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Well it's done! Or nearly so. I took it for a drive and it all seems to check out! I need to finish by putting back the miscellaneous plastic guards. Also I want to change the differential fluid (A540E tranny is supposed to have a separate reservoir for the diff, and I can see the indicated fill and drain plugs, side facing the firewall). I found service manuals for the A540E, the 2VZFE engine and the wiring, very entertaining reading and I really mean that. On the first run I saw the O/D light blinking, but fixed that per the service manual - remove the 15A EFI fuse for 10sec or more, in Relay Box 2 (engine compartment, forward left side), erases codes. Tips, lessons learned: >I made sure to have a back up on all supports, took my time, safety first >18" wood of 4x4, 2x4, and 1x4 were very helpful to add height under the bottle jack and car jack. To have two jacks is good/essential >Screws holding the power steering bottle - the screws and the socket head can drop and be a royal pain to get at. I learned the hard way - stuffed some paper towels underneath to catch anything that falls. >The right and left axle is the same part number. You need to then move hardware from the old to the new one, the ends that go to the diff. Getting the bolts off the axle - a couple were a pain. Would have been good to have a large vice to hold it. I tried an impact driver. An impact wrench would have been great. I used a sledge hammer on an allen wrench to get the torque. >One of the axles had the bearings come out. Main pain was getting the spring clip back on. Best to get the right tool for it. >Nitrile gloves are the best, better than latex or vinyl >I used anti-seize on the bearing and clamp for the rt axle, after using steel wool and emery paper to clean the surfaces. Made sure not to get steel lint into anything. >Drained the tranny through the plug but only 1/3 will come out at any time (lots in the torque converter). Used tin foil shaped over bottle to make a funnel for filling tranny fluid. Stuck a screwdriver in front of the spring to keep it from blocking the tube. >Kept an old wash cloth near the sink with mechanic soap. Dab the towel in the soap and then in the warm water, wipe gently to get the grease off arms.

Well I've got the transmission out sitting on floor next to the car. Everything went fine. Here's what I did - >Jacked up the tranny 1/4" and released the donut bolt >Lowered the engine+tranny down until the chains took over, about 2" drop >The jacked the engine+tranny up about 1/2" and put crossed lumber and wood pieced under the tranny so that when I brought it back down, some of the load would be carried underneath >Move the bottle jack to under the oil pan, put a block on top of the piston and jacked up just a little to put maybe 50lbs force upwards, just as a safety to the chains. >Undid all the engine-tranny bolts >This I did next but should have done earlier - remove the donut bracket on top of the tranny. Otherwise it would not allow room from the tranny to slip away from the engine to separate. >Lifted the tranny with the pulley, pulled/rocked the tranny off the engine. >Then it was clear the pulley had good hold of the tranny so I moved all the wood under the tranny and slowly lowered it down to the floor. I wrapped the rope about five times around the 4x4 and I could very controllably let rope into the pulley. >With the tranny on the floor, took off the ropes and removed the transmission dip stick, removed the cable off the back. Since it was on the floor I could then slide it under the front bumper and out. Used newspaper to soak up about 2 cups tranny fluid (came out when the tranny tipped on the way down. >Next I plan to swap over misc parts from the old tranny to the replacement one. >I've validated all the steps now so I have a clean shot at putting things back together. >I see the end of the tranny has a cap and wondered if some tranny repairs could be done that way rather than pull the whole tranny off. In my case I rotate via turning with my fingers, both sides of the differential, and I hear something rattling loose inside, doubtful there would have been a way to fix this one other than by pulling it. Once the replacement is in and (hopefully) running, I may pull apart the old one to see what broke.

Bolt came out after a good socket and 2ft T handle. Also I heated with a propane torch and cooled with the bolt with a wet rag, then ice cube, maybe helped. All other tranny to engine bolts turned a little, not frozen, ready to unscrew. Removed the two bolts at the back of the tranny (to the rear) bolted in from engine side. Jacked up the tranny case about 1/4" on a lip on the case, driver's side, to take the load off the bolt through the rubber donut mount, having jack stand under as safety. Then lowered the tranny until the engine chains took load, settled with the donut about 2" down. Tranny bottom was about 10.5" above the ground. This was a trial run so I jacked it back up and put bolt back through the donut. Then I set up a double pulley from the 4x4 beam down to the tranny. I wrapped the tranny securely four times in rope then connected to a carabiner that I put the pulley rope through. Altogether I have 6 lengths to the pulley, so 1/6th the force to pull. The next move will be to lower the tranny again and then have it supported on wood cross beams, then unbolt from engine. After than would be to get the tranny onto the ground and for this I plan to lift with the pulley, move some or all the wood underneath away, then slowly lower tranny to floor. Then slide it on the smooth floor to get it out from under the car. Bought a transmission for ES250 from a salvage yard, hope it works.

I chained the engine, removed the front back cross plate (what I think others call the engine mount crossmember), removed the sway bar and the right plate the sway bar bolts on to, took off the access port to the flex plate, removed the six bolts holding it to the torque converter. I went to loosen one of the tranny-to-engine bolts, the one at the bottom back, but it won't budge. Put liquid wrench on and hammered a little. With all the heat I bet it's really on there. I have a 2 ft long socket bar but I need a better 14mm socket, I'll get one tomorrow. I'm only going to loosen the bolt for now. Any idea how to get it off?

