No reply. A question. Good land cruiser shop in Houston? Not a Toyo dealer plz.
2000 Land Cruiser Transmission Failure
- Thread starter mikesurfs
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
This thread likely saved me from being stranded hundreds of miles from home, so I'd like to contribute my '01 LX470 transmission failure and rebuild experience here.
I took Hoopty Deluxe (249,497 miles) to AAMCO (Portsmouth, NH) for an inspection after hearing a pitched whine coming from the transmission, only in overdrive. I also had an on-throttle vibration at 60-70 MPH. Paul Quirk test drove it and diagnosed the problem as a bearing failure in the overdrive unit. Tear-down confirmed this hypothesis. The broken O/D bearing pieces had eaten away at the gears but had not yet taken out the rest of the trans. Paul rebuilt the transmission and got it back to me in 4 days. Total cost: $3242.49.
Acceleration off the line has noticeably improved (I thought it was the 33" KO2s). The overdive whine is gone. The vibration at 60-70 MPH is gone. Also, a faint rubbing/whirring sound that I thought was the front drive axles has disappeared. In fact, I first noticed most of these symptoms, minus the audible whine, over 3 YEARS ago on a trip to Montreal. I love this car for many reasons: the most tangible one is that it 'speaks' to me when it needs attention and has never left me stranded. Here's to another 250k miles!
I will upload pics of the broken O/D unit when I get home.
I took Hoopty Deluxe (249,497 miles) to AAMCO (Portsmouth, NH) for an inspection after hearing a pitched whine coming from the transmission, only in overdrive. I also had an on-throttle vibration at 60-70 MPH. Paul Quirk test drove it and diagnosed the problem as a bearing failure in the overdrive unit. Tear-down confirmed this hypothesis. The broken O/D bearing pieces had eaten away at the gears but had not yet taken out the rest of the trans. Paul rebuilt the transmission and got it back to me in 4 days. Total cost: $3242.49.
Acceleration off the line has noticeably improved (I thought it was the 33" KO2s). The overdive whine is gone. The vibration at 60-70 MPH is gone. Also, a faint rubbing/whirring sound that I thought was the front drive axles has disappeared. In fact, I first noticed most of these symptoms, minus the audible whine, over 3 YEARS ago on a trip to Montreal. I love this car for many reasons: the most tangible one is that it 'speaks' to me when it needs attention and has never left me stranded. Here's to another 250k miles!
I will upload pics of the broken O/D unit when I get home.
reviving this thread...
just picked up a 99 LC with 238,000 miles. took it to the transmission shop to do some preventative maintenance. they dropped the pan to find this:
one of the magnets in the pan has collected shards of metal (about 1/16" long). fluid is a clear cherry red but smelled burnt. last ATF service was done almost 40,000 miles ago (4.5 years ago) at a jiffy lube of all places
. shop is currently doing a remove / disassemble / inspect to look at the extent of the damage. crazy thing was the truck drove smoothly with no indicators that I've read on previous forums. additionally the flakes on the single magnet are not as bad as others have posted:
I'll keep you all posted to see how this goes....
just picked up a 99 LC with 238,000 miles. took it to the transmission shop to do some preventative maintenance. they dropped the pan to find this:
one of the magnets in the pan has collected shards of metal (about 1/16" long). fluid is a clear cherry red but smelled burnt. last ATF service was done almost 40,000 miles ago (4.5 years ago) at a jiffy lube of all places
. shop is currently doing a remove / disassemble / inspect to look at the extent of the damage. crazy thing was the truck drove smoothly with no indicators that I've read on previous forums. additionally the flakes on the single magnet are not as bad as others have posted:
Check out these monster flakes in my transmission!
I don't have the OD vibration that are in the other 2000 transmission threads.. but I'll post this now and we'll see how long it lasts. A real MONSTER metal shaving was on one of the plugs. It looks solid, but it's so thin it disintegrates upon touching (or so I was told). Enjoy! My...forum.ih8mud.com
I'll keep you all posted to see how this goes....
Let me start my Story! It is a 2000 Model with 245K miles.
I knew 2000 transmissions had a problem but never thought it is a bearing in the O/D. At about 45-55 MPH, there was a pulsing/vibration (comes and goes away every 7-10 seconds) and thought it is from front CV's. Got OEM CV's and no improvement. I now remember there was a faint pitch whine at cruising speeds with on-throttle. Soon after releasing the throttle, the whine disappears.
On my way back home from Louisiana, at one point I felt it hard shifted into 2nd and nothing after that. Drove fine... Took it a road trip to Corpus Christy: drove 80 MPH for 4 hours and no issues, pulled into get gas, rest stops, no problem... Near San Antonio, it's time to refill, OK.. took it back to the service road with a right turn and then stepped on gas, and it didn't move as I expected. Thought a flat tire, pulled to the side and no issues... but heard a random clicking metallic sound under the car. Then started moving again and then I felt it is the trans slipping. No A/T temp light. On a speed bump, it didn't move..
Spoke to a stealership and they said rebuilt trans are on back order. Then went with a trans shop.
