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1999-2001 Lexus ES300 U140E transmission swap to 2000-04 Avalon A541E
NOTE* I’m not exactly posting this as a step by step diy, I'm just sharing what was needed for me to complete this. I went through a plethora of issues on initial startup, nothing related to the transmission though. All of that got squared away and I just recently got the car smogged and ready for the road, I've only put about 80ish miles on the car, I need to remove a bit of transmission fluid since its a little over filled at the moment but the car has been running great so far with the A541E.
Why:
My transmission was slowly dying, first few gears were slipping bad and I kind of kept it going for a while by doing some VERY frequent fluid/filter changes. My filter and magnets were loaded every time I dropped the pan. Then one day it finally committed suicide because I found chunks of metal all over the pan. Based on research for these U140E I’m putting my money on burnt/worn clutch packs and a destroyed planetary gear set. Swapping in another used U140E I felt was too much of a gamble and a rebuild would run $2k++ which I did not feel was worth the cost. I see 99-01 ES300's for sale locally constantly and the majority of them need a transmission, so I have very little faith in the U140E, others may have better experiences. The A541E seems to be a bit more reliable, so once I seen that the Avalon uses the same 1MZFE VVTI motor I knew I could get this swap done by simply using the transmission and ECM.
Parts/Mods Needed
2000-2004 Avalon ECM:
You will need to 'virginize' your IC900 chip in the Avalon ECM so that it goes into programing mode, this way you can either program your original keys to the Avalon ECM or program replacements. All of my keys were broken so I bought ebay blanks to program then got them cut.
Another option would be to get an ECM, Key transponder amplifier at the ignition switch, and the ignition switch itself + keys all from the same donor vehicle. However at this point it would be like owning a 80's GM vehicle where you have one key that opens your doors and trunk(your original key) and one key that works at the ignition switch to start the car (your donor Avalon key).
I'm not sure if it would work or not, but it may be possible to desolder and remove the chip from the ECM that stores the key codes and just disable the transponder at the ignition switch(simply unplugging it) and not need to have transponder keys at all. I might get another ECM to test this.
CV Axles: Honestly have no clue if the ES300 axles will work with the Avalon transmission. I don’t recall but part numbers may have been different between the two. My axles needed to be replaced and the passenger side was seized so bad I had to cut the axle when removing the engine and transmission from the car so I just purchased new axles for a 2000-04 Avalon.
2000-2004 Avalon Transmission and torque converter:
Make sure the place you choose to purchase the transmission from does not just cut the throttle cable that goes down into the trans like mine did. I had the 1MZ on my only engine stand to refresh all the seals/oil pan/timing belt etc. so I had to go out and purchase a new engine stand to mount the transmission on it, then purchase a new OEM cable part# 35520-41010 . This requires removing the transmission pan, filter, all of the transmission oil pipes and entire valve body to install a new cable. Much easier to accomplish with the transmission out of the car and flipped over on the stand.
2000-2004 Avalon Throttle body: You will need just this left portion of the throttle body from an Avalon so that the cable from the transmission can be attached here at the throttle body, you will also need this cruise control cable that goes from the throttle body to the cruise control actuator. It is the one that requires a screw to be removed (NOT MY PHOTOS)
2000-2004 Avalon Transmission solenoid connector: The solenoid connector from the U140E differs from the A541E transmission connector. So purchase a new one or get one with your donor trans/pickup one from a junkyard.
Mods for the Lexus harness:
I have the factory electrical wiring diagram books for both cars, but I highly recommend you spend the $20 bucks + cup of coffee and just down and download every bit of the factory wiring diagrams you can to your computer. I also have spread sheets I made with pinouts but I have so many copies on my hard drives and so many revisions that I really need to spend some time to go through them and clean it up a bit before I could just share them online. I wouldn't want to put out the incorrect file and steer people wrong.
