Hard 1-2 Shift After Jdm Transsmission Installed 93 Es300

[Hoopes999]

Hello Toyota Nation,

About a month I had a used JDM Transmission installed in my 93' es300. The mechanic warned me that there was a bad front mount and it was causing a hard 1-2 shift and jerking when placing the car into drive. I also had both half shafts changed because my boots were torn. Basically I tried to save money on the install and I ended up getting burned. I was referred to the guy and I also did some research, he had a decent website and when I talked to him he seemed like he knew what he was talking about. I had to have my car towed to the shop so I never checked out the shop and that was the #1thing that got me, had I seen the condition of the shop I would have never had my car worked on by him, put it like this, when i walked in I had to walk over dirty stuffed animals and motor parts just to get to the desk ..oh boy, yeah. Anyway, I was a sketchy job that are many things to mention but just for example for one I asked him to flush the cooler and I could tell he never touched it, the cooler lines were actually used and rotten, also they were leaking because the clamps were not tight enough. I even gave him new cooler hoses to use but I guess he just pocketed those cause I never saw them after that. Basically what I'm saying is this guy was a f'ing nightmare. So he told me that cause of the banging into gear was the front mount was broke, I had that replaced a ammco and it did not help, they said it could be the rear mount got broke during the install but they didn't want to "get into it" because they didn't want to go behind someone elses work. I just had a bad feeling also that the cv axles might be coming into playing with the banging into gear, is it possible if he installed them wrong that the axles could cause jerky shifts. The transmission shifts very nice and had very little wear in the pan when I dropped it so I'm happy with that, I was just wondering if any of you guys had an opinion of what could have happened during the install to cause the banging into gear, I did not have this issue before the install..thank you all.

[VBdenny]

Hey Matthew,

First of all, go give the person who gave you a referral, a good dope slap on the back of their head. I just hate to hear things like this but as you so accurately described, it sounds like things went south for you. Although all the moderator stuff is there, it's only because Steve invited me after being on here for many years trying to fix stuff. I learned early that Lexus cars are really very easy to work on because of the intelligent and excellently engineered parts, and that most people that work on them meet neither of those criteria. Many times in the past I have done things to try to save money. After long term consideration on all that, I decided that path was more expensive.

Once burned, twice shy. If you have a place, tools and any mechanical skills, you can do a lot youself. YouTube is amazing for videos on how to replace every part. I often watch videos prior to doing repairs. Just put the rear struts on my Corolla today, did the front the other day. Looks like a formidable job but by spending time watching the videos, it was easy. Certainly transmission replacements are difficult in driveways (especially gravel driveways), so then you come down to things like, how much is the car worth, how much should I put in and stuff like that.

Hard shifts are caused by a few things, While I don't know anything about this part, I do know the computer runs the transmission so it probably has to be paired or something? Wiring shorts are kind of common on old Lexus cars. My 1990 LS400 had two or three wires break in the trunk which caused major shifting problems. Of course the last thing is that the transmission itself is bad but that is highly unusual.

I hate to say it but from your description of the people and the shop conditions, it sounds like you might have been bamboozled. You are now pretty deep in the car so I will make a suggestion. Find a Toyota dealership around you that does NOT also own a Lexus dealership ( but close) and take your car there for an evaluation. From there, you can decide your path.

Good luck and very happy to have you here.

Denny