Kingdom934

Hello all,

I figure I should post this to help others who may come across this in the future. This may not be your fix, but it was a fix for me.

I had bought my 2006 IS250 from a used car dealership back in April 2015 with 120,177 miles. Previous owners were neurosurgeons who donated the car to an auction. The car dealership then purchased the car from the auction.

Car was in pretty decent shape, a fair amount of scratches on the lower front bumper and rear bumper. Not much dents. Interior was kept clean, but you could see the wear and tear from what it looks like short distance driving (around door sills and center console/HAVC). Dash and door panels were nasty. Had the original window sticker but no maintance records. Two key FOBs and the key number plate.

Over the three years, the car had been relatively problem free. The dash was recently replaced in Dec 2017. Early this year with around 144K miles, I started to noticed the car was starting to act a bit strange. When going past 40mph, it would seem the car would upshift way too quick and wouldn't downshift as 'quick' unless you hit the accelerator harder for it to downshift from 6th to 3rd gear. It wouldn't be consistent, but I thought it may had been contributed to a possible carbon built up. I haven't check the top end to see if there is excessive build up, but the car did have the short block redone and the piston rings replaced by the first owner with around 93K miles on it.

I told myself that I should do a drain of the transmission fluid at 150K since it probably had not been done even though looking at the carfax, the previous owner had a national wide shop do 'transmission fluid service'. I didn't spend the time to research on the process on this...that was my fault. I'm a strong adviser for fluid maintenance.

So low and behold, right at 147,7xx miles ~, the car went into limp mode and wouldn't go past 3rd gear when my other half was driving it. Going faster, the car would drop in netural when coasting in third until giving it gas would it rev up and continue in third gear. CEL came on along with the TCS and the red triangle.






The issue was troublesome for me. Cleared codes, issue came back instantly (won't shift past 3rd). This time, I had two different codes.



F I said.

So I decide to maybe try drain and refill with fresh fluid. I been using VavolineMax Life in all my cars with great results. Of course...hoping it could work in this car as well.

Removing the side panel that covers the refill bolt, this panel was RUSTY. It seems to hold in moisture. Ugh. I was scared that I was going to have a stuck refill bolt (and more reason why I think this transmission never got serviced).




I drained the fluid and collected a fluid sample. I was going to send a sample to Blackstone Labs for checking to see how bad this fluid was. I didn't see anything crazy, but the magnets on the pan were pretty gummed up. Fluid was NASTY. It was the darkest fluid I ever seen. It also had a terrible smell. I wasn't sure if it was burned but after the fact, the people I had sniff the fluid said it smelt burned and really bad.






Spent some time researching on how to pump ATF back into this transmission. Kind of a PITA, but it becomes second nature once you do it. Again...I think I should had done this way before and this could had all avoided...*grumble grumble*

(Yea, I know I marked the jug wrong...I just minus 1 from each number...LOL)

So the sample went out....with my anxiety, I decided to try and replace the solenoid that was throwing the code...hoping it was just that. In the mean time I filled it up and tested again with 'new' fluid. No fix...same issue.

https://www.sonnax.com/tech_resource...identification




Solenoid SSC or S3 was the one I ordered on eBay. Came from a used known working A960E.






Fluid was still pretty nasty after several drain and refills.


Picked up a cheap toyota techstream kit on Amazon to check out the manual shifting. It seem to shift manually OK....maybe not all is lost? Oh yea, see my pretty dash but f up door panel lol.




So I ended up dropping the pan a few more times...clean out the magnets....reinstalling....new filter. Nothing fixed the issue. Transmission kept going into limp mode, CEL came on, and wouldn't go past third. As I kept changing the fluid out though, I started to get the upper gears to work sort of, but the CEL would trigger and I would have the same codes again.

Kingdom934

In the end, I decided to purchase the cheap set of complete solenoids from ebay for about $200. Not sure how much I spent in fluid so far, but it was a pretty penny.

Replaced the other 4 major ones per my research. SL1, SLT, SLU, and SL2. If this didn't fix the issue, either the solenoid set was faulty or I got valve body issue or internal clutch issues...


Those were fun to replace...lol




I also got a new refill plug and a new oring. P/N are below.





