Hi Guys.

My car does not engage the reverse gear. It’s an Lx 570 2010 model with about 75k miles. The drive gear is perfect. But when I engage the “R” gear, it doesn’t engage. I also noticed just before this problem started, when I engage the “R” gear, the central lock behind the driver’s door makes some funny drag sound before locking. Any advise?🤷🏽‍♂️

 

I don't know what the issue is, but I would start by resetting your battery. (Disconnect it and let sit for an hour or 2) (resets the TCU)
Then crawl under and have someone engage the shifter with the engine off and see if the linkage is binding or disconnected.

Other than that, not sure what to tell you. Unlikely low on fluid since the forward gears work.

 

Many thanks @ Ratchey. I will give it a try and revert back to the house. Highly appreciated.

 

Have you checked the transmission fluid level??

 

Hi Hankind.

Thanks for your response.

As a matter of fact I just had the transmission fluid replaced. Turned out to be rather expensive far more than I expected. Still having same failure from time to time. I had read somewhere else on the forum about a similar problem and the writer suggested moving the gear stick from “P” all the way to “D” and back again several times. This tends to work each time I do it and it at least gives me the opportunity to use the car for now. But it’s not the permanent fix I want so the experiments continues for now.

 

Did you have it replaced at a lexus dealer or somewhere with experience with these transmissions? There's a specific procedure to set the correct fluid level. If it wasn't done properly, you most likely don't have the right amount of fluid.

 

Transmission fluid was replaced by a trained Lexus Mechanic.

 

Was the transmission fluid cool or did you have to leave the vehicle over night for the fluid level check?

I don't mean to alarm you but often in these transmissions the reverse gear is the first to go when something goes wrong. Then the others follow. Hopefully that's not your case.

 

Car was parked over night to allow the fluid/engine to cool down before the fluid change.


I tend to agree with you......I think my transmission is failing. No one seem to have a solution. The mechanic suggested something to do with the clutch plate and even then, he admitted changing the clutch plate is a 50/50 Probability to get the transmission back to normal.

 

It's about a 10 minute job. Have an infrared digital thermometer, warm up the truck until bottom of trans pan is at 70F,and remove the level plug. A little bit of fluid draining out is fine, and the level can be as low as about a quarter inch below the hole, iirc.

ATF normally replaced when hot, say after a 10-15 mile drive. You get more out faster as the fluid is thinner when hot. Since you're measuring bottom-of-pan temp, it cools down quickly once you add most of the fluid.

 

It's a 10 minute job if you know what you're doing. If the transmission fluid gets hotter than it should, you'll definitely be waiting a lot longer than 10 mins. This is why usually you have to leave the vehicle overnight for this procedure when done at a dealership. I also wouldn't use an infrared thermometer for this. I either do the ODB pin short or at least use tech stream. These transmissions are a bit finicky about fluid level.

 

I'm within 2 degrees F between the IR thermometer reading the pan bottom, and TIS/TechStream...something I check the first time I changed the fluid.

 

Hi my LX570 is doing this now. How did you solve this issue?