vindell

Hi! Lexus fellows,

This has happened to my 1991 LS_400, first generation in the past 6 months or so. And I have no control of when it may happen. I would have been cruising down the highway at 65 mph and suddenly the wheels lose power but speed did not drop, the RPM jumped to 3,000 or higher, and the engine roared. As the subject title says "It feels like the transmission jumps into neutral."

It happens not that frequently. I would say a couple times a week. I get out of it by switching on/off the overdrive, switching back and forth among neutral, D, and lower gears.

I should admit that the car did not do that when I first bought it three years ago. I live high on the hill and I started using the low gears to slow down when I go down hill. I wonder that has to do with the problem.

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

Best Regards!


Vin

Stroock639

is it just downshifting into 3rd? you said pressing the overdrive button and stuff makes it not do whatever its doing so maybe it's downshifting for some reason

djamps

This happened to me when I changed the trans fluid and underfilled it. Would randomly lose pressure and slip in and out of gear. Topped it off correctly and it is fine now. Check your levels according to the instructions in your manual.

dicer

X2 fluid level. Being sporadic makes it difficult to trouble shoot. Maybe its time to do a drain and remove the pan and check or change the screen.

Yamae

Didn't you have any slow engagement problem when you put the AT lever to R or D?
Usually this happens when the level is not high enough and people may notice the problem.

In my case it needs to fill the ATF up to the high end marker or a bit more. Otherwise the car doesn't start properly in the morning.

djamps

I never made it out of the driveway in my case. Engaged fine but every 10 feet or so it would drop into 'neutral' until I restarted it (indicator said R or D the whole time). Freaked me out, thought I had a bad trans... a quart of ATF later and back in business. Was just thinking if he's approaching the 'border line' on his level it might not happen so quickly as in my case. Mine was severely underfilled after a flush -- stupid mistake.