2017 Land Cruiser - Transmission Needs Replaced

[DesertFishing]

2016 LC200 at the dealer right now for service and have them again checking out the weird shifting in 1,2,&3. I keep getting the "Nothing is wrong". They did the firmware and that made it better but not fixed. Still under warranty but they are making me pay ($395) to flush the system to check the fluid. They also said, "We notice you tow...." I waiting for them to say I broke the transmission towing a little boat 3 miles to the lake..... If I'm rolling and gently put on the gas it spins like the clutch is in and eventually kicks in when the RPMs go up but it should just flow. I have a 2000 LX470 with 250k and I really fear this new LC will not be anywhere as good to me. For the LC who got new transmissions, how did you get them to buy off on it? Was there a major failure or did you have to prove something to them?

 

[linuxgod]

Are you still within the 5/60k powertrain warranty? If so I can see no reason why it should not be covered under warranty

 

[FrazzledHunter]

I can tell you first hand that a defective transmission on a newish LC is not unheard of.
The transmission on my 2000 100 series LC blow out at about 35,000 miles.
I was accelerating to merge on to the highway when the tach suddenly raced to 5000 rpm and the truck started slowing down.
I managed to get off the road safely and a passing tow truck stopped, picked us up and towed us to the nearest Toyota dealer about 20 miles away.
The dealer did a 100% rebuild of the tranny on warranty - I never did quite understand exactly what was wrong with it.
The truck ran great until 2019 when I traded it for my 2018.

 

[mooneywa]

@DesertFishing - my '17 does something similar and replies from the dealer are similar. Please keep me updated on what you find. Mine seems to have gotten a bit worse over time, but that may just be my imagination. I tend to notice it over speed bumps when I have slowed but not to a stop and then put gas back on to get to normal speeds. It seems like it's just in the wrong gear more than anything.

 

[linuxgod]

@DesertFishing - my '17 does something similar and replies from the dealer are similar. Please keep me updated on what you find. Mine seems to have gotten a bit worse over time, but that may just be my imagination. I tend to notice it over speed bumps when I have slowed but not to a stop and then put gas back on to get to normal speeds. It seems like it's just in the wrong gear more than anything.

You can confirm it's not because of gear-hunting by putting it into S mode and dropping into 1st and seeing if the issue goes away

 

[NCMTNS]

Just turned 60k on my 2017. So far no issues...

 

[DesertFishing]

Good news I think. New transmission approved! I had learned my lesson with an Acura transmission where they kept putting me off and promising that they would take care of me even after the warranty expired. They did not. Each time I took the car in for oil/service I made the Toyota rep check out the transmission and document the progression of the problem as it was getting slightly worse each time. This time, after I approved flushing the system for $395, they took it apart and found some things wrong. The local dealer submitted a request for a new transmission from mother Toyota and it was approved. Now we wait for 2-3 week on the parts. I'm also getting a new radiator but don't know why. I'm driving a new RAV4 loaner and the laser cruise control is way better and takes you to a stop & start. Better than releasing you at 30mph. I hope they have an upgrade path on the 2016 but probably not. Cheers and stay safe and healthy.

 

[stonepa]

I wonder if the radiator issue caused the transmission issue.

 

[DesertFishing]

Interesting. I know that part of the testing was getting the transmission to a certain running temp. The hard shifting is supposed to be worse when cold. Could be related. I'll ask when I pick it up.

 

[TeCKis300]

They likely found debris in the gear oil. The radiator has an integrated transmission fluid cooler. They're doing the right thing by changing the radiator along with the transmission.

 

[32cls6speedmt]

congrats. Hopefully you didn’t have to pay for the $395 flush.

 

[airforce1]

Somewhat related, we are having issues with our '08 LX570....valve body replaced and symptoms persists where we have intermittent issues where tranny cannot engage in reverse. Shifting into forward gears ok.

Local indy mechanic believes it may be one of many seals that cause a pressure tranny pressure drop.

Anyone think they can troubleshoot?

 

[das100]

apologies in advance for reviving this one from the dead...but a lot of good info in here and a decent number of folks impacted.

Fast forward ~6 years from this issue revealing itself....I'm looking at a 2017 200 that had the trans replaced early, under 2k miles.

Does anybody know if the extended warranty that it sounds like most people were offered follows the vin and not the owner?

Finding a clean carfax, not rusty specific color combo is hard enough, found one that has really great records and ownership lineage, new trans spooked me at first but once I started researching and seeing the overall "frequency" + reliability since replacement, I'm less bothered and if there's an extended warranty for another ~year/50k miles that's a bonus.

 

[linuxgod]

apologies in advance for reviving this one from the dead...but a lot of good info in here and a decent number of folks impacted.

Fast forward ~6 years from this issue revealing itself....I'm looking at a 2017 200 that had the trans replaced early, under 2k miles.

Does anybody know if the extended warranty that it sounds like most people were offered follows the vin and not the owner?

Finding a clean carfax, not rusty specific color combo is hard enough, found one that has really great records and ownership lineage, new trans spooked me at first but once I started researching and seeing the overall "frequency" + reliability since replacement, I'm less bothered and if there's an extended warranty for another ~year/50k miles that's a bonus.

Probably depends on whether it’s a Toyota Platinum VSA or a 3rd party warranty company

There were some issues early on with the 8 speed which have been resolved, so if the transmission was swapped at 2k it’s probably golden now

 

[das100]

Probably depends on whether it’s a Toyota Platinum VSA or a 3rd party warranty company

There were some issues early on with the 8 speed which have been resolved, so if the transmission was swapped at 2k it’s probably golden now

I agree with your last thought.

 

[AL100Enthusiast]

No issues with my 8 speed LC or wife's 8 speed lx

My dads was lemon

His loaner was RX which he hated

Looking at a 2005 with a rebuilt transmission by Mr. Transmission. Engine has 204k. Is there any way to make sure that transmission is good beyond just driving it? TIA.

 

[ryanCA]

Looking at a 2005 with a rebuilt transmission by Mr. Transmission. Engine has 204k. Is there any way to make sure that transmission is good beyond just driving it? TIA.

on ours trans would not shift, basically held gear too long or make abrupt shifts YmmV