Whats up guys, My father has a 97 LS

Symptoms are :

Goes into Reverse just fine.
Put it into drive and it feels as if the car is still in neutral.

Let it warm up for a while and then you have to accelerate a bit for it to engage.

After that, its fine.

Time for a new tranny? Pops thinks it might be the selector switch giving problems....

But I don't think so myself.
Let me know guys

 

mileage? how is the trans fluid level? it really just sounds like the car is low on ATF. remember to use toyota type T-IV only on these trans. they are sensitive to anything else just like your GS (which shares the same motor/trans).

keep in mind there is a "cold" and "hot" side to the ATF dipstick.

 

Maybe you guys have a suggestion for me while we're on the topic. I've got a 93 with the EXACT same issue description. Bought a couple quarts of T-IV and added to trans just in case it was that. Same issue. Fluid level, well past hot on the dipstick afterwards. Any pointers?

 

In my case, just adding the Type IV fluid fixed the problem. Now the level is slightly higher than the upper limit when hot but it is only about a few mm (0.1 Inch). The same things happened to my friends who own Celsiors. A dealer confessed me that the transmission prefers the high end of the fluid level.

 

I had something similar: on cold I put reverse, it went into reverse, but in 3 seconds it went into neutral itselt (althought the shifter was in R) ... same never happened on warm. Checked the level - too LOW. Changed the fluid and leveled it....no problem any more !!

 

thank you guys Ill pass on the message and hit yall back with results

 

I'm chasing the same issue,

 

Then check the same things

 

yes, '97 LS400 is very rare to have a transmission issue, and when it does, it is almost always fixed by one of the following:

● filter change with genuine Toyota filter and fluid refill with genuine Toyota T-IV
● getting the transmission fluid level up to the top of HOT area or slightly higher, with transmission hot, and on very level ground, while running in Park
● replacing failing ECU capacitors with the very rare correct low ESR, high ripple rejection, high temp premium Japanese type (which may or may not show any obvious leakage)

 

All this applicable to 1st gen? 93 specifically.

 

YES!

 

Cool thanks!