sicilygirl

I have a 2007 IS250 with 165k miles that gave me a P2757 code (TORQUE CONVERTER CLUTCH PRESSURE CONTROL SOLENOID PERFORMANCE). Diagnosed as an internal transmission failure by Lexus. I bought a salvage tranny with 56K miles on it and had my mechanic install it. He test drove it and said everything was ok. I drove it home and immediately noticed that going from a stop position, I felt a vibration from the gas pedal every time I went from stop to start and turning corners and some steep hills. I asked my mechanic friend what the problem could be and he said the drive shaft is not aligned - there are washers that go above the brackets. When I asked the mechanic who installed it, he said he knew exactly what he was talking about because some parts fell out when he was installing the replacement tranny.

My question is: how difficult is it to do the alignment of the drive shaft, and should my mechanic be able to get it right on the 2nd try? Thanks!

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

The question is why didn't your mechanic fix the problem. If he new about it first of all. I would pick up the missing parts, and take it elsewhere.

sicilygirl

Agree. Disappointed that they took the job if they couldn't perform it correctly.
So, my mechanic took another shot at it today, but it didn't sound too convincing. He said "it's better."
He said they marked the front where the differential connects, but for the rear where the male/female splines are, they can't see that part and it's difficult to get it aligned (different transmission with my old mount).
They also adjusted the center support bearing and he said the bolts were a little bit off.
I'm not confident that they aligned the drive shaft as well as it should be done.
Taking it somewhere else - or if Lexus service will even touch it, will cost me more.
Should I be worried?

Htony

Is your mechanic specialized in tranies? You should go to tranny specialty shop where they do only tranny works.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

You said start, stop, hills. Does it vibrate at speeds over 35mph? If so, It sounds like the person took the shaft apart at the slip yoke and failed to align it properly.

A drive shaft out of phase from end to end will induce harmonic vibrations as its litterally shifting back and forth from end to end if out of phase.

That said most splined shafts are indexed and only fit one way making this near impossible to assemble wrong.

sicilygirl

yes, hindsight is 20/20. If I knew it what I know now, I wish my mechanic had told me they could not do the job properly.

sicilygirl

Thanks for your assessment. I don't notice any vibration or slippage on the freeway. It seems to run fine at higher speeds.
I had my buddy test drive it last Friday (he works on his own cars). He thinks the tranny may be no good. He detected going from 1st to 2nd gear a slippage of almost 3,000 rpms. He also noticed it shuddering at deceleration and at zero.
I will be taking it to a tranny shop for a 2nd opinion on Wednesday to see what they say about it.
Another mechanic said maybe the transmission fluid level is not correct and that could be causing this.
I have a warranty on the tranny so I may have to send it back and abort this plan as I didn't want to spend a ton more money to get this repair done and troubleshooting after the fact was not in my plans.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Could just be the amount of fluid in the trans is too low.

sicilygirl

That's what I hope they can check out tomorrow. But the fact that initially the slippage was worse when first installed and then diminished after they tried to adjust the drive shaft, leads me to believe it's how it was installed.
I sure got myself into a mess here.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Every time it slips (slides) into a gear and/or is not holding it, it is burning clutch material. If induced by low fluid that is bad and may not be covered under warranty.

These cars have no dipstick and checking the fluid level requires time, tools, and experience.

The installer **could have** ruined a perfectly good used trans by not checking the level using the correct process.

sicilygirl

Thanks. I took it to a transmission shop and got another opinion from a general mechanic across the street from them. Both said it drives fine, they noticed the slight hesitation but they said it shifts fine and will not be like the original transmission.