rysbrnr

Anyone ever have this problem? My car runs fine (93 GS3 w/123k) but now after ~10 minutes of driving around, the car seems to go into neutral and won't go anywhere. I have to shut it off and wait a couple minutes then it shifts and drives fine for a few more minutes. I got her home and checked the tranny fluid and it is nice and red and doesn't smell burnt. What's going on? I recently bought the car and the previous owner said the tranny was starting to act up. I'm hoping its just a simple fix to get this thing going again. I personally don't think there's anything catastrophic going on inside the tranny because when it's cooled down, the car drives normal. I do notice now, when in PARK or NEUTRAL there's a "whirring" sound which goes away once it's in DRIVE or REVERSE. Any help would be great!

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Are you sure it's going into neutral? It could be that the transmission is slipping. Possibly the torque convertor.

I know many Acura CL-S (auto) that does the same. It drives an all of the sudden, you rev the engine but the transmission doesn't put the power to the ground, as if you're free-revving.

When my transmission fluid level was low, my torque convertor wouldn't do its job so it made a whirly noise too. I would seriously take a look at the torque convertor.

rysbrnr

Well, I'm not 100% sure its going in to neutral... but like you said the car does "free rev" after driving a couple of blocks. I will check the fluid level to see if it's topped off enough. Do you have to "bleed" air out of the hydraulic system in a auto tranny? If so, how? Maybe there's air in the torque converter from when the previous owner attempted a fluid change.

Since I'm new to the Lexus game, I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same problems I'm seeing. I hope it's a fairly simple fix... ie: fluid and filter, sensors/switches etc. I just can't see a bone stock 123k GS300 having a major tranny problem so soon in milage. I'm thinking maybe the previous owner was starting to have problems and changed the tranny fluid w/o new filter. On top of that, I think he might have just changed the fluid that drained and didn't FLUSH the system completely.


I hope someone here has had this happen to their car before and can provide some answers.

jaymil31

Hey I had the same problem three weeks after I turbocharged my car. The problem is the clutch ban in the transmission is gone. When the tranny shop pulled the clutch band out it was shot. The clutches where good but needed replaced.

g00ch

I had the same problem. I had to get mine rebuilt.

tx_gs3

Does anyone have anymore info on this problem. My 94 just started doing the same thing.