New 2001 LX 470 Owner - Transmission Failure!

[GA470]

After doing an exhaustive search for a used Land Cruiser or LX 470 I pulled the trigger on a 2001 River Rock green LX 470. It had one owner from Richmond VA and a long list of service records from Richmond Lexus.

I live in Atlanta GA so last week I flew up and purchased it. It aesthetically looks very good with good paint and the interior is in great shape for being 12 years old. I bought it from an independent dealer so as a precaution i had a pre purchase inspection done by Richmond Lexus. Mostly all checked out well - they just pointed out some maintenance issues to watch such as brake pads and a small radiator leak.

So I headed home - 500 miles away. It drove fine for several hours, then I got off the interstate and noticed that when it shifted into what seemed like 3rd gear it had a slightly rough grinding noise. I made a mental note to have that checked out right away when I got home.

Then when I was roughly 100 miles away from home - without any warning I heard a clunking break sound and I had no connection anymore to the transmission. Luckily I was right at an exit and was able to coast to the top. I tried again to place it in any gear but it just had a grinding noise so I had it towed home - a $285 tow job!!

I have a good local independent Toyota/Lexus mechanic and he wants to replace the transmission with a re-manufactured Toyota transmission for $4,000. I am talking to the VA dealership - Ultimate Motors, to get them to refund some of my purchase price due to the mechanical failure. They are speaking with me but we haven't come to a financial agreement yet.

So I guess what I am looking for is any insight from members with a similar situation and is the rebuilt Toyota transmission the best way to go?

 

[OregonLC]

Hello GA470. Rough first post, eh? Sorry for your misfortune. Toyota did have some transmission problems with the 2000 MY which may have extended into early 2001 MY. As best we can tell, this increased the failure rate to about 5% from about 1.5% on all other years. So statistically, its still a very reliable trans compared to other brands (i.e. Honda of the same time period).

Other than goodwill, I'm not sure what your local laws are and how they protect you. Probably doesn't help that you're out of state. In the dealer's defense, there are no early warning signs so it's not like they would have known about it and tried to offload a lemon.

Regarding replacement options, a reman from Toyota is your best bet. $4k sounds about right including labor. You may be able to find a shop who is knowledgeable enough to do a rebuild, but that's rolling the dice. The Toyota remans all have the fix incorporated and should be good for the remainder of the vehicle's life.

If you search for transmission failure you'll find a lot more info that on the synopsis above. You may also want o reach out to ACC Toyota for help/advice since you're in GA.

 

[Junglejack]

Hello,
I am truly sorry to read of your transmission failure. Especially after having a PPI preformed. While unlikely, I would call the Lexus dealer that did it and see if they could work something out with your local dealer at a reduced cost for the replacement.
Best,
Jack

 

[TXLX100]

Wow that's a bummer. For what it's worth, the dealer I once worked at would sometimes go 50/50 in situations such as yours. It might involve them giving up their profit, but it would be a plus if they shared in your loss and I'm sure they'd get some good advertising on here!

 

[GA470]

Thanks, OregonLC and JungleJack, yes most definitely not the way I wanted to join the forum here!

OregonLC - you mentioned the fix? I did some researching on the forum here and saw a mention of some bad shims and also an issue with the overdrive. Is this what the "fix" corrected?

I am still excited to have the 470 and am anxious to get her home and start making it mine! Looking to remove the running boards and get some new shoes - hopefully soon!

Just some brief history - I have been a long time Toyota 4Runner owner and just recently sold my 2012 Trail edition 4Runner to buy the 470. Liked the Trail edition model, more of a true 4Runner and when modded right a beast off road. Had to free up some cash so elected to sell and buy the 470. Doesn't it always seem like when your trying to save some money you end up having to spend more to fix an unexpected repair!

 

[GA470]

Wow that's a bummer. For what it's worth, the dealer I once worked at would sometimes go 50/50 in situations such as yours. It might involve them giving up their profit, but it would be a plus if they shared in your loss and I'm sure they'd get some good advertising on here!

I totally agree and that' my goal - 50/50 always seems fair - but we'll see if they agree.

One of the main reasons I was willing to travel was the dealer had 26 five star reviews on cars.com. I don't like to hurt the reputation of a business but if they don't step up here I may be the first one star review!

 

[Reckless]

How many miles does the vehicle have?

 

[hkeller]

Sorry to hear this. I almost bought that LX.

 

[GA470]

148,000 miles.

hkeller - really?

I'm trying to spin this a positive way - at least now I shouldn't have to worry about the transmission failing later!! And since it happened the first day and not three months later I will hopefully have half of it paid for by the dealer.

 

[vtechadam]

What a bummer... I live in Richmond and work at a car dealership. I'm sorry to say the state has no cool off period for you, it is "as is" once you leave the lot. Does the dealership (I'm not familiar with them) have a shop that checked it out? Did they send it over to Lexus to check it out? Did they tell you it was in "great shape" "no problems"??? If they did you have the right to make them pay. These would be my questions. With such easy access to online reviews they better pick up the tag for you!!! My dealership will pay up to 95% for goodwill, as 100% could mean an omission of guilt.

