The r154 should support my power goals perfectly fine and its WAY cheaper still oem toyota swap friendly. I just don't want to deal with leaking issues.

I've been going back and forth between the cd009 swap, r154 swap, or taking the plunge into building a v160 setup. Out of all 3 I know the v160 is superior but man the cost difference is several thousands.

 

There are more R154 transmissions leaking on the rear seal or shifter housing when you pass the 500rwhp than those that are not. It is their problem pass that power / torque level due to too much pressure. I know there might be some lucky ones who do not leak but how many are they compared to the number of those who report leaks.

Just locally , I have 3 friends who gave up the R154 because of that problem. Even on the forums , a lot of them. Mark (1JZPWRD) got fed up with his car and sold it, one reason is because of that constant seal replacement. Richard (8052JZ) had the same problem. He has a sponge around the shifter to absorb the fluid, lmaol. All... hacked solutions that I heard of.

I could have kept the 97 5speed black SC300 as it was when it had the R154 but , just on the dyno, at 450rwhp 15psi , it freaking started leaking at the rear seal so it wasn't pushed further... one of the many reasons why I parted the damn drive train and let go of it. Not worth it for me .

R154 would probably be fine if you don't push it above 500rwhp and you are the lucky one. A good R154 setup with a good clutch will run you over $3k in fact. Might as well put that to something else that will support your power & torque level without so much problems. Too many people reporting the R154 leaking problems is a testament that it is indeed a problem , After all there is no such thing as enough power, you will always want something a bit higher later so why waste your money on an R154 if you know that 500rwhp will NEVER be your end goal. I have seen so many people got into it just to sell their car or take it out because of tranny fluid leaks either on the rear seal or on the shifter

 

You just ruined both my Christmas and New Year with this info....

So it's pretty much 3x the cost for a v160 just to build something for the track... The bad news just never stops coming. This *&^%(*&^% is getting expensive..

So is there any way to tell when purchasing an r154 if it is one of the 'lucky' ones?

 

With how common the issue is I would just assume they all leak.

At the same cost or less you could grab the CD009 trans with all of the swap parts and have a 6th gear . Mind you that's not perfect either, even after the install there's a chatter sound from having a lightweight flywheel, its harmless but some see that as a deal breaker.

 

The CD009 is a dream to shift compared to the R154. Since i have an extra CD006 available to me, that will be next after I get tired from this R154.

Oh and as a quick update, my W58 rear seal is still holding up since I last posted here. Yea slight leak but no oil added yet.