AFter their diagnosis, they said the O/D bearing broke and it chewed the internal parts. Now waiting to get it fixed. I am 5 hours away so I really cannot go see it, luckly they are honest people and told what they saw.
I knew 2000 transmissions had a problem but never thought it is a bearing in the O/D. At about 45-55 MPH, there was a pulsing/vibration (comes and goes away every 7-10 seconds) and thought it is from front CV's. Got OEM CV's and no improvement. I now remember there was a faint pitch whine at cruising speeds with on-throttle. Soon after releasing the throttle, the whine disappears.
On my way back home from Louisiana, at one point I felt it hard shifted into 2nd and nothing after that. Drove fine... Took it a road trip to Corpus Christy: drove 80 MPH for 4 hours and no issues, pulled into get gas, rest stops, no problem... Near San Antonio, it's time to refill, OK.. took it back to the service road with a right turn and then stepped on gas, and it didn't move as I expected. Thought a flat tire, pulled to the side and no issues... but heard a random clicking metallic sound under the car. Then started moving again and then I felt it is the trans slipping. No A/T temp light. On a speed bump, it didn't move..
Spoke to a stealership and they said rebuilt trans are on back order. Then went with a trans shop.
AFter their diagnosis, they said the O/D bearing broke and it chewed the internal parts. Now waiting to get it fixed. I am 5 hours away so I really cannot go see it, luckly they are honest people and told what they saw.
Last edited:
First time poster, though I’ve been lurking for years. Thanks to this thread, I caught my 2000 LX transmission before it blew at 288,000. Currently getting quotes for rebuild vs dealer remanufactured replacement. Obvious cost/benefit analysis of out-of-pocket, warranty, etc. decision to be made, but…
Question to the group: for those who had the work done, how happy are you in retrospect with your decision?
Bought her about 10 years ago. Lots of camping trips, road trips, two kids’ first car, one more kid to go in two years, and I’m currently using it as my daily driver while I decide what to buy next… eyeing some 2020, 2021s. All of that to say, I’m emotionally attached and don’t want to throw in the towel. Curious how everyone has faired with theirs years after doing the transmission.
Question to the group: for those who had the work done, how happy are you in retrospect with your decision?
Bought her about 10 years ago. Lots of camping trips, road trips, two kids’ first car, one more kid to go in two years, and I’m currently using it as my daily driver while I decide what to buy next… eyeing some 2020, 2021s. All of that to say, I’m emotionally attached and don’t want to throw in the towel. Curious how everyone has faired with theirs years after doing the transmission.
Still cruisin at 260k lol. No transmission problems.
Found a super deal on a 2003 LX470 that needs a new transmission. Does anyone have a cost estimate on labor for a transmission replacement?
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
I rebuilt my son's 2000 LX470 A343F at 302,950 miles. It has 310,700 miles on it now and I couldn't be happier with it. PM me if you haven't made a decision or found another solution.
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
6 hours at $150-180/hr at a transmission shop. Right at $1,000, with fluids and cores. That's labor only, and it's the total job, not just R&R.
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
Change your fluid regularly and it'll stay that way.
Is that a rebuild or a straight-up replacement?
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
This is unfortunately the worst case failure for this year, or at least part of the year. Are they putting a used O/D carrier in, and if so, from what?
BullElk
SILVER Star
476k miles and never a second of tranny trouble as of this post..... and fluid hasn't been changed but maybe 3-4 times in 25 years and probably didn't need changing then. Apparently, proper fluid doesn't need changing. I have bought another LX for the money saved in fluid and time.
In my 200 series, I have 227k miles and have no records of the fluid changing... I'm very on the fence if I should do a drain and fill or keep it.
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
There is no such thing as lifetime fluid. More automatic transmissions have failed due to bad fluid than any other root cause.
BullElk
SILVER Star
But I think its fair to say there are more vehicles getting the tranny fluids changed fairly often than ones that aren't. I personally have used the same "very rarely change tranny fluid" method for many years on many LC/LX and zero issues. I certainly keep a check on the level and smell but rarely change. (I do not tow, however). I feel like I have good reasons to believe there may be something to just leave things alone unless you see, hear or smell issues.
Also, maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me you could look back at issues/problems we do have reported on Mud, including me, where the problems occur immediately after having work done. And probably most of the work done is "preventative" maintenance. Then boom....we have an infection after an elective surgery.
I recently called it would happen after I had a timing belt service I wasn't crazy about doing.....then immediately afterwards the responsiveness is not what it used to be. Just not the same. It was great before, now it isn't. Dagnabit!!
Last edited:
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
Every dataset has at least one outlier. I think it's a law, or something.
BullElk
SILVER Star
Most ot the time when you take what is called "preventative" action in LC/LXs, you just think you are preventing problems, like protecting your tranny from exploding by making sure you change the fluid every 30k miles. But you just think you are, if you didn't change good tranny fluid so often, for example, you would know you didn't need to afterall and you would be an outlier too.... without wasting money, fluid and time. Its not a theory, I know it isn't needed.
Malleus
Far west of Siegen
I'm sure you're right
