epuffy

damn, seems like i'm having really bad luck recently. I just lost my job, and this crap happens. haha. Anyways, I was just driving my car and I put it in reverse and I heard a big clunk when engaged, but then it was fine. I put the car in drive and it went fine. When I got home to my garage I put the car in reverse and it doesn't move. It moves fine in Drive, but when put in reverse I can hear stuff moving around in the engine. What just broke and how much is it going to cost to fix? Help!

Litfuse

i feel for ya man, i got layed off not long ago myself. It's a terrible feeling. I am assuming that you have a auto trans, it might be something minor (like a broken spring or bad seal in the trans.) i would call a dealer and run it by a shop manager. Hopefully it can be fixed by just removing the oil pan.

epuffy

wierd thing is that I just got a transmission service last week. Could that be the reason? Maybe they messed up with something?

epuffy

Alright, after talking to about 10 shops I guess the conclusion is that my tranny's jacked. Apparently reverse is the first to go because it uses twice the pressure, and eventually the rest will go. Got a quote from Aamco for a minimum of $1500, and I really don't like the "atleast" part, because they then have the right (and probably will) to charge me more. So I went with another shop for $1400 for a complete rebuild with torque converter. Apparently the tranny on the 92 ES300 is one of the most expensive out there. Just wish I knew that before and maybe I would have been more careful with maintanence. Oh well, my car'll drive really nice now.

shlounek

iTrader: (1)

Hey wats up,

OK i am having exactly the same problem on my 92 ES, but the transmission never acted up until i sent one day for a tune-up at lexus. They adjusted the timing and cleaned the throttle or something of that matter.

My car has went through alot, my mother burnt the engine since it overheated due to a radiator cap problem and therefore i had to change the whole engine, after the change of the engine, the performance of the car was not the same but no issues with trnasmission. After taking it for a tune up at lexus, car performed better, but the tranny thing came up.

The transmission goes into place if u give it time, but it catches strong. Except know its getting weaker and weaker and u feel slipping even when reverse in place. I changed the tranny fluid and no help. Plus the tranny fluid is still very clean.

If if your old tranny was rebuilt what did they tell you was wrong with the tranny, cuz they opened it.

FYI.. LS400 tranny's r very cheap cuz tehy never break down they go fro 400 and there is still no demand, maybee i will buy an LS, haha

Gabeshell

Epuffy,

Sorry to hear about your tranny. You're right about reverse going out first due to higher pressure. The same thing happened with my truck. I took it to Aamco. DON'T take it there! They may give you a nationwide warranty, but the quality of their work is inferior. They charged me 1300 hundred to rebuild mine and it's never been right. I took the truck to another Aamco shop and they wouldn't touch the truck. What happened is that the first Aamco shop rebuilt a different tranny and installed it. The tranny was not for the same year truck and the electronics are just a bit different. It works, but not the same as the first one.

1400 bucks for a rebuild on a Lexus tranny isn't bad at all. Pretty average I'd say. Good luck with it and make sure that they use only Toyota tranny fluid! If you use anything else you're going to have problems. Don't let the rebuild shop tell you differently. When you have your tranny serviced on a newer Lexus they won't honor your warranty unless you used the Toyota type 1V fluid. Good luck and get it serviced every 30K.

Just a thought, 1400 is actually VERY cheap considering the Lexus is FWD. There is considerably more labor time involved with removing a FWD tranny than on a RWD vehicle. Just make sure you're getting what you paid for.

flipside909

How often did you get your tranny serviced i.e. fluid flush and fill? Sounds like it's time for a tranny rebuild. Looking at $1K or more depending on the shop.