questions about my yaris(vitz)

[apples]

ok i imported my vitz from japan, and the owner's manual is in japanese. It's the vitz 2005 model (yaris 2006)
Now since the owner's manual is in japanese there 2 things i can't understand.
1. my yaris is an automatic. It's gear sequence goes like this. first reverse (R) then neutral (N) then drive (D). It's fine till here. but after that i don't understand. Towards the right of (D) is an (S). What is this S? What does it do? How do you operate it?
Then after (S), if you move the stick down there's a (B). What's the (B)? What does it do? I tried driving in B, but the car went slowly and made a lot of noise. Is it for mountains?
What's the S?

2. What's teh thing on the inside of teh car roof. i know there's the door lights, but other than that there's a button with a fan drawn on it. What is this? What does it do? How do you operate it?

Thanks a lot.

[ism3t]

cough...PICS!

[ism3t]

oh and welcome to the forums!

[apples]

This is the gear box. i didn't take it myself, took it from the iternet. but my gear box/car model is exactly the same.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

maybe similar to 3, 2, 1?

[apples]

how to use it?

[Kaotic Lazagna]

same as you would for those "3, 2, 1" gears? how fast were you driving on "B" it may have made a lot of noise because it's a lower gear. and if you were driving, say, 40 mph, then it would be in the upper range in rpm.

[apples]

at abt 30 mph
what does the 321 gear do?

[Black Yaris]

I would only use "D" for driving forward Apples if you do not know what the others are for

[apples]

that's what i'm doing till now. but now i want to find out what those two gears do.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by apples

at abt 30 mph
what does the 321 gear do?

they're used for mountain roads (that's why you see signs saying trucks use lower gears) for more engine braking and for high loads, i think.

[my little snow ball]

all cars have other selections other then drive. the first thing you need to find out is if your car is a four speed or three speed automatic because if it is a three speed the s would be second gear and the b would be first gear and those gears are for when you have low traction and need to take off slower.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

really? i thought that the lower gears have a shorter gear ratio, meaning more torque (?). so wouldn't you want to take off in a mid-range gear if you have low traction?

i.e. say a Viper. one is more likely to lose traction while taking off in 1st gear rather than 3rd gear.

[Edd]

Usually if you lack traction, you take off in second, so yeah, you need a higher gear (lower torque, higher speed for given RPMs vs 1st). Really, the only reasons to use the gear limiters in auto are:
•Overtaking on a highway
•City driving, where the car will go 3-4, 4-3, 3-4, 4-3, so by limiting it to 3rd, you will [ideally] save fuel from the transmission not having to shift so much
•Hills
To avoid slipping (in snow), some automatics have a winter/summer mode button. When you are in winter mode, the car starts in second and shifts earlier, to give you less torque (as it will be wasted by uncontrolled wheel spin anyway).

[Kaotic Lazagna]

so i was right...

[hasher22]

the manual would tell u?? im guessing it will be kinda the same as 2 and L??

[cleong]

I asked one of the local JDM Vitz owners and he said that B is just a low gear. The slot corresponds to L for a regular Yaris.

I would surmise that it is a towing/heavy load gear. It maxes out at 20kph and won't shift up according to him. We cannot however figure out why it is B instead of L.

The thingy with a fan on your roof interior is probably an air ionizer gadget thingamajig. You might check eTimago's Toyota Thailand parts ordering thread to see if it looks the same. There is a roof-mounted ionizer in that menu of parts.

[apples]

Originally Posted by hasher22

the manual would tell u?? im guessing it will be kinda the same as 2 and L??

because the manual is in Japanese.