A960E (also fits other transmission) 22mm refill plug is
90341-18059

Refill plug O-Ring Gasket
90301-15004

I was still pumping in new fluid, adjusting fluid levels, test running. Things got a bit better kind of. CEL wouldn't trigger right off the bat, but the car would hesitate shifting into 4th....it would hold 3rd. If it did shift, It would shift to 4th and 5th, but when trying to give it gas, it would just rev up as if it was slipping really bad and hard drop into 3rd. 6th gear was just slipping all the time now even with the new solenoid, the issue still persisted although not as bad. I also was getting another set of codes.

P0761 Shift Solenoid "C" Peformance or Stuck off <<This was triggering the CEL
P0766 Shift Solenoid "D" Peformance or Stuck off <<Pending Fault
P0781 1-2 Shift <<Pending Fault
P2714 Pressure Control Solenoid D Peformance or stuck off <<Pending Fault

I knew it was bad. This is when my Blackstone report came in.



Yep...it was a goner. No sense in putting more money into this transmission. Debated on either getting rid of this car or repairing it. It crossed my mind to take it to a transmission shop many times, but I didn't want to spend $3000+ on them fixing it. It would be a lot less stressful and faster though....but fudge. I guess I'll just do it myself!

I ended up locating a used transmission for this bugger. It wasn't cheap either. I won't have much options in the middle of the ocean, but I did manage to find a 2009 IS250 with around 51K supposely. It was totaled in the front end. The junkyard was willing to sell it for $1,800 with a 6 month warranty. I had to think about it....I looked online and I found much cheaper ones on eBay and other misc sites, but shipping was pricey and the chances of the it being damaged during shipping I didn't want to deal with it.

I ended up getting the transmission locally. Tried to bargain, but the junkyard keeper was firm on it stating it was hard to find one with this low miles.








Sooo I ended up swapping the transmission out and now everything is purrrfect. I'll be doing a DIY in a bit. I know there is one already (thank you so much @whazzzzuup) for it, but I figure with my DIY, I can add in some problem areas and things I did.

You can also bet I'm making sure the ATF is being changed often enough. I don't want to go thru this ordeal again, haha!



Let me know if you have any questions!!

bbaugher47

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

You've just confirmed what I've been saying for a while about these transmissions. If it starts giving you error codes and your fluid is burnt, your trans is likely toast. It'll be cheaper to locate a replacement trans than flush the fluid a million times, replace noids, and the time lost spent doing it OR shop labor costs.

Great to see there are still those out there that DIY everything on their own cars.

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

I did my first full transmission drain at 50k. By drain and fill 5 times. So it's good for now. I'll do the same at 100k.

At 50k the fluid was very dark, and I know it doesn't mean squat by the color. The car was pretty much babied and spent most of it's life on freeway drives. Now imagine if it spends most of it's like in stop and go traffic.

primavera

If it was my car I'd rather use Toyota WS or Amsoil Signature Series fluid instead.
Forget what the dumbasses at Lexus say, change your transmission fluid folks and you'll save yourself costly repairs in the future.
Either way, thanks for the great write up man.

Kingdom934

Thank you! If I can help someone save just some time, money, and sleep...my job is done .

Yea. I knew lifetime fluid was a BS...there's no way it is lifetime and I wasn't going to risk my transmission dying up...uhh...ahem...I mean....yea lol *smacks myself on my head*. That feeling.... I should had done it b/c a transmission isn't as cheap as say re-greasing sway bar links or the like.

Some people had luck replacing the solenoids though, that why I went with that route. Cheaper and easier to do. In this case though, since it was throwing TWO codes, that could had been my indicator, but like wise I was able to shift the car manually via gear selection toyota techstream and it seemed to be okay, but again I wasn't going too fast (30mph) for that. It seem to slip during up shifting.

Likewise, if someone does have a transmission that has similar issues, get that fluid sample out and stop driving. If there are two codes for solenoids, I would suspect possible mechanical issue.

Yep. I can't imagine in Hawaii with so many IS running around. The 51K transmission fluid also was a bit worn out - although still had a decent life per blackstone.



So even at only 51K, the fluid could use an replacement. Too much stop and go traffic here.

Or at least per the junkyard and the Autocheck information I got on the 'donor' car, it had 51K. The car was a 2009 IS250 that came from a pretty rough background. It was a stolen recovery early in it's life. It was auction off at a local tow yard in Dec 2017. I assume the car wrecked during that time period and the owners didn't want to keep the car. I believe 2 owner car. Car had significant damage on the driver side, engine was damaged and let's just say the front of the car was pushed against the AC compressor/alternator. Maybe hit another car or something solid. All airbags deployed.


