Hi all; I thought I would start a separate thread for this so, as not to hi-jack anyone else's. My question is, I see many references to "difficulty going into reverse" as a symptom of impending transmission doom. Just what exactly do people mean by "difficulty going into reverse"? For example, our RX300 is a little stiff going into reverse from park (like pushing an older non-syncromesh MT gear lever into gear) and has done this for years. No sign of any other problems at this point (fingers crossed). So I just wondered if the reported "difficulty going into reverse" was different from what I typically experience?

And no, I'm not necessarily a "worry *****", just curious!

 

What they mean is it will not go into reverse right away (delay)

 

I am not sure what they are referring to, as I have had the same issue for a long time, and changing out the fluid helps a little but not much, even after I had my transmission worked on in Dec. 2007.

One thing some people have reported to me is that sometimes the vehicle would switch off by itself within a week to a few days before the transmission failure, sometimes accompanied by flashing lights, but mostly not.

 

Auto-trans by design have a condition where the gears and brake-bands can be in tension ... and that prevents the transmission to move out smoothly. Example: You stop on an incline and put the trans in Park and shut off the RX ... when you lift the foot off the brake the transmission gives a bit. When you start and try to move the gear shifter out of Park to "R" you have to apply more than normal force and the vehicle jerks and at times makes a groan. This I would say is Normal.


Salim

 

I experienced the reverse problem where you put it into reverse but it is just like it is still in neutral. After doing a search on this problem it looked like others were having the same issue. A few posters claimed it was caused by the speed sensors. I removed both cleaned them and swapped their positions. It definetly fixed the problem. I was having the issue about once a week but after cleaning I went months without the problem. But then afterward came the transmission failure. I suspect that as the trans starts to fail it creates a lot of metalic dust that accumulates on the sensors and causes the reverse problem. Cleaning them eliminates the reverse problem but the bigger problem of a deteriorating trans is still looming.

 

one thing about automatic transmissions,their self destructing from the time their put into operation.