1990 Ls400 Occasional No Reverse Gear

[glenmore]

!990 LS400 with about 180k. Tranny has been flawless up until now. Now on occasion it will not go into reverse. Sometimes on a cold start, sometimes after the car has been driven. When you shift into reverse there is no chug of the transmission engaging. The car will just rev with gas and no movement. Shift to D and you can go forward but no reverse. No amount of shifting to D, N, R will get it into reverse. The only thing that seems to work is a repeated shut off and start and then it will engage. When my daughter first reported this to me, I thought maybe she was parked on a hill (San Francisco) but it seems to have no relation to the position of the car.

[landar]

!990 LS400 with about 180k. Tranny has been flawless up until now. Now on occasion it will not go into reverse. Sometimes on a cold start, sometimes after the car has been driven. When you shift into reverse there is no chug of the transmission engaging. The car will just rev with gas and no movement. Shift to D and you can go forward but no reverse. No amount of shifting to D, N, R will get it into reverse. The only thing that seems to work is a repeated shut off and start and then it will engage. When my daughter first reported this to me, I thought maybe she was parked on a hill (San Francisco) but it seems to have no relation to the position of the car.

Has the transmission fluid and filter ever been changed? If not, that would be the very first thing I would do. Well, after verifying the fluid level was correct. You might be low on tranny fluid.

I do not know if the trunk wiring would cause this issue but I rather doubt it. You certainly are in the year of vehicle that has that problem.

So, check level and adjust as necessary. If the fluid has not been changed in a while (ie:last 50k miles or more), change the fluid along with the filter and see if that helps.

[steve2006]

Could be a shift solenoid failed,they can be replaced but you need to be fairly competent to do the job

[VBdenny]

From my experience with many brands, reverse is the first gear not to work when the fluid is low.