Yea. I thought about that but I have a stock of Maxlife that I keep around. Like about 10 of them. So far I've been happy with the results. Been shifting great in the last 450~ miles I put on.

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

I woukd like to do a full drain and fill to the Maxlife. Since it's full synthetic compared to the WS. What are your thoughts on it?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Lots of time spent. Good job following through.
If the solenoids ohm well, did you by chance power them with 12v and try back flushing them with solvent?
Air could be used but solvent under pressure works better.

As had been stated, fluids have come a long way but 5 years / 70,000 mi this fluid is degrading more so for those in stop and go, pulling hills, autocross etc. Change that fluid before 100k mi!

Kingdom934

Just did another drain and refill. Also dropped the pan and filter. This transmission didn't look too bad after I drained like some 6 times already.





I used the ATP B333 filter kit.
There's not a lot of aftermarket kits out there. The transmission filter seems okay, but the cork/rubber gasket sucks. So much for the OE Replacement gasket. I'll see if I can get the OEM rubber gasket next time.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2746742&cc=1432808&jsn=458

The fluid was pretty red now after all these drain and refills.



This is how the O-ring gasket should sit. It sometimes gets stuck on the valve body when removing. Careful.


Pan wasn't too bad.


Not super terrible




Guess while the car was at the junkyuard, the pan got a little dented. Seems okay though...



I don't like this cork gasket. It's OK



Kind of a little more labor intensive with these cars. Gotta loosen the check valve bolt at right temp.


I know some swear by a certain fluid. Well, I've been drinking this fruit punch a lot lately with all these drain and refills.

**I got another 8 or so in storage still lol...I came prepared for this**


So since I did the filter (and questionable gasket for the pan)...I'll let it run 5K and do another fluid sample.


Thank you!

I tried getting the ohm of them but I couldn't seem to get my digital meter to work. I did also swapped in another set of 'ebay' solenoids with the same issue, so it leads to believe me either my original ones were trash or the ebay ones were trashed as well LOL.

I'm sure the solenoids were okay giving the fact that I did swap one out twice, all with the same issue still persisting...although yes, I should learn how to test them via multi meter and get the appropriate clips for them.

Interesting about the heat though. The transmission fluid tends to like to hover around 200F during normal use. Per a charge I've seen, that good for about 50-75K. I'm sure with full synthetic fluid ,it shouldn't degrade as bad.

I just recently got my door panels replaced...more reason for me to had do the transmission swap lol. The car drives great now! So Happy!

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Anyone stuck w a cork gasket like that here is a simple tip to reduce its seepage.
Buy a can of spray on copper coat and soak all four edges of gasket permiating the cork so there is no cork exposed. Allow to dry to tacky state before install.
If not over tightened it will be drip free for about 3 to 4 years.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ptx-80697

The other poor man option is spray it with any color of gloss spray paint. Seal all of the edges with repeated coats of paint saturating the cork. Allow to dry to a tacky state and install!

As for the solenoids. Apply 12v to them. They should click, and draw a small amount of current and internally change state so fluid flows or stops flowing. A battery and a test lamp is also a good first test as the lamp will glow if the solenoid has continuity.

Old motorcycle batteries are good for this but so is any 12v power supply with 2 to 3 amps potential.

Good job documenting this. It will inspire others to take care of their vehicle themselves.

Question: about how much run time does it take to hit the 100°F fluid temp??? And how long to over shoot?
Obviously ambient temp will be a factor but looking for ball park ###. Thanks!

Token1

Necro bump- Thanks OP for your post, I ran into essentially the same exact issue at 130K miles. I took the car to LMW (SoCal) to get flushed in hopes that would remedy the issue but it would seem either a solenoid is still too gunked up, or its the clutch pack now. Without this post I would probably have just replaced the solenoids or the whole VB assembly, but this post had me call around some shops and decide to cut my losses and go the rebuild route. There was some posts about a calibration reflash so I went to Lexus on a whim thinking it couldn't hurt, but they wanted $165 just to check if the car was applicable for the flash or not. WTF? Figured the trans is toast so opted out, but pretty peeved that A) Yota doesn't seem as reliable as they used to be (sealed trans that nukes itself at 130K, what is this a domestic?) B) $165 to look up a VIN and plug in a techstream to see if trans calibration can be updated?

