emitchum

is this terminal or will a flush extend life? if you listen the oddest sound is from P>R then there is a hesitation before it goes into D. this is a .wav attachment about 30 seconds long to give you an idea

thomas1

DO NOT do a flush, Have the pan dropped and change filter and refill fluid...A flush will be the kiss of death. During that process if the pan is full of metal, than your tranny is toast. No sense in wasting further money. If the fluid and pan is relatively clean, than maybe something else is going on.

emitchum

thanks thomas1
i made a trip (not in the rx300) to autozone and got a filter kit and 4 quarts of castrol atf that meets lexus specs and a few ounces of lubeguard, sounds good now. the filter was black but the magnets were free of shavings but they did have heavy sludge on them. this car has 155,000 miles. i used a half quart of the used atf to bring the stick up to full. if this tranny lives i will change the filter at around 180,000

hypervish

I suggest doing one more drain and fill in about 100 miles.

emitchum

sounds like a plan. actually i was thinking, did i run those three bolts up that hold the filter in place? so my doubt got the best of me and i got to do it all over again. it is a good thing, they were finger tight

thomas1

The suggestion for another drain and fill is what we do to get the fluid cleaner, The tranny actually holds about 8 to 9 qtrs so we do several drain and fills in a short period to get a more pristine fluid. I personally recommend a fluid change every 15k miles or once a year.

rvess68

How did that work Out for ya

emitchum

thanks for asking rvess68. drove the car a couple of thousand miles and did a drain and fill. the transmission is quiet and working great at 164,990 miles. we had priced a rebuild and it was $2750. This was kind of a reality check for me. This has kind of prompted me to do all the PM on the car as opposed to going to the garage somewhere. Tire rotation, brakes, belts, hoses, oil changes are all done at home now. Thanks for having forums to get good advice.