I was driving today and all of a sudden going into second gear my car decides to shake like its no one's business and the rpm's shoot up while the car doesn't go any where and just shakes even more. i come to a full stop, put the car into L(1st gear) and it drives fine, i put it back into drive and it shakes and goes no where and starts making noise sounding like someone is beating on metal again. did my trans just go? any insight would be great, how much would it be to fix? i'm trying to get rid of the car since i'm getting a new STI but i refuse to sell it to any one in this condition and would like to know if this can be fixed.

i know this is a long rant but i'm so shocked because there were no signs, no trans slipping it just happened...


my car has 115k miles and all maintenance was up to date.

 

Doesnt sound good, time to drop the tranny pan and see if it is full of metal....

 

What are the rpms you're getting?

 

it depends, the more gas i gave the higher it would climb. i let off after it hit 5k, and it kicked even more when i let off. i put it in neutral. came to a full stop, put it in L and drove home it was fine in L. i'm not goin to try and take my car apart, i need to figure out how to get it to a shop. lets shay second gear too a crap, how much would it cost to rebuild, is it even possible to only rebuild second gear in an auto trans?

 

I would start with checking the transmission fluid level....
What about reverse? Does that work OK? As for the rebuild, you might be better off to look for a used transmission from a reputable place. The rebuild can run up to several thousand dollars and a big part of the cost is taking it apart so changing only a portion of the internals might not be the right way to go. My experience is with other cars with auto tranny so I am assuming Lexus is no different.

 

reverse works fine. so does first gear, and then game over.


ps. what do used trans's go for anyway?

 

Is it FWD or AWD?

 

it is awd and has 115k

 

I checked the local junkyards in NJ....
FWD- $1750 (Rahway, NJ) --- 2001 Tranny
AWD- $2000 (Bronx,NY)--- 1999 Tranny

There's a bunch more but I picked the cheapest one's... You can look for more on www.car-part.com
You can get newer tranny's like 03's but It'll cost more, and since your looking to sell you can just put in the cheapest trans.
If you go the junkyard route, be sure to have the junkyard drop the pan and inspect it before you commit to buying it. Most junkyards don't charge for this.

 

thanks man ^ i still need to have it looked to be sure its the trans, i'm just trying to deny myself the truth....

 

I hope it's not the trans, I wish you luck. Hopefully it's a clogged filter.

 

just started it, tried to move i down the street, REVERSE IF GONE. Car does not move at all. just whines.

 

UPDATE: car was towed to my mechanic. not a single gear did anything, the only gear engaging was drive but car wouldn't move but could be pushed...

this car was for sale. so now i'm not going to bother to fix it because i was quoted over 3000$, at this point i'm just so upset/angry because this car was so good to me and now when i don't drive it and decide to sell it it gives me a hard time so now i'm basically out what its worth because i doubt anyone will buy it AS_IS now. all thats left is to wait for my new car to arrive at the dealership...

 

I'm sorry to hear the tranny bit the dust...
I know someone in central nj, who can give you a good deal, If you want to get a quote (send me a PM).
Put it up on craigslist, I've seen RX's up for sale with bad tranny's and within' a few day's they were sold.
By the way, what's the new car going to be? Please tell me it's Japanese, and not a P.O.S domestic car! lol

 

unless some one wants to come get it and tow it themselves i'm done with the car after these past few days i'm just so bummed.

the new car is a 2011 STI hatch. should be delivered 1-3months from now. hopefully december, but its too early to tell.