Hey guys I just recently joined and bought my 1995 ls400 for 600$, it has 240k miles and me and my friend were test driving it and he decided he decided he wanted to try a burnout, I said no but he did it anyway and after that the car was in drive but would just rev, then it would kick in and drive for a little when we’re pushing it and then j start revving, we were 4 miles from home and I figured out when I would shut it off and start it it would drive for a little bit if I tried shifting into reverse or anything else nothing would happen, I found a bottle of the wrong transmission fluid for regular vehicles in the engine bay and my guess is the previous owner topped it off, I know it needs TIV from Toyota, but do you think that’s the cause of the issue and if so how do I fix it, do I just drain it all out and refill, I’m on a strict budget and don’t have money to mess around with plz help

 

Best bet is to drop the transmission pan and inspect the filter screen for debris. If it’s loaded up with clutch material, that could cause the car to behave like you said. Replace that filter and see if symptoms improve. Buy a few filters in case they get loaded up again. They’re cheap from rockauto

 

Ok great do I need a new gasket for the transmission pan and how much work is it to do that?
also do I drain the transmission fluid first and then replace it with all TIV

 

Yeah a new gasket is a good idea. Not much work. Very easy job. You can do some gradual drain and fills as you get T-IV in there.
fair caution, your transmission is probably done for, but this is a Hail Mary pass type of situation.

 

yeah that sucks hopefully it works but I bought the fluid filter and gasket and I was attempting to do it tn I got the pan undone but I cant get the bolt for the tranny dipstick out

 

I’ve pulled the pan out with the trans dipstick and dipstick tube in place before, lol. It was a bit of an oops moment. But it’s doable. I’ve pulled that pan an easy half dozen times or more.

 

ok awesome then screw that dipstick I’ll j pull it with the dipstick attached how do u do that tho, j pull to the side?

 

A lot of wiggling. LOL. But I want to encourage you to really do your best to try remove the dipstick tube.

 

I tried for 2 hours lmao but do u pull it out of the pan or does the pan just hang

 

it comes out. Remove the dipstick itself as well. The tubes come apart.

 

check your trans fluid level first. likely it's low or worse your friend exacerbated a problem that was already going to happen with a high mileage trans = drop the pan to inspect as already stated.