You will need to De-pin and rearrange some wires for the transmission end and ECM end. The ECM side is a bit finicky when trying to de-pin wires correctly. I ended up taking an old precision flat head screw driver for like glasses or small electronics and grinded it down to a fine enough tip with a dremel to reach inside the ECM connectors to lift the small release tabs. Please don't just yank wires out or cut them like a savage
Changes will be focused on ECM Connectors E11(31 PIN), E9(17 PIN), E10(24 PIN)
E11 De-pin the following pins: pin#9, pin#8 (Once you depin these wires keep one of them, does not matter which and add it to the E9 connector pin# 15, this wire will be terminated to pin# 2 @ the solenoid connector on the transmission for the A541E)
E9 De-pin the following pins: pin#2, pin#3, pin# 4, pin#5 (pins 4 and 5 go to the U140E turbine speed connector on the transmission, it is a 2 pin black connector and is no longer needed)
E10 De-pin the following pins: pin# 13 @ The 10 pin U140E Solenoid connector there should be a brown wire to pin#6 (this wire is not needed, but it does terminate at a junction within the engine harness and goes to the engine coolant temp sensor and throttle position sensor. I had my harness completely de-loomed with all tape and plastic split loom removed so I snip this wire as close to the junction as possible to remove it completely. I recommend just slipping on a piece of adhesive lined heat shrink over all wires that will be de-pined inside the engine bay to keep them all intact instead of trying to remove all the wires completely from the harness.
Wires you will be keeping from the 10 pin U140E solenoid connector are the following
Black/yellow - Send this to pin# 1 @ the 6pin A541E solenoid connector
Purple - Send this to pin# 3 @ the 6pin A541E solenoid connector
Yellow - Send this to pin# 4 @ the 6pin A541E solenoid connector
Blue/Black - Send this to pin# 6 @ the 6pin A541E solenoid connector Note* Whichever wire you kept from the E11 connector either pin# 9 or pin#8, Send this wire to pin# 2 @ the 6pin A541E solenoid connector
I don’t know jack about tuning honestly, but I believe to achieve something like that would require such. To my understanding though these factory ECM’s tune ability seem to be zilch. The Avalon and ES300 share the same VVTI motor so that aspect of the ECM is the same, however I’m sure the values of shift points etc are very much different between the U140e and A541e so given all of that I doubt it would be possible. I know that the ECM on these cars control both engine and trans so I just knew all I had to do was compare both ECU pinouts between both cars and pretty much the only thing that was different between the two were the transmission wires.
Wow this is some next level workmanship, very impressive! There is only one other forum member who I could see doing something like this and that’s Power6, not sure if he’s still around.
This is really impressive! I’ve replaced a U140e on my 2001 ES300 and it was pretty expensive. I sold my 1999 ES because I feared the transmission would die like my last one did. I’m happy to see someone find an alternative to buying/rebuilding the crappy U140e.
Did you get your parts from a junkyard or have an Avalon parts car?
I considered it because buying something like a transmission can be a "keeping my fingers crossed' type of deal, its not like buying a used engine where you could easily do a compression and leak down test at least. I just didn't feel purchasing a parts car was really necessary in my situation, there's not much I needed from the Avalon beside trans, computer, throttle cable, and left portion of the throttle body so I just sourced it all separately. The only major benefit of getting a parts car to me is that hopefully it's a running and driving one. This way at least you would know the transmission is operational.
I have had multiple bad experiences with the auto dismantlers around my area using car-part.com to search, they all have been a bunch of lying slime *****. I attempted to buy a transmission locally that was advertised as having 130k miles. So I left a deposit since it was still in the car and they would have it ready for me the next day. Went home and decided to do some investigation with the provided vin# and I actually found the auction from the insurance company they purchased the car from and it really had 250k miles. When they called me to come pickup the trans all I left with was my deposit refund lol.
I ended up taking a gamble with LKQ and bought a transmission from them with 118k miles. I purchased it through ebay and had it delivered to my drive way and had no issues at all. It was a really clean transmission, inside of the pan and magnets were pretty damn clean.
I considered it because buying something like a transmission can be a "keeping my fingers crossed' type of deal, its not like buying a used engine where you could easily do a compression and leak down test at least. I just didn't feel purchasing a parts car was really necessary in my situation, there's not much I needed from the Avalon beside trans, computer, throttle cable, and left portion of the throttle body so I just sourced it all separately. The only major benefit of getting a parts car to me is that hopefully it's a running and driving one. This way at least you would know the transmission is operational.
I have had multiple bad experiences with the auto dismantlers around my area using car-part.com to search, they all have been a bunch of lying slime *****. I attempted to buy a transmission locally that was advertised as having 130k miles. So I left a deposit since it was still in the car and they would have it ready for me the next day. Went home and decided to do some investigation with the provided vin# and I actually found the auction from the insurance company they purchased the car from and it really had 250k miles. When they called me to come pickup the trans all I left with was my deposit refund lol.
