Toyota A246E

Toyota's small transverse four-speed — in the Corolla E120 and the Pontiac Vibe built alongside it.

The Vibe is a Corolla, so a Pontiac owner researching a gearbox fault is researching a Toyota transmission and Pontiac's own literature barely exists.

It is among the more trouble-free automatics on this site, which changes what a symptom means: a harsh or delayed change is far more often the fluid or a speed sensor than a clutch pack.

Fluid is Type IV, not the later WS, and filling one with the wrong specification produces exactly the harsh cold engagement above in a transmission that was otherwise healthy. This trap runs in both directions across Toyota's range and only the model year decides it.

A shudder at a steady speed is the torque converter's lock-up clutch, not slipping — the same distinction, and the same first remedy, as everywhere else here.