dlcoffin

well, it's been quite a day. i've owned this car for 6 months now. everything was perfect on this car, everything worked. today, i get on the freeway, and jerk rev chug, barely got off the freeway and into a side street in some neighborhood, and all the gears were non existent. reverse, drive, 2, 1. no movement. engine rpms drop, in a gear selection, like normal, but no movement. parking brake on, in gear, get in back and see if drive shaft turns, to rule out the differential. nope. so now i think either ecm or something inside the trans. got it towed to leons transmission, and they will rebuild the transmission. oh well. when i first got the car, it had a used transmission swapped into it, as the original was blooey, unspecified. 5k miles later, to today. i certainly hope the rebuild will solve that and that the issue isn't the ecm.. will post updates as they occur. i really do love this car. it's the nicest thing i've ever owned in my life.

Fit1too

I have not read many posts about total transmission failure on the LS400 series. Hopefully it will turn out to be something simple. Put good thoughts in front of you!

dlcoffin

before i acquired this car, was told that the original transmission was bad, and another trans swapped into it. i could be wrong, but, the area my car was sold at, is very near a pick-your-part. i have a feeling a trans was simply pulled from a junker there and swapped into my car thereabouts, then sold to me. sigh. i suppose used car salesmen will never change, not giving thought to really putting quality service into their cars that they sell, in the interest of quick sales to rubes. at least, with now getting an actual rebuild on the thing, it'll be good for a long time, and will go a long ways towards my confidence to take the car on longer trips. will probably need to, have family members in hospital up north, that i want to visit. for now, fallback transportation for me is my venerable electric scooter, or the city busses, plus my hooves.

Fit1too

I'd rather walk than buy from a used car dealer—then again, I’d better watch saying that since I live in a rural one-stop light town. There is nothing like peace of mind when you are on the road. My wife and I travel extensively, and I must have reliable transportation. I mostly drive our 1999 RAV4 when traveling. I purchased it used on eBay with 37,000 miles on the odometer. It is sweeeet, but I had to do a lot of work to get it road worthy (for me to feel confident driving 2000-mile round trips). The previous owner was an elderly snowbird and had all the maintenance work done at Jiffy Lubes and what not. If I were not mechanically inclined, it would have cost me a fortune. I’m so grateful for online forums!

Banshee365

I would recommend changing the radiator after a failed transmission. What happened is that your strainer clogged with excessive clutch material from your failure causing the pump to no longer be able to provide enough pressure to keep the trans engaged. I recommend changing the radiator as you may have contaminated fluid in it from your failure. They're $76 on Amazon Prime:

spuds

Good wishes on your rebuild.

dlcoffin

update! got my baby back today. my feeling that i was stuck with a junker transmission is doubly reinforced, after reading the report on my newly rebuilt transmission, done by Leon's Transmission in Reseda, a member of the ATRA, with warranty to go with it. simply put, metal everywhere! torque converter replaced, too. flushed transmission cooler, no issues, thanks again to the poster above suggesting i replace entire radiator. drove it on highway and streets for a while, on way home. huge difference! it feels like I imagined it would feel, if it had been brand new, the shifting is so smooth! replaced both engine mounts and transmission mount, as well. huge load off my mind. hated coming into a car with as little maintenance history as i had been able to dig up from the Lexus website.

dlcoffin

so--jiffy lubes aren't recommended?

Fit1too

Uh, no. I try hard not to let anyone touch my car, but I cannot mount and balance tires and have no equipment to align the wheels so there are exceptions. I have taken my 98 RAV4 to the Toyota dealer in Madison, Indiana. They did my timing belt, water pump, and fixed an oil leak that started out small and eventually got out of hand. They've always taken good care of me. So glad you followed up with us and congrats on the results! I know you feel so much better, and you have new engine and transmission mounts to boot!

dlcoffin

yeah.. trusted mechanics are few and far between. sometimes, i wish i lived where my favorite youtube mechanic lives. south main auto, avoca, new york. eric o. is a self effacing wizard when it comes to just about anything in any car, and fixes stuff that the manufacturer deems 'unrepairable'. i'm addicted to his videos, and learning so much from watching him. i hope one day he posts something with a ls400 in it.

Fit1too

Cool, I just found his videos on youtube. Thanks.

Sin1UZFE

whats the channel name?

Fit1too

South Main Auto Repair LLC

jaaa

Yes indeed, he puts out the absolute best car repair video's. I've been watching him for years and have gained confidence to do repairs far beyond what I thought I could- before watching. And yes, the humor and storytelling is fantastic. If you haven't yet, check out Ivan at Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics too. His video techniques are terrible, but he's one of the smartest guys you'll ever meet. He is constantly taking failed parts apart and repairing them for a no cost repair.

spuds

Thanks,subscribed.