I ended up taking a gamble with LKQ and bought a transmission from them with 118k miles. I purchased it through ebay and had it delivered to my drive way and had no issues at all. It was a really clean transmission, inside of the pan and magnets were pretty damn clean.
That’s a really good point. I’d imagine it’s easier to get the individual parts versus being stuck with a whole parts car.
That sounds like a terrible experience! It’s a good thing you were able to look up the VIN on that car. It was a really smart move on your part.
LKQ has a nice selection. That’s where I got my U140e from for my 2001 ES300. It came in great shape and they delivered it to my dealership. How expensive was the Avalon transmission.
Well the car had been driving VERY nicely other than a minor faint shift hesitation which I believe just the trans fluid level needed adjustment again. I originally over filled a bit and think I removed too much trying to correct that. Unfortunately my wife was driving and was side swiped in a hit and run. It's definitely repairable, I can go get a front fender, driver door, rear bumper cover, rear corner tail light and cut out my own quarter panel for around $300-$350 before tax, and even cheaper if I wait for when my local yard does their half off body panel special again. I've done a bit of body work before and have majority of the tooling to complete it. The clear on the car had completely deteriorated during the year it spent just sitting in the sun while the trans was blown. I actually had planned on prepping it for paint sometime this summer.
Anyways given the current pricing of used vehicles these days I'm hoping to get a decent size check back without insurance attempting to shaft me since we cant go after the other persons insurance.
Right now I'm considering,
Take a straight payout, and let insurance take the car. Then I'll search for either a black or dark grey ES with black interior like I originally wanted.
Take payout + keep the car and possibly repair
or
Taking payout + keep the car, pull motor and trans + other misc good parts for my next ES and scrap the rest. I'd be willing to keep the car for a couple months to see if I could part out some things and recoup some money back that I'd lose by opting to keep the car.
Besides the transmission I put a lot of my own time and work into freshening up the engine, I basically did everything except for a cylinder hone and new rings. A lot of $$ spent on OEM sensors/parts and engine mounts for this car. Situation really sucks
I am swapping out my 99 es300 tranny with an 01 Avalon
Originally Posted by OGYOTA
I considered it because buying something like a transmission can be a "keeping my fingers crossed' type of deal, its not like buying a used engine where you could easily do a compression and leak down test at least. I just didn't feel purchasing a parts car was really necessary in my situation, there's not much I needed from the Avalon beside trans, computer, throttle cable, and left portion of the throttle body so I just sourced it all separately. The only major benefit of getting a parts car to me is that hopefully it's a running and driving one. This way at least you would know the transmission is operational.
I have had multiple bad experiences with the auto dismantlers around my area using car-part.com to search, they all have been a bunch of lying slime *****. I attempted to buy a transmission locally that was advertised as having 130k miles. So I left a deposit since it was still in the car and they would have it ready for me the next day. Went home and decided to do some investigation with the provided vin# and I actually found the auction from the insurance company they purchased the car from and it really had 250k miles. When they called me to come pickup the trans all I left with was my deposit refund lol.
I ended up taking a gamble with LKQ and bought a transmission from them with 118k miles. I purchased it through ebay and had it delivered to my drive way and had no issues at all. It was a really clean transmission, inside of the pan and magnets were pretty damn clean.
I got a question ; if I do all the pin wiring changes you list above and swap the ECU and reprogram my keys all should work?
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I recently did the same swap, and now my car runs, but I have to shift from low to second and my cruise control only works when I shifted into Drive even though driving second are basically the same there’s no shifting between when I shift from low to second. It is really doggy, but it will still get up to 6080 miles an hour no problem it just takes a while. My check engine light is on and it says my one and two solenoids , there’s an issue with them. What do you think? I did the wiring exactly how you explained I think I did the best I could at least please get back to me. This is very annoying, but it seems to run fine with this. Transmission just doesn’t shift right now. QUOTE=OGYOTA;11144701]I don’t know jack about tuning honestly, but I believe to achieve something like that would require such. To my understanding though these factory ECM’s tune ability seem to be zilch. The Avalon and ES300 share the same VVTI motor so that aspect of the ECM is the same, however I’m sure the values of shift points etc are very much different between the U140e and A541e so given all of that I doubt it would be possible. I know that the ECM on these cars control both engine and trans so I just knew all I had to do was compare both ECU pinouts between both cars and pretty much the only thing that was different between the two were the transmission wires.[/QUOTE]
10-13-21, 11:39 AM
U140E to A541E Swap
