transmission ? With CVTs there are no gears to shift, so I do not know what you mean by saying the car doesn't shift gears. Yes...you won't feel a gear shift like you would in a normal Automatic.

Also, when you take the foot off the accelerator a CVT transmission will have a sudden drop in movement and when you accelerate it will feel like it is suffocating. and feel like the engine is pulling a bunch of rubber bands (Toyota CVTs are notorious for this feeling) Drive another CVT vehicle and see if you feel any difference.

If you are still uncertain...why not take it to the agents and get it diagnosed (I personally feel you are describing the normal behavior of a CVT). It will cost some money but that is better than paying all these random baas dudes and not getting a solution.

As for the spark plugs...what do you mean spark plugs gave way ? There really is not much for a spark plug to go wrong with unless there is something else that is wrong with the engine (unless you found some really really really unheard of and poorest or poor quality fake plugs)

Edited July 1, 2019 by iRage

irda · July 1, 2019

On 7/1/2019 at 8:12 AM, iRage said:

For starters the Daihatsu is not a rebadged Toyota...the Toyota is rebadged Daihatsu

Are you sure you are not describing the typical behavior of a CVT transmission ? With CVTs there are no gears to shift, so I do not know what you mean by saying the car doesn't shift gears. Yes...you won't feel a gear shift like you would in a normal Automatic.

Also, when you take the foot off the accelerator a CVT transmission will have a sudden drop in movement and when you accelerate it will feel like it is suffocating. and feel like the engine is pulling a bunch of rubber bands (Toyota CVTs are notorious for this feeling) Drive another CVT vehicle and see if you feel any difference.

If you are still uncertain...why not take it to the agents and get it diagnosed (I personally feel you are describing the normal behavior of a CVT). It will cost some money but that is better than paying all these random baas dudes and not getting a solution.

As for the spark plugs...what do you mean spark plugs gave way ?

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Gear don't shift in the sense it won't take up the speed as it should be when accelerating. I was gone nuts while trying to go incline when traveling Kandy and I saw many Wagon Rs and Hijets storm passing me. How much I tried to accelerate it won't budge me over 40-50kmph range. When put on paddle, will it have a sudden jerky movement on all CVT based vehicle? And also when it slows down, will it give a jerky feeling when about to stop?

All 3 cylinders started to miss and car won't go over 20kmph. If I try to go over 20kmph, it vibrate so bad.

iRage · July 1, 2019

Did you inspect the spark plugs ? What had happened to them ?

At the end of the day it could be that there is nothing be wrong with your transmission but your engine (perhaps something that is causing the engine to perform poorly and doing something to mess up the spark plugs) ?

Does the engine normally rev up ?

Its really hard to figure out what you are describing just through words....just take it to the agents...do a scan and a proper diagnosis....there are alternative third part garages that are extremely reputable as well but those cost as much as the agents...

irda · July 1, 2019

Can you recommend a few? If cannot post here, please Dm me. I want to check this ASAP.

ghostwriter · July 1, 2019

Sounds like you're describing the commonly known "CVT Jolt" which is when the torque converter disengages at low speeds and when you press the gas pedal again it quickly re-engages causing a sudden jerk. However, the engine miss could be a separate issue you need to examine. Maybe yours has a severe jolt that feels like an engine misfire due to CVT oil not being replaced at the correct interval (could happen when sales guys roll-back a mileage such as 39000km to 19000km and then you run another 20,000km before changing CVT because the oil replacement interval is 40,000km but the oil has actually been used for about 60,000km). You need to take it to a proper mechanic and diagnose what's gone wrong without wasting money on changing random things like oils, plugs or filters.

check with the JDM user manual regarding the correct CVT oil type. As I know the latest Toyota CVT oil edition is CVT FE which is the successor of CVT TC. Hope you could find a proper solution quickly.

irda · July 1, 2019

On 7/1/2019 at 3:15 PM, ghostwriter said:

Sounds like you're describing the commonly known "CVT Jolt" which is when the torque converter disengages at low speeds and when you press the gas pedal again it quickly re-engages causing a sudden jerk. However, the engine miss could be a separate issue you need to examine. Maybe yours has a severe jolt that feels like an engine misfire due to CVT oil not being replaced at the correct interval (could happen when sales guys roll-back a mileage such as 39000km to 19000km and then you run another 20,000km before changing CVT because the oil replacement interval is 40,000km but the oil has actually been used for about 60,000km). You need to take it to a proper mechanic and diagnose what's gone wrong without wasting money on changing random things like oils, plugs or filters.

check with the JDM user manual regarding the correct CVT oil type. As I know the latest Toyota CVT oil edition is CVT FE which is the successor of CVT TC. Hope you could find a proper solution quickly.

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Hey, thanks for the reply. Can you recommend me a good place? Daihatsu agents are MIA and their web site is not working. Softlogic guys needs an appointment and they don't even work on weekends which I'm only free.

I feel it's better I can reach a solution before this weekend as I'm afraid that my transmission system goes wrong.

Edited July 1, 2019 by irda

iRage · July 1, 2019

Well...there really is nothing to recommend....take it to the agent...if Softlogic is MIA you could take it to Toyota Lanka as the Toyota is the same car.

As I said before...at first what you described seemed like typical CVT behavior...it could be that there is something else wrong with your engine that makes the jolt seem more significant and makes your spark plugs go bad....I still don't know what you meant by saying spark plugs went bad. Sure you got the miss and the weird idling...but at the end of the day what happened to the spark plug ?

Twin Turbo · July 3, 2019

Now that you've identified the wrong grade of ATF was used, in your CVT, You might want to get a slight improvement if you flush the system from the wrong fluid.

iRage · July 4, 2019

On 7/3/2019 at 10:08 PM, Twin Turbo said:

Now that you've identified the wrong grade of ATF was used, in your CVT, You might want to get a slight improvement if you flush the system from the wrong fluid.

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wait what ? AF and CVT fluid are totally different. I sincerely do hope they put a wrong grade CVT fluid as opposed to ATF