BIGVIC23

iTrader: (1)

Long story short, I recently Bought this 2000 ES300 with front end damage. Prior to buying this, he told me when the car is cold, it has a hard time shifting. I fixed the front end damage, and i did notice a little hesitation in shifting from gear 1 to 2 but only when the car was cold.. Once it warmed up (after 5-10 minutes) it drove perfect. Well... I got to the point of wanting to get rid of the hard shift. I heard people had good results with Lucas stop slip additive so i tried it (huge mistake). It worked maybe the first time I added it and it was downhill from there. After, the shifting issue got worse and eventually would not go to gear 4 at all. My last time driving it, I got up to 65 mph then the car dies while rolling. I put it in Neutral, started the car back up (while still rolling on the freeway) and it would not engage in any gear. I was able to push it to a parking lot and had it towed to my garage.

Question #1 What can I try, short of just replacing the transmission? Funds are dried up and I don't really want to swap it
Question #2 If I do have to replace it, is there any write ups on the process? Ive changed transmissions before but never on a FWD car... im 6'5 w/ big hands and this looks like a ***** to get the job done..

Thanks in advance yall. .

ArmyofOne

Easiest way to swap:

order a reman or junkyard off ebay for $800ish, drop subframe, disassemble suspension, swap trans.

sounds easy...there is more to it but if you can do it on a RWD platform you can do it on an ES.

BIGVIC23

iTrader: (1)

​​​​​​Thanks... theres a few pick n pulls around with a few ES's.. Luckily now the picknpull website has a list of inventory w/ VIN numbers attached.. I usually go to the Free VIN history websites to check mileage.. I may just go there to grab one, and to also get a feel how easy/hard the job is..

wmj259

I had just done a engine/trans pull from a picknpull, and one tip I can give you would be to buy an cordless impact gun. It will make your time there a lot easier.

BIGVIC23

iTrader: (1)

Thanks. Yea i didnt want to spend all day there anyway. Plus, its been raining so the quicker I can get in and out of there the better

wmj259

I was able to get a engine and trans still connected for $400-459. With some goodies still attached.

It may be a good deal fro you maybe to get both. If the engines in good condition.

Oro

That's a good idea.

To the OP: Be aware, the 99-01 transmissions (Aisin U140E) are plagued with failure because of poor quality control in some internal components. The design is sound, the build was bad. If you install another 20 year old transmission, you are looking at the same problem again sometime down the road - and it may not be a long road.

If you have the ability to go to a pick 'n pull and pull a transmission, you probably have the skills to rebuild one if you take your time and go carefully. If I were in your shoes, AND I wanted the car to run trouble-free a long time, AND I had a garage/space to work in, AND the time to have the car-offline to fix it properly ( a lot of conditions) - I would take the existing one apart and replace the failed components. That may not apply to you in your case, but it's worth thinking about. Cost to rebuild is less than a junkyard replacement, providing you do it yourself. Quality is vastly higher.

wmj259

Also wanna add, for the U140e, there is a great rebuild video on youtube, by Ghostses tearing apart and rebuilding his u140e for the rx350 i believe. Great video as he shows all the steps Step by Step and you literally can do it on your own. It was just too much for me at the moment, but if I will probably do this as a backup.

He has a 4 part dissassembly and rebuild series.

Kudos to him.