KCADR

Hey fam,

If this has been discussed before I'm sorry.! And i also apologize for the long post, just wanna be very clear with the cars issues in order to get help.
I have a 2000 ES300 with 182k on it. Recently, the car has starting acting up on me. It stays in 3rd gear, and will randomly change into 4th, or stay in 3rd the whole drive. It occurs at will, tho usually about 10-15 minutes after driving. When it acts up the rpms just keep going up as speed does, it does not change gears, to the point where I will be at 4,000 rpms while going 70, while the norm is usually around 2500 ish. Now i do get a CEL, and I got it read and the car is throwing P0330, the knock sensor 2. My mechanic believes it could be the throttle body needing cleaning, and wants to clean that before replacing the knock sensor. I'm not 100% about that, and have come to you guys for help. Also, the car holds the 3rd gear if I let off the gas pedal, it does not shift even then. I have stopped at red lights, and counted the gears, the car is in 1st at idle, then shifts to second, then third, and then carries that gear all the way, and i have observed it will go all the way to the redline, and still not shift.
What are possible causes of this? Could it just be the throttle body needing cleaning, or could its tranny be going, or would it be the knock sensor.?

Thank you all again, i know this is a long post but i am a full time pre med student and do not have time to go back and forth to the car shop and do not wanna pay the guy over and over again, cause money is tight for college students lol.

ES300NZ

you would need to deal with the knock sensor code to be sure, but my opinion is the issue is likely in the gearbox. I doubt it relates to the throttle body in the least and on a common sense level its just not something I would consider.