1994 Lexus Es 300

[coyemory]

Hi,

New to this forum and looking for advice. My son works at a salvage yard and a 1994 ES 300 came in today with what appears to be a slipping transmission. The body is straight and I can't find any dents. The interior is worn but the leather is not ripped. The right rear tail light has a piece broken and will need to be replaced. The car has 286,000 on the clock. When I started it up I could hardly hear the engine running. It was really smooth. The salavage yard will sell me a tranny for $300 and they want $900 for the car. I have the ability to replace the tranny myself unless there is something special about a Lexus. I have a couple of questions;

1. Is this an interference engine or non interference?

2. I saw a witeup about the tranny being computer controlled. Could that cause it to act like it is slipping?

3. Would this engine be one that has a sludge problem?

I haven't run a carfax on it yet, thought I would do a little research first.

Thanks for your input,

Coy