Acceleration Noise

[jonpwel]

A couple of months ago noticed a noise uncer consol that occured on acceleration. Once cruising speed reached it would quite dowm. Last week took car to local Lexus dealer diagnosed as transmission failure(possibly bearing). Since the car has 71,800 miles dealer contacted zone rep. Zone rep declined any assistance with $5200 repacement bill. Said I had a sketchy service history on vehicle since I had not taken to a Lexus dealer for any serivce. I did buy the vehicle used with 55000 miles on it and had done oil changes and filter changes on my own. Really disappointed that Lexus will not help since car just out of warranty.

[lenore]

Contact Lexus of America directly. Be polite and explain situation. By the way the price for the transmission is way over inflated. A good independent shop would be a lot cheaper.

[jonpwel]

Lexus Declined to to anything. I took car to independent transmission shop, after 2 rebuilds still making noise a remanufactured transmission was installed problem was solved. Shop owner felt that the failure was due to defective transmission case. So failure was going to happen just a matter of time. I was very disappointed with Lexus response felt they should have fixxed it.

[lenore]

Yep, that is what Lexus calls loyalty...Unless they do all service, they don't like to help...Been there and done that.

[RX400h]

I have never known anyone who had good luck with an auto transmission rebuild at an independent shop. Auto transmissions are incredibly complicated and you are much more likely to have success with a factory-rebuilt (with all the latest upgrades) or new transmission.

Regardless, transmissions should last past 150,000 miles.

[lenore]

Yes they are complicated, but they aren't rocket science. A individual with pride in his work can do a great job. Locally I met a shop owner that knew all of the weak points in the RX300 tranny and only rebuilt with reliability in mind. That is how I learned the original RX300 tranny had a very weak design for such a heavy vehicle. They used a aluminum carrier in the planetary gear assembly and after miles the steel gears and shafts would oval out the carrier causing major failure. My RX300 was fixed using a factory rebuilt and it was substandard and I fought Lexus of America for 3 months telling them the car was not shifting correctly. Finally they replaced the Factory rebuilt and problem went away. So beware even those factory rebuilts may not be perfect.

[RX400h]

The ones I worry about are the transmission shops that rebuild the transmissions, themselves. I've known and read about many folks who had their transmissions "repaired" at one of those shops, only to have it fail, within 30,000 miles.

Anyone who has taken apart a modern auto tranny and tells you it is simple is either a mechanical genius or is lying. Many vehicles will get crushed at the junk yard, not because they are worn out, but because their electronic-related problems are not worth solving.

[lenore]

I uncovered the mystery of a automatic transmission years ago, my son's Ford Ranger with a failing transmission needed to be rebuilt, very expensive at the time we are talking $2400 and this was over 20 years ago. I kept asking why so much and the reply was because it has a lot of electronics in it. Well, being me, I took it on, researched, obtained a book, and rebuilt it myself completely with all new solenoids, clutch packs, and torque converter...Total cost $300. I made some of the specialized tools to make adjustments, and that transmission was as smooth as silk. The Valve body assembly is very intricate, but with pictures and thorough cleaning and replacement of key components I got past it. Yes It did take me two weeks, (after work and weekends) but the mystery of complicated disappeared. Lots of hype and lots of profit in that business. The local shop had a really good mechanic, he paid by the piece and the guy only had one return over a 5 year period. The owner loved this guys work and paid him very well, but the rule was it comes back the commission was deducted from his pay. Great incentive to do it right.

[RX400h]

That was impressive, for sure, but todays transmissions (8 speeds and highly electronic CVTs) are light-years ahead of the old 3-speed autos used over 20 years ago. The service manager at a local Mazda dealership told me his mechanics aren't allowed to rebuild or even repair auto transmission. Sadly, most "experts" are not. If you found one, you are lucky. They seem to be few and far between.

[lenore]

I guess it is the mechanical side of my nature that drives me to unfold the mysteries of transmission. The Ford A4ld transmission that I rebuilt was (really complicated because of the electronics) or that is what I was told by shops that were charging $2400. What I found was an additional solenoid to operate the Overdrive. Six speeds are just more disks and solenoids. As for
CVT well that is just a totally different beast. Mechanics in dealerships don't have the time to rebuild trannies, they are on flat rate labor, and when the extra time is needed they rush past it.

[RX400h]

The overdrive solenoid in my old Mazda's tranny would not function if the fluid level were a bit low. The car would stall while coming to a stop. Adding a bit of ATF was the easiest transmission fix I ever accomplished.

Another funny story: When I had my Mazda RX3, I had a habit of popping the auto tranny into neutral as I backed down my driveway. This somewhat reduced driveline shock when shifting into drive. When I bought the MX6 GT, I thought that its tranny was on its last legs when it would not shift at times. Then I started shifting directly from reverse to drive, without backing down the driveway in neutral. Bingo, the transmission behaved, perfectly, afterward. My guess is that a spool valve wasn't fully activating until I changed that 10 year habit.