Anyone have experience with GP1 trans in City of Industry (CA)?
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gp1-transmi...ty-of-industry

I found them because they have been listing rebuilt A960Es on ebay. Called them up and the guy rattled out from memory the CELs/PIDs we get from this issue, seems to know his way around the A960E really well. Their rebuild does not replace all the solenoids, that would increase the cost a lot, it uses the transgo kit to re-build the problem solenoid (have heard nothing but good things about transgo when I researched VB upgrades for the other ride) plus you get the small calibration (via hardware not flash) changes a transgo kit makes which apparently makes the shifting a bit better, and replaces the clutch pack as that is toast when you drive for nearly any period of time when this issue pops up. Rebuild+labor will be $2400 + tax, takes about 5 days. So I figure about half or more is labor, the rest goes to clutch pack, transgo kit, overhaul kit (gaskets, seals etc).

I'm left wondering, is this an 06 thing (as the trans had a minor change done to it later per this forum) or is it more a 'sealed lifetime' trans thing in general. I want to cool the fluid in hopes it extends the life this next time around, but the puck style cooler does not lend to this easily. Have to get real creative.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

The misleading factor in regards to transmission codes is that the TCM & ECM throw the codes based on input to output shaft speeds for the gear selected. What this means is when a gear is selected by the TCM, solenoids are triggered, and then input to output ratio is monitored to see if the ratio meets the lookup table.
If yes, trans did what was expected. If no, it throws a code related to the only sure thing it knows. Commands were given but not followed through so it points to suspect components which are the solenoids.

What this doesn't capture are internal leaks at clutch packs, burned clutches, burned or broken clutch bands/brakes, and things like that. This is why testing the solenoids is so critical - if they test good, then you know not to waste your money but to look further.

Burned fluids are signs that some friction surface has been damaged which you will know by the smell. This is when you open the filter and inspect for debris. If your clutch(es) is in the filter and pan, it's time for a rebuild.

So, bottom line is that the codes are tools and not absolutes about solenoids being bad so functional testing will lead to better decisions and less waisted time and money.

Token1

The problem is intermittent as well. Electromecahnically something is usually good or bad, not intermittent. If the solenoid tested as bad, apparently that in of itself would then roast the clutch pack (according to two shops, taken with a grain of salt) + so many threads about these codes not being cured with solenoid replacement, ECU replacement/repair and even whole valve body assembly+ solenoid replacement. Add to that lets say it is intermittent solenoid operation, that means its likely heat based- cold in the drive way pan dropped, the solenoid is liable to click, function, check out as good- but up to temp it then sticks as things expand. So I'm just cutting that out and getting it rebuilt. Younger me would jack the car up, drop the pan and go at it- older more income me is 'meh, needs a rebuild regardless of solenoid function, so why?'. The biggest element though is two trusted shops saying if its those codes and X miles after those codes came up- its toast. If I swap the solenoids and/or VB and its still an issue I'd be livid at myself- rather just get it rebuilt, give it some new life.

Some other persons thread had the best remediation ever- traded for an ISF (has external cooler). Well played sir.

Token1

So car is at the shop- impressive looking shop- very big, lots and lots of trans being worked on. Owner had a pile of Transgo kits (good sign IMO). When complaining my trans went out at 130K he said that is pretty good and he has IS's coming in at just 60K. Coincidentally one of his employees has an IS250 (was parked in front) and was an early install of the transgo kit (transgo is located near this shop and the owner says he has a relationship with them, will test new kits out for them) and says he has 250,000 on the original trans, only mod was that shift kit. Reading up on transgo an element of their kits is identifying weak parts and replacing them with better parts- for instance if the trans has an aluminum sleeve that seems to wear out quickly, the transgo kit would include a replacement sleeve that is stainless and wears out slower or aligns it differently to prevent premature failure. So I'm hoping to get back a trans that will outlast the OEM- take this car well into the 200K club and maybe beyond if I keep it that long.

I still drink the kool-aid that cooler trans fluid lasts longer/extends trans life, so will be looking into a simple tube and fin fluid cooler that tie-sandwich straps through the OE rad fins that intercepts the engine coolant output to the trans heat exchanger 'puck', cools it down some more then back into the loop. My A340F in the Tacoma hardly ever gets over 160 (torque app readings) and 40-50K after a change the fluid is still bright and clean red (amsoil). Fun fact stop and go/frequent acceleration does heat up fluid a bit (but still not over 170), but what really makes my trans temp scream is engine breaking- heats it up like a furnace super quick. So cooler install or about a 30K frequency of expensive but worth it flushes at LMS- heck maybe both...