Hi all,

I just bought (about a month a go) a 2002 with a 120k. The car is in very nice shape considering years/mileage.

My problem (I think) is with the transmission shifting out of park into any gear. Along with the click of the door locks closing, I hear a sharp snap when pulling the shifter out of park. Going back into park from D or R is perfectly silent. The transmission seems to run fine.

Has anyone experienced this noise?

Thanks.

 

Is this while you are parked on a slope so the transmission is holding the weight of the vehicle? As transmissions get broken in (loosen up a bit), it is common for them to be more clunky going out of park. Maybe someone with more internal transmission knowledge can explain why. This "snap" that you describe shifting out of park isn't serious if the transmission still shifts fine.

To eliminate this "snap", whenever I park on a slope I shift to neutral, engage the parking brake, release the foot brake to ensure the parking brake is holding the vehicle in place, and then shift into park. Then to take off, I shift into drive before releasing the parking brake...... No "snap"

I got into this habit because I pull a boat around a lot and the "snap" you describe on your Lexus is a lot more like a very loud "CLUNK" in an older pickup with a boat behind it on the boat ramp. Without using the parking brake to hold the weight, pulling the auto tranny out of park can be difficult with a heavy boat and steep ramp.

 

I use the same technique you do in regards to the parking brake. My noise occurs regardless of incline, and I notice it now every morning when pulling out of my flat (relatively) garage. Thanks for the advice though.

 

Does it make any noise when you shift from reverse to D and vice-versa? If not, its probably just a parking pall issue. Somebody (previous owner-s) might have tried to engage Park when driving at slow speed (more than once) and damaged the Park engagement mechanism.

If you do hear something strange when shifting from R to D, then you have bigger problems.

 

In an manual transmission car, when you leave it in gear (any gear except N) and turn off the engine, the weight of the car is held by the entire engine. In an automatic transmission, there's a little nub of metal that holds the weight of the car. Over time, the nub wears down (from putting it into P and not applying the e-brake tight). This is the only thing that is preventing your car from rolling down your driveway! What you should do before turning off the engine is first put the transmission in N, apply the e-brake so the car doesn't move, then put the tranny in P. This way, the e-brake is holding the weight of the car, not the worn little metal nub!

 

SerasLibre,

I only get the sound when I shift from Park to R or D. If I switch between N, R, and D it sounds perfectly normal to me. So, you think this might just be something a little funky with the Park Engagement System, but not a larger transmission issue? thanks for all the insight guy's.

 

Just to make sure, is the "snap" a hurky jerky feeling like it's coming from transmission, or you're hearing a literal "snap" from the shifter? The shifter in the LS is not mechanically attached to the transmission. The shifter electronically shifts the transmission, so if you're hearing a snap from the shifter, then maybe something is jammed in there causing this sound.

If the feeling is from the transmission itself, and nothing else seems wrong like slipping in gear, or hard to shift, then really.. I would bring to Lexus to see if anything is wrong, otherwise, shouldn't be an issue.

 

The snap is audible, not mechanical. Not to worry?

 

The shifter is connected to the transmission interface (or whatever it's techinically called) via a 1/2" wide interface cable, and some other lines that supply light, etc. So, if your sound is purely audible as in coming from the shifter area, then I would say it's just something clicking on each other within the console. You should have no fear that a mechanical arm is going to fall off and knock your transmission out of whack because like I said before, there is no physical mechanical connection to the transmission and the shifter.

 

Sweet, that sounds like exactly what it is. I will sleep tonight thanks to you!

 

To further rest your mind, if you wanted to, the center console where the shifter is is held in place by four pressure pins at the corners. If you carefully pull up at the four corners, the panels comes right up and off and you can take a look at the shifter assembly and then shift in and out and see what's making that noise and perhaps try to fix it.

There are instructions online here on the forum under "console replacement" or "cigarette console." I had posted some pictures in one of the threads.

 

I may give that a try, thanks again!