I'm writing this to think it through and also to see if anyone has suggestions.. I did a web search and my guess is the engine weighs about 500 lbs and the tranny adds another 200 lbs. To support the engine I bought some 2x2 and 4x4 wood, chain and hooks. I cleared the hardware off the lip around the engine compartment. I cut the 4x4 to 5ft and I'm going to lay it on 2x2's set along the lip left right sides. I plan to put a 4x4 piece above the 4x4 and then run the chain across that - will keep the chain from biting into the main 4x4, also will give some height, I think better for holding onto the engine. The car is on front jacks and tires to the rear. I pushed and try to shake it but it's very firm. Still I'm thinking I should put blocks on the rear wheels. Once the engine is chained up it will likely have some slack in it. I was thinking of taking some 1/4" redwood bender board and shimming between the 4x4's to take up the slack. Then I plan to remove the front-back crossplate underneath so I can get at the access port for the flex plate, and unbolt the torque converter. Then I should be ready to remove the tranny. To gently increase the load on the chains I'm thinking to first support the engine from below at the bottom of the bell housing, then partially unscrew the mount between the tranny and the left wheel well (ie left mount), then slow letting down the support underneath. At that point the tranny will be hanging on the engine and the engine would supported by the right mount and the chain via the two engine hooks. The load should then be zero on the left mount and at some point I'll hold the tranny from above. Then rather than unscrewing the mount all the way, I'm thinking to remove the bolt through the center of the rubber disk. That way when I put the new tranny in, I can slip the bolt back in to quickly support it.

I removed the crossplate left-right underneath and removed the screws holding the engine mounts onto the center front-back crossplate underneath. I took off the front-back crossplate underneath but put it back on 1) because I could see the engine move being only supported by left and right mounts and 2) because I need to remove screws holding an engine mount under the engine to the front-back crossplate. Before removing the front-back crossplate again I plan to chain up the engine from above, chains going over a 4x4 beam left right, as a precaution and later essential when I remove the tranny. It's a little scary now because of all the weight. I'm trying to find a way that I never need to be directly under the engine. I have a second set of jacks placed under the front frame as back up. I am also thinking to stack 4x4's crosswise under the engine just for peace of mind. After the engine is chained and the front-back cross plate removed, I plan to open up the access port to the flex plate to unbolt it from the torque converter. Does tranny fluid come out there or can I drain it later? I put the left axle back in just to turn it and I can hear a rattling in the tranny in the main part, not the differential. So I think the tranny is indeed broken. I saw a YouTube video where a second bar was placed front back on top for the tranny to hang off of when it is unbolted from the engine. The car isn't high enough to slide the tranny out underneath but I'm thinking to get it down on the floor first and then worry about lifting the car enough to slide it out. Again, does anyone know about how much the tranny weighs?

I removed both axles now. A pickle fork didn't work to remove the ball joint and it was a MUCH better solution to use a pin press, the kind that grabs onto the control arm and a screw is turned to push the ball joint up. The driver side axle boot is torn and I'm fairly certain this was the new one the indy put in. Strange the boot's torn. But it seems to function fine. The passenger side axle is messed up - the end near the spindle is stiff and the other joint gets stuck when bending. I bought a new one from PartsGeek. I'm wondering if the transmission is ok but just the axle was broken. But there was smoke coming up from the tranny when I idled it before the job. My guess is that between the output part of the tranny and the passenger axle, one broke the other or vice versa. Funny the driver side axle boot (near the tranny) was torn. I looked carefully and tried the movement. Movement is fine but the boot is torn. I have no idea what could cause a boot to tear like that. It was a new boot, very flexible. Would have happened only when indy tried to run/roll the car after changing that axle. Maybe the tranny could be fixed easily, just crack open the output side? Looks like a clean path to get the tranny out. Next is to remove the sway bar and also the support running front-back, mid line of the car. Anyone know about how much the tranny weighs?

I bought some jacks and took off both front tires. Before taking off tire I also loosened the axle nut. Rapped the axle back so it's ready to remove, not stuck in the spline. Next is pickle fork to release ball joint to lower control arms. Have both tires up so the sway bar can rotate down when the ball joints free.

I started working on the car. I removed the air box, battery and some cables on top and now can clearly see the transmission and the mounts. I'm about to take out the CV axles left/right. I saw some web posts showing how the engine is held by chains over a bar and the transmission is unbolted and dropped out from below, I'm going that route. I'm wondering how high off the ground the car should be. For now I'm thinking to jack it up so the lowest part of the car is about 18" up. Attached are some pictures I found that seemed helpful.

I really appreciate the answers. No mention of warranty, I'll ask and also about miles. If I drop it down, the car would really need to be up high? how high?

Thanks so much. I'm a noob. It is an automatic. Some questions: >I should refer to it as a transmission, not a transaxle, correct? >Is it possible to take it out from the top? I want to work at home in my garage and not lift the car more than a jack stand. >Is there any DIY instructions around? >I think the transmission is identified as E153, can anyone confirm? >I can get to the point of having the CV axles removed and all the stuff on top of the engine taken off. From there is it a simple few bolts to remove it from the engine? >I found a transmission for it, salvage, $300 including delivery. Ok price? Anything to do or not do in the transaction? >Anyone done this or familiar enough so going forward I can ask questions if I need help? >Any particular challenges or problems I need to be aware of or to prepare for? Thanks

I have an ES250 1989 that needs a new transaxle? Anyone have a transaxle for it to sell? Or willing to sell me their es250 1989, 1990 or 1991 so I can take out that part?