Rx #00 Transmission Problem?

[mikey00]

I would use Toyota Type T-IV which is exactly what belongs in there. Others could be better or could be worse but why deal with an unknown when you are trying to get your tranny back to normal. Some where around $4.75 per quart at Toyota dealer. You should use about 4.5 qts. per drain and fill.

Assuming you are just doing a drain and fill using the 2 drain plugs mentioned in the link, it should take about 30 minutes. If you drop the pan and change the filter add at least 40 minutes.

Remember a drain and fill is only going to get 50% of the total fluid out. So you are going to have some mixing of the old and new. Next drain and fill will get some more old out along with some new. So after 2 drain and fills you will have about 75/25 mix of new to old. You will get a diminishing return on each drain and fill. 2 or 3 drain and fills should be enough. Or you could just get a flush which will replace all the fluid at once but will cost more.

There is also a procedure around to disconnect one of the trans cooler lines and run the car to pump out the old fluid as you pour in new to replace all the fluid at once.

Did 3 drain and fills and it was running fine until today. When cold (1st thing in the morning) the transmission is shifting hard btwn 1st and 2nd slipping btwn 2nd and 3rd......is it gone?

Dropped the pan and cleaned the filter. It had alot of sludge on it with fine shavings in bottom of pan. Sludge was all over the 3 magnets. Cleaned pan and filter and took it for a test drive around the block and it drove good. Where is the sludge coming from and what is it?

No one really has a good answer to that. It could be just one part failing causing the filter to clog, which starves the pump which causes more parts to fail. Or it could be a lubrication problem (pump?) causing the parts to fail. Or it could be a ECM problem causing the trans to hunt a little more than necessary to find the right gear. This in turn causes parts to wear and creates dirt and clogs the filter. It will be interesting to see if your cleaning of the filter fixes your problem. Even if it does, I suspect whatever is the root cause of the problem will catch up with you eventually requireing a repair. I hope you received my PM in time yesterday for your filter change. Here is another discussion you made find interesting:

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371348

[Regular Guy]

Well if any of you are having tranny problems and have two hours..take a read of all the comments on this forum. Great car, comfortable, luxurious for what you pay BUT

Ok, so I didnt buy new, but I got a 2000 model with 29,000 miles on the clock...repeat 29,000!!

I live in the caribbean, so hot all the time and at 34,000 miles, the tranny has gone!! UNREAL. (Got it back working however after 2 days in the garage)

Lexus here dont care as warranties only cover USA and other import markets.

For those of you with a boat tow question, well, mine is 2wd, and I tow a <2800 lb boat. The car is rated to pull max. 3500lbs. SO various people have told me well, you cant tow a boat as thats why the tranny has gone. Bull excrement!! More people I have read about have the same problem and dont tow anything...its a design flaw and whoever this MONARCH idiot is barking on in defense of Lexus, well he/she needs to go take a hike - or go join another forum that caters to BS artists.

WHat I can say however is this. As abnormal as it is to change the ATF fluid so frequently, DO IT. And flush it twice through if its been a while since you changed the ATF and filter.

Worked miracles on the car and mine is now performing though I know I have simply delayed the inevitable. Also found that the throttle mechanism - vacuum - wasnt functioning which exacerbated the problem.

So muchos research later, I can also tell you that the prices of trannies in the USA are ridiculous and a rip off...sub prime mortgage market may have collapsed, but the tranny commodities market is fairly booming.

Best place to get trannies. Get from Japan direct or if you prefer closer to home, Jamaica...just make sure that who you deal with are ok.

The moral is....as ridiculous as this sounds....CHANGE THE ATF EVERY 15-20k Miles!!

As far as the boat is concerned heres my two pennies worth - USE MANUAL SHIFT 1 and 2 only and dont tow aggressively - driving style will surely help if you are towing something. The engine has the juice, just a bit short in other areas. Dont strain the car too much, dont over tow weight wise and ease away from a stop as oppsed to a yank away.

All that said, out of 10 - 5. Tranny issue is really nor right and all those of you who have these cars at 200k miles plus with no maintenance. EIther youre full of the luck of the irish or you misread your odometer OR, yer wife secretly changed the ATF when you were at Poker night!