I have a 2004 RX 330 and the transmission kicked out of 3rd gear going around a turn. It felt like something gave way and broke. Now the transmission only works when the selector is in 1 or 2. It will not shift above 2nd gear reverse works fine. I have not experienced any transmission issues with this vehicle till now. The car has 215k miles so its higher mileage. The transmission doesn't make any strange noises while running in this limp mode. There was no check engine code flashed when the incident happened. I read a couple of message threads and saw some mention of limp home mode from the knock sensor. I think that this should have generated a dash code at least. I tried resetting the any codes that were generated with disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes. This made the problem worse and the car will barely idle now. The resetting of the codes did not fix the shift issue.


Anyone ever seen an instance like this. I'm stumped and don't know what to do. Would appreciate any advise.

 

does your OBD II reader, read pending codes? A buddy had a beater accord, with tranny issues, didn't throw a code till it literally would not shift and made a very loud grinding sound. It didn't light up the CEL, but it did have pending codes in the cue.

It does sound like it's time for a new tranny though. unfortunately.

 

I think there's a software update for 330's - check with your dealer

 

Update on the problem. It's not the knock sensors or the speed sensors cleaned those off. It did have a pending code that solenoid 2 was not functioning. Solenoid 2 controls up shift from 2nd to 3rd so it sounds like it's the problem. Sonnax has useful information on valve function and troubleshooting if you are ever looking. Pulled the valve body and all solenoids function mechanically and read correct for resistance 6 ohms. Going to check wire resistance back to ECU next. I'll put up what I find in the end just in case it happens to someone else.

 

I think you have more than one thing going on.

curious to hear what it turns out to be.

 

Talked to an experienced transmission guy and he asked about the color of fluid. It had lots of friction material in the fluid. The tranny guy indicated I lost third gear. I asked why it happened suddenly he said that's just how they fail all of a sudden. I ordered a new tranny from SW transmission seemed to have the lowest price on used transmissions. I'm having a shop swap it out I don't have time to deal with it this month.

Sounds like numbafree was right from the beginning.