Hi,
I have a 2001 Lexus es300. I've had this car for a few years now. I received this car from a friend. He said he was tired of putting money into it. When I got this car, it ran with a winning sound. the dealership told my friend that it needed a new transmission.
I had it towed to my home. It runs great. It made a loud winning sound and would not go into any gear. So, I changed the transmission fluid and filter. Then the car ran great for a couple of years. I was driving one day on a highway and got off at an off ramp.
The car shifted funny, and I slowed down to see what the issue was. When I got back into the car to start driving. It would only drive in first gear. So, I had it towed home. I changed the transmission fluid and filter again no change. I
changed the two speed sensors. Nothing helped. So, I parked it for about a year. I needed to move the car one day to mow grass and clean up the yard. So, I jumped it off and moved to the driveway. I left it running to warm the engine up. I done the yard work.
got int the car. I decided to try to drive it through our Neighborhood. The damn car started shifting a little. the more I drove it the better it shifted. So, I changed the fluids again and drove the car for a few years. now it's doing the same thing again. It won't shift out of 1st.
I forgot to mention that reverse wasn't working in the beginning. Reverse isn't working either now. So, if anyone has had this problem or has an idea of what it could be. please let me know.

 

Hello,

Do you have the picture of the pan the first time you took it off?

Here is a thread that describes the likely source of the whine that you described. The thing is that if the car was driven like that (essentially starved of fluid) to the moment when transmission stopped shifting at all until the filter was replaced, it is a miracle that it sprung back to life the first time, let alone the subsequent times. It seems like some debris got jammed into one of the channels, but it will be very hard to tell anything without actually looking at your transmission.

Right now, all you can do without digging into it is drain and fill the transmission with the best fluid you can get about a dozen times and hope for the best, the chances of it helping are about the same as the chances of killing it completely to be honest.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Here's the deal with the Lexus and the reason I got it. my friend took it to the dealer to have the air condition checked out. he was called later that day from the deal telling him that the Lexus wouldn't pull out of bay it was in. they told him that the Transmisson was bad. That he needed a new transmission. 3500.00 dollars' worth. He wasn't going to pay that. Granted he never had a problem with the transmission before. No winning or shifting problems. So, when got the car I change the filter and fluid and noticed the fluid looked really low. then it drove just fine for a long time. There's never been a lot collected on the magnet in the pan..

 

Clean the valve body with B12 or Seafoam. Drive it for a few days with that inside, then drain and fill the pan with the correct fluid. Add some LubeGard Red, which will do further gentle cleaning in the valve bodies and system.

Remember that the fluid is checked while the car is running in case you did not know (you may have, no offense). If not checked running, it will be underfilled.