1998 Transmission Woes

[Kowalski]

Alright, my check engine light came on and gave me a code P0770 shift lock solenoid. The car has been driving weird too...seems kinda weak but shifts feel like butter or just fine. I called lexus and the service manager said that the solenoid was located in the transmission and that usually if they replace the solenoid they have to replace the valve body as well. Now, I know a thing or two about cars and it makes no sense to me why the valve body should have to be replaced along with the solenoid. It just seems assinine and like this guy thinks that I am some dumbass who doesnt know a valve body from the hole in my butt. I want to know if you all have had any experience with this or something similar. He told me that the entire job would be $1200 before tax, worst case (valve body and solenoid). what sould I do???

[VGR]

The valve body just needs to be removed (not replaced) to gain access to all the shift control solenoids. Since the Lexus ES transmission is identical to the Toyota Camry V6 engine, you could take the car to a Toyota dealer and save several hundred dollars total in parts and labor.

[gndmks12]

I have a 98 es300 and my check engine light came on yesterday. I took it to autozone and they

told me I had error code p0770 shift solenoid e malfunction. I got the part from the lexus

dealer and attempted to fix it my self. We got the pan off drained all the fluid took off the

filter. We took out all the 17 or 18 bolts that we thought held the valve body in but we must have removed

the face plate because we still can't get the solenoid out. I appears to be hitting on the casting.

can someone help me with a step by step? I bought a Haynes manual but it doesn't have

anything in it about the solenoid.