NetG

LET ME HAVE MY DENIAL!!!!


Bet the owner took it to a mech. and they said..."It'll last a week maybe if you drive it gently" so he sold it
...and I don't drive gently.


I'm sure pulling, re-building, and re-installing the tranny that came with the car is going to be far easier/simpler than swapping in my w58 I got this car to quickly replace my old car...long story. Now when it wears out again we'll see what I feel like doing

LScowboyLS

I would *not* recommend DIY transmission repair, unless you have experience in this area. There is a reason that people don't fix their own automatic transmissions!

I am a seasoned ASE-certified master tech with 30 years experience, and I don't repair my own transmissions, but if you have that gift and have done them before, then go for it!

At a minimum, use a good digital camera and take extensive photos as you disassemble things, so you have a record of how it all goes back together, without that, you're sunk!

Also I would not even think about this repair unless you have the real factory transmission service manual

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

If it's not electrical, another possibility would be a clogged transmission filter. Fluid would look fine and the levels will as well, but a clogged filter will not allow a car to move (or move much, at least) in gear, while the rpms will go up, the car will just creep along or shudder/jerk.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

I would clean the screen as mentioned and if it really looks to be the trans, just swap it out. can get a known good trans in socal or $200 or less if you look around, $400-500 if you want one with a warranty. still a better deal than spending the 1400+ to get yours rebuilt.

NetG

I will drop the pan to inspect the fluid just for curiosity sake but from what I understand it had a full service not long ago. I'm asking a guy about a tranny from a lower mileage tranny, I would much rather swap than rebuild but my options may be limited. I REALLY enjoyed when I rebuilt that one...but it was just one. I don't have a good lift but I've got an enclosed shop with PLENTY of desk space. I will be pulling things out and laying them out in order...that's how I did it last time...difference is this one won't be my first. That sounded dirty...just like I like it.

I'll double check a few things...denial is a slow dying ***** after all...hopefully by then I'll find a good one to just swap rebuild is now the last resort.

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

Worth a shot. Lexus doesn't even recommend you change the filter (screen) they just tell you to clean it off, when I went to buy a new one they tried to talk me out of it. Most people never even drop their tranny pans, hell, most people barely change the fluid.

NetG

From the looks of it the pan has been off at least once...but there isn't any reason for only the forward clutch (C1) to fail...and it's the ONE part that is common to all my problems with no reason for the part not to work aside from failing...confirmed thanks to y'alls suggestions

It's got over 300>k so I guess that's pretty good for a transmission with friction discs. The engine seems strong, hope it doesn't fool me too. Course I have a back up 1uz but I don't expect to use it for a while.




...shouldn't have said that...

xaper

Hi everyone.
Just not to open new thread, as my problem seems to be similar to the one from this thread.

I have LS400 from 95 and did the radiator change. During that (of which I didn't know by then) I have lost some atf. After that I went for the ride and the tranny didn't work good, I mean it hesitated and changed gear only at high rpms, so I went back to garage. Removed the pan, checked if things are ok, added fluid and everything was working well. Until after about 2 weeks, I reved the car a bit more (just from one lights to another). At lights it had problems to start moving (I mean just like the clutch was slipping or something) but it eventually went off till the next stop when it died.
Now I have only reverse but no forward gears.
However unfortunately in the meantime I had the alternator together with regulator changed/fixed. Since then I have no communication with ECU and some of the dash lights (those that were on, indicating the alternator went wrong) are now dimmed.

So my question is, where should I start ? I have already flushed the atf (following lexls tutorial) with 10 liters of fluid. Could it be ECU capacitors hopefully?

LScowboyLS

Yes, failing ECU capacitors will cause many transmission irregularities, including not wanting to shift gears automatically (manual shifting 1-2-3-D at appropriate vehicle speed should still work) - the ECU caps going bad will also cause the "no communication from ECU" problem.

If your transmission will not go into the various gears manually, such as you said no forward, but how about if you manually shift it to 1st gear? (1) - will it move the car then? - if not, then you have additional issues beyond ECU caps.

I strongly recommend that you order the correct capacitors using the links provided in post #1, even if you are located in Europe or other parts of the world besides USA, due to concerns with counterfeit capacitors - if you can confirm who is the authorized distributor in your country for the brands of Rubycon, Panasonic, Chemi-con and Nichicon, then if you must source the capacitors locally, please ensure that you at least use the exact brand and series listed in the links, as these are a very special type and grade of capacitor!

1995 is smack in the middle of the most common years for defective ECU caps, so regardless of whether they are failing right now, or not, they soon will be, so replacement before any or additional ECU circuit board damage is done is strongly recommended!

xaper

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have already read your thread with ECU capacitors when I had the alternator problems, hence I have already purchased the capacitors, yet I didn't change them because when I opened the ECU there were not 6 cap as you mentioned in the thread from the link but 9 and secondly I found out it was the alternator and regulator, so when it fixed the problems I didn't want to touch the capacitors.
What I bought :
EEUFC1H100LH 10uF;50V
EEUFC1J470B 47uF;63V
EEUFC1A101SH 100uF;10V
EEUFC1H221S 220uF;50V

all from Panasonic (verified source).

I am missing 15uF;35V (2 of them) and 47uF;65V and could not see them listed where I bought the others, so I was planning to order everything once again from US, as those I bought are (probably) not the best.


Coming back to the shifts, at the beginning I could feel a bit of movement at 1 gear (manually selected) but now after the flush I happened once I guess, so everything is acting really odd.

Would you recommend starting with the capacitors ? Could it also be the source of the dimmed dash lights problem ?

EDIT: Today I had to move the car so I thought it would be easier to drive backwards and then push. Anyway, with the reverse engaged I managed to move a bit and then it went neutral just like the forward gears. However, I switched the car off and then again on and could drive on reverse just like before the problems.

Additionally I asked my brother to do the procedure from the thread (unplug the main connector) and he said that the 1 gear engaged, however he felt like it was rather moving backwards than forward which is weird again. I didn't check it myself so don't really know how was it really, but all this stuff seems really weird.

I will probably change the capacitors this weekend and check if it helps.

xaper

Ok, took a little bit more than I expected, but I decided to wait for the right capacitors you, LScowby, described in the other thread. Did the job and finally I got codes from my ls. It gave code "61 No. 2 speed sensor signal malfunction". I will try to change it and see if that helps, but from my understanding this might me the possible cause of the problems I am experiencing.

LScowboyLS

did you change ALL of the capacitors?

you have to be very careful on sources, counterfeits are so common, I will only buy from sources listed at the manufacturer's website ONLY!!

xaper

Yes, all of them. I bought them from the links you provided in the failing ECU capacitors thread. That's why I have been waiting so long for them to come from US.

Yamae

I advise you to check the speed sensor visually before replacing it. It is the often case that the speed sensor have many small iron pieces attached. It has a magnet inside and it collects small iron pieces and dusts often. Just removing and cleaning them is often OK to fix the problem.

xaper

Thanks for the advice. I found on a supra forum a tutorial how to check the sensor. However, can anybody confirm what I have already collected. In the car there are 3 speed sensors. Two of them are the trans speed sensors and one is vehicle speed sensor. The code I have is related to one of these two (the second one to be specific which is kind of backup one). But how can I distinguish both being under the car. In the ls400 manual I have, there is nothing about these two and there is something like o/d direct clutch speed sensor. I believe this thing is supposed to be in the older ls400, yet I am a bit confused.