Banshee365

I've got an interesting and scary problem with my transmission. With 220k on a meticulously maintained car I'm having transmission problems.

At just under 200k I flushed the transmission with new T-IV.

At around 215k the transmission stopped going into gear and sounded like a power steering pump starving for fluid. Sure enough the filter was clogged. I dropped the pan to find there were no magnets in the pan at all. I replaced the filter with the intent of ordering new magnets and all was good.

After somewhat forgetting about the magnets since the transmission was working great the strainer clogged again around 219k. I ordered magnets for the pan thinking the metal material wasn't getting caught by the magnets and was prematurely clogging the strainer. I replaced with another new strainer and installed the magnets.

The transmission was working great and shifting and performing perfectly after that. Then less than a couple of hundred miles later the noise came back and it wouldn't go into gear again. Pulled the pan and the strainer is clogged AGAIN! The fluid is a bit dark and the magnets already have a very little bit of material on them. I think that material is just from the dirty fluid.

Any advice on what I should do at this point? I think the transmission will work fine again with a new strainer but who knows how long it will go. Is my transmission on the way out? I sure hope not. I'm thinking about maybe flushing the transmission with new T-IV after cleaning this strainer and cleaning the pan spotless. I'm wandering if the fluid that's in there now is contaminated and maybe I should start with fresh fluid. I flush it by letting the transmission pump fluid into a bucket through the cooler line while I pour new fluid into the transmission while it's running and going through R-N-D-2-1-P-R, etc... I think this get's most all of the fluid through the transmission

So the question I have is. Is my transmission failing inevitably or should I just perform a thorough flush with new fluid with a clean strainer and go from there. When the strainer is clean it goes right into gear with new hesitation, no slipping while driving and no other weird quirks.

P.S. I think the pictures with the flash make the material in the strainer look a little worse than real life.

sdls

install a Magnefine inline filter on the transmission return line. the size to order is 3/8". it has a fiber filter and a magnet to capture the debris and preserve the strainer in the trans.

willhickey

iTrader: (1)

my sc is doing this also..., where can one go about getting this magnefine filter? thanks

Banshee365

sdls, thanks for the reply. Have you had this issue before to be resolved by installing an inline filter? I'm hoping the trans isn't near the end of it's life.

sdls

Yes. I had my strainer clogging up immediately when I changed my trans out, making the car undriveable. I ended up changing the strainer three times. It got slightly better but kept loading up. The Magnefine filter fixed it for good. You can buy it online, just search for it. I got mine from RockAuto for something like three bucks; it had 1/2" fittings but I just used some barb adapters from the hardware store to make it work on my car. Been fine for a year now and several thousand miles.

gemigniani

Your car was obviously not "meticulously maintained" by it's prior owner if the magnets were missing and the transmission was generating so much wear debris. I would imagine the prior owner either didn't use Type T-IV fluid, ran the transmission low on fluid or did something else that was abusive.

Normally a Toyota strainer never clogs for the life of the car and no aftermarket filters are needed.

sdls

it's not uncommon for the a340 family transmissions to end up needing filter changes around this age. it just happens. best to do it and get on with life.

Banshee365

gemigniani, for your information I bought the car 9 years ago with less than 70k miles on it. It came from a wealthy family that traded every several years for a newer LS. She sold it outright to us after they bought a new 430. They had it maintained strictly at the Toyota dealer that had a small staff of Lexus techs. If the magnets were ever not put back in, believe it or not, it happened at the dealership. I do all my own repairs and maintenance since then and only use OEM parts and procedures. We have driven the car 150k miles since purchased in 2002 so I highly doubt a problem 150k miles ago would show up all of a sudden now. The previous owner included with the car the maintenance log. It included every service done to the car along with every tire rotation and such.

sdls, do you think a good fluid flush along with an in-line filter installed in the return line would be a good way to go to get the car going reliably again? The transmission clogged 2 strainers in pretty quick order.The body, interior, and engine are in fantastic shape and show no where near the amount of miles on the car and it would be great to not have to go out looking for a new transmission.

willhickey

iTrader: (1)

with the miles on it who cares????? mines the same way if it was american it woulda fell apart!!!!!! i can live with 30 mins in the pan every coulpla thousand miles.. thanks for the tip im going to try it also.

sdls

Absolutely. Something happened to your trans that caused it to shed metal. Whatever's happened, has happened, so we want to move on from that point and try to clean up the mess inside. You may have to swap out the inline filter a couple of times to get it right and clean again, but eventually you should be back up and good to go.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

looks normal for a trans with that many miles on it....

flushing the trans but not cleaning the screen wont help much if its clogged, obviously.

Banshee365

The strainer is out of the car and has been cleaned back to like new again. I'm also going to clean the inside of the pan really good again. I'm assuming the clogged strainer and lack of flow to the trans is bad news all around and whatever I can do to keep that from happening anymore is going to greatly extend the life of the trans.

I'm going to order 2 magnefine in-line filters from here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/INLIN...Q5fAccessories

I'm planning to install one after a flush for a few hundred miles and then replace it with the 2nd one. The first will clog pretty quick I think. I installed a bypass coolant filter on my 2005 diesel truck and let it run for less than 300 miles before I replaced the first one. It was nearly totally clogged with grit and sand. Increasing the intervals after the first change has been working out really well.

shuiyuan

let me know how the car run after you put the magnefine filter, my car is having the same problem, the filter will get clogged after 200-300 miles driving.

Bill Dowd

I installed a tranmission cooler at 50,000 miles and I pump 4 quarts of trans fluid into a bottle and then replace it drive the car 100 miles and do it again until I get 12 quarts exchanged each year 255,000 miles later no problems I drop the pan every 60,000 miles to check for junk and clean filter nothing so far. I use mobil one synthetic trans fluid which cost more but using toyota type 4 will work just fine these trans can go about 300,000 to 400,000 and beyond if taken care of. I also put a small trans cooler on the power steering again using mobil one trans fluid and change it every 30k WHICH IS ABOUT THE SAME FOR THE TRANS. I also change the rear end oil at 30k using 75-90 mobil one oil, again using toyota oil will also make all these last eons and eons YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR CAR AND IT WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.

imorandin

Hi @Banshee365 . Did you manage to solve the problem? If so, how did you do that?
I'm having the same problem with my Volvo 960 that has the same transmission. Thanks!