# 2003 toyota carolla manual transmission issues **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** corolla, toyota\ **Created:** [March 2, 2023, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2003-toyota-carolla-manual-transmission-issues/189400 "2023-03-02T12:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 28
**Author:** ![circuitsmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/circuitsmith/32/40376_2.png) [@circuitsmith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/circuitsmith)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2003-toyota-carolla-manual-transmission-issues/189400/28 "2023-03-04T00:20:23Z")
> [@brianjoejohnson\_184322](#): > > "The Manual Transmission in that car is going to be a C56 or C59 5 speed manual transmission A weak design aggravated by lax maintenance. Years ago I posted about the problematic C59 transmission: > [@Transmission Fluid Change - 2006 Toyota Camry](https://community.cartalk.com/t/transmission-fluid-change-2006-toyota-camry/92865/7): > > “No need to ever change the gear oil or ATF in a manual transmission.” Maybe this applied to older American cars. Lots of Corolla/Matrix owners who have had their transmission fail prematurely due to oil contaminated with metal particles would disagree. I changed the oil in my Matrix at 22k miles after reading that its C59 transmission was problematic; and the oil looked pretty “dirty” and felt gritty. My older Hondas ('75 Civic, '81, '85, '88 Accords) all recommended 30k oil changes. Oil i… > [@Manual Transmission Fluid - Ford Focus '02](https://community.cartalk.com/t/manual-transmission-fluid-ford-focus-02/82292/9): > > My Hondas ('75, '81, '88) called for fluid changes every 30k miles. My '06 Matrix doesn’t call for fluid changes, but the C59 5-speed has a history of early bearing failures, so I changed it at 21k just to see what’s what and the oil was dark with a metallic sheen. So I feel better about it at least. 2000 miles later I went to a dealer for a recall and the service writer told me the trans fluid was dirty and I should get a flush(!). --- _[View the full topic](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2003-toyota-carolla-manual-transmission-issues/189400)._