Hello everyone, Im in need of some help/direction. I have a 97 ES300 , Im not really sure whats going on with her.The car goes into gear P,R,D,2, and L. When the car is in D and I accelerate from a stand still it moves very sluggish , it feels like 2nd gear, and never shifts. I used the OBD to see the codes and i accidentally cleared them. But i REMEBER that one of the codes read "Shift Solenoid Malfunction" . Can anyone point me in the right direction ? Can it be something less serious thats triggering the solenoid malf?

 

No idea, but it sounds like you need a professional to check your transmission. Hopefully your codes will come back after some driving to give the technician a clue.

 

I don't think it's in limp mode; I think your solenoid is malfunctioning.

I'm not sure of any similarities, but I had a 2nd Gen GS300 that had similar issues, and it is a well covered topic on the GS forum here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...oid-fixed.html Might be worth reading.

 

okay so I should start with the solenoid ? I wish the code would come back so I can know exactly which solenoid and its location. But thanks a bunch!

 

I was thinking about taking it to one but I wanted to see if it was something minor that I could do .

 

Anyone else know anything about this kind of thing ? Ive been waiting to see if the check engine light would come back on so i have some sort of idea but it hasnt. I read on another thread that when the trans is in limp mode it is limited to 2nd gear with no shifting , and thats pretty much exactly whats happening . Id appreciate any help !!! Pls

 

...so, are you saying that the car is still shifting (not shifting) badly but the CEL hasn't come back on..? Maybe the light bulb is blown. While the car is off, get in and turn the key to "ON" (not "ACC"essory) and observe if the CEL lights up. It just sounds odd that the car would be stuck in 2nd gear driving for a while without the CEL being lit.

 

I did that and the CEL did light up , and truthfully i drove the car very little because i didnt want to cause any further damage , im going to take up the street again to see if it might come back on. But does anything come to mind when you read the post ?

 

I've had a similar problem. The car stopped shifting to overdrive. I had the transmission serviced. Grime on the filter screen and pan was normal and minimal. There were no codes. We were stumped. Then I came across a U tube vidieo claiming to solve the problem. It turned out to be as simple as disconnecting the positive battery cable, grounding the now free cable, waiting a few minutes then reconnecting the cable. Apparently, the problem has little to do with the transmission. It seems that something as simple as a lazy oxygen sensor can cause the transmission to resort to a form of limp mode to try to maintain clean emissions. So far so good, overdrive is still working.

 

Not sure if I would follow that exact procedure, but I believe what they meant to do is simply reset the ECU and clear its memory. You can do that by disconnecting the negative battery cable for a half hour without any risk of permanent damage.

 

Ok ill be sure to give this a try tommorrow !!