damon

This poor old car has kind of been the under appreciated runt of the litter as of late.

Needs a little TLC & that starts with a Transmission. Went & looked at some low mileage JDM options local to me but was scared to death when they informed me that the case did have the same location speedo output. The output shaft is also different but that is a relatively easy change.

Settled on one from a yard that they claim has 61,000 K , which sounds improbable but we shall see.

Wondering if a failing ECU may have caused my tranny issues. It will be dealt with next.

Most of my post here were for a 94 LS that got taken out by a bouncing loose truck tire on the interstate. Also have a 2001 LS430.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

What type of symptoms with the tranny and who determined it needed replacement? Other smaller items can cause shifting problems that don't necessarily result in a whole replacement.

Shift solenoids, ECU...

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

yes, these transmission are pretty solid if well maintained. usually a simple drain/fill, and/or filter change and she should be decent. of course the ECU (bad capacitors) is a very likely culprit.

LScowboyLS

a failing ECU will not harm the transmission - but ECU capacitor issues can easily be mistaken for an internal transmission issue, as can low fluid, incorrect fluid, or a clogged screen

my ECU got so bad it would no longer automatically shift at all, so I had to manually shift to each gear at the appropriate speed and rpm, until I fixed the ECU - now the transmission is silky smooth like a new car!

there is no way I would replace a transmission until I fixed the ECU first - LS400 transmissions rarely ever go out short of 275K miles

damon

This one easily could have started out with ECU & Solenoid issues that were mistakenly diagnosed.

It is now just shy of 300,000 & has loads of actual slippage. Will not go in reverse & has to warm up before it will shift into higher gears.

LScowboyLS

so you are saying you have replaced the filter and changed the fluid?

damon

Yes, fluids have been well maintained. 300k is just 300k.

Aeok18109

time to 5 speed swap

LScowboyLS

so tell us what the filter and pan looked like on a transmission that is starting to go bad

damon

I expect that it will look horrible. When you have disc on disc slippage the end result is a toxic tranny sludge.(it is failing & coming apart ) It started doing this with clean fluid.

When you are in gear & you can nail your tach to 6k without acceleration there are major problems.

damon

I am looking to be just north of $600 bucks for this installed. The 5 speed swap would be great but $2000 easy. Just don't see it with the current value of this 90.

I am giving some thought to emptying out the old tranny case & keeping it with the intention that if this happens again I will buy a low mileage JDM & have its guts transferred over to a US Market case.

damon

Will have the ECU gone over & upgraded this week but will be very interested to see how this swapped tranny acts once installed. Should be a good test of ecu vs tranny malfunction.

Fluid in scrap yard A341E was in really good shape.

Did replace the rear main seal, front pump seal & Trans mount while it is on the lift.

damon

Wrecker Yard A341E installed and everything works like a champ.
New T-IV & filter as well.

Legender

good news and congrats on the fix. Now you can enjoy the ride again and get a few more miles out of her.

damon

Tranny is still performing well. I think it is rather odd that other CL Members would conclude that someone with over 1200 post here would neglect their tranny fluid & filter condition.