1991 Ls400 Transmission

[Kidrock]

Hi All,

First off great site...lots of knowledge here and some great members! I just recently purchased a 1991 LS400 from the original owner in pristine condition or as i thought. The car has 126k on her and the interior and body in excellent condition. Test drove her for a good 30 minutes and everything was working properly ,engine good transmission shifting and pulling correctly. I bought this car to give to my mom.

I have been driving it now for 3 days and just recently have noticed some issues in the Transmission. The OD light started blinking yesterday and I shut down as I did not know what it was and looked in the manual and indicated that it is a Tranny issue........YIKES!

Symptoms:

1. Car in the morning starts fine and shifts properly with power and hits all the gears. Kick-down works

2. After about 10-15 min or hot. I feel the car has no power...starting from 1st its fine but it either skips 2nd and goes to third or very sluggis in 2nd...kick-down does not work. The car is still drive-able and drives great in 4th speed and runs correctly.

3. Highway driving is fine

4.. This morning checked the fluid and noticed the fluid is up by the hot section and red in color and the dipstick did not show any signs of metal.

5. OD light has not blinked in 2 days

I have read a lot of posts regarding this and would welcome any comments or ideas. Also if anyone knows a good shop in the Bay Area would appreciate if you can give me the contact info.

THANK you in advance

[steve2006]

Hi and welcome to the LOC.

First thing to do is pull the diagnostic codes and with the 91 LS all you need is a piece of wire and the ability to read some simple instuctions shown in the link below.

Once you have the code(s) for the tranmission come back with them and we can go from there.

Shift problems can be down to sticky solenoids was the car stood for some time before you purchased it?

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html