 

[GA470]

What a bummer... I live in Richmond and work at a car dealership. I'm sorry to say the state has no cool off period for you, it is "as is" once you leave the lot. Does the dealership (I'm not familiar with them) have a shop that checked it out? Did they send it over to Lexus to check it out? Did they tell you it was in "great shape" "no problems"??? If they did you have the right to make them pay. These would be my questions. With such easy access to online reviews they better pick up the tag for you!!! My dealership will pay up to 95% for goodwill, as 100% could mean an omission of guilt.

Yes, I personally took it over to Lexus of Richmond before I bought it for a pre purchase inspection. They did find some minor issues but nothing in regard to the transmission. I actually called Lexus of Richmond after the failure and they said basically that it was fine when they tested it. In reading other member reviews on similar transmission failures there is really no warning.

I am aware of the "as is" on used vehicles. One of the main reasons I was willing to go 500 miles to see this LX was that the dealer had all 5 star reviews- 26 of them - on cars.com! I have a shop removing the transmission today to determine what actually broke then the VA dealer should make an offer for reimbursement.

I guess my only real leverage would be the fact that I would be the first 1 star review of this dealership! Ironically I even spoke to the owner about his reviews online and how that gave me piece of mind to do business with them. I will let you know if they come through.

 

[tabraha]

Best of luck getting it resolved. I hope the selling dealership is able to carry some of the weight of that expense.

Welcome to the forum also.

 

[hkeller]

148,000 miles.

hkeller - really?

I'm trying to spin this a positive way - at least now I shouldn't have to worry about the transmission failing later!! And since it happened the first day and not three months later I will hopefully have half of it paid for by the dealer.

Yes . . . really. I went back and forth with the dealer a few times, but he wanted a little bit more than I wanted to pay, and I have been looking for gray first and river rock second.

I am sorry for your trouble with it. Don't know if a little humor will help, but one of the reasons I didn't buy it is my wife isn't as convinced with the durability of this rigs as I am. She was convinced it would immediately have some major issue. We argued about that for a few weeks. Good thing this LX isn't sitting in my driveway with a bad tranny. I would have been sleeping in the basement for the remainder of the year. Heck, maybe I should pay part of the repair costs!

I don't know about giving the guy a one star because of this. Like several have said, there is no way he could have know it was bad. Not sure why legally or morally the bad luck risk should shift to him. Stuff happens. Just a thought.

 

[OregonLC]

I see both sides of the one star issue. In an absolute legal sense, he probably owes you nothing. As-is, right? OTOH, there was profit in the sale and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to share the risk considering it happened on the way home, albeit a long drive home.

 

[yeti in ga]

sorry to here this ! 2001 year cant get a break ! no pun intended.... I second the contact ACC and see what they can do for you or advise. At least you were not on 285 in rush hour traffic.

 

[vtechadam]

I see both sides of the one star issue. In an absolute legal sense, he probably owes you nothing. As-is, right? OTOH, there was profit in the sale and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to share the risk considering it happened on the way home, albeit a long drive home.

I agree completely with this, at least make it home!!! I would think a small dealer who lives basically off online reviews from the likes of cars.com would be terrified of an unhappy customer. I sell roughly 30 used cars "as is" every month and even with a huge amount of disclosure of the sale being so, cars are often back in the shop in a week or two needing hundreds if not thousands of dollars of work. People expect the dealer to stand behind their product, I personally never buy privately for this reason. It is risky to sell a 12 or 13 year old car, but you have to take care of the people who choose to do business with you!

 

[FlammableFishie]

sorry to here this ! 2001 year cant get a break ! no pun intended.... I second the contact ACC and see what they can do for you or advise. At least you were not on 285 in rush hour traffic.

Or downtown on 75... Seems no matter what time of day I'm driving on 75 downtown there are at least 3 wrecks and an absurd amount of traffic.

I too second going to ACC, great bunch of guys there and they'll set you right!

 

[jblatl]

ACC is great, if you are in cobb county Craigs Automotive in east cobb only works on toyota / lexus stuff. He is retired from nally lexus and is honest. Have been using him for some time.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using IH8MUD

 

[bonze]

That's a tough break GA470, but nonetheless welcome to the LC club. Once you get the rig fixed you will have no regrets. I second, third..ACC. I've had some work done on my LX470 and couldn't have been more pleased. I could have saved lots of money over the years reading this forum and taking some experienced advice from fellow owners.

 

[GA470]

Well the VA dealer has agreed to split the cost with me 50/50 and has actually worked with the repair shop to lower the cost of the re manufactured transmission installation from $4,000 to $3,600!

I must say that the main reason I was willing to travel 500 miles was that the dealer (Ultimate Motors of VA) had many positive reviews on cars.com. They legally had no contractual obligation to pay me anything and this is just a "goodwill" refund from my purchase price. I will likely go online and give them another 5 star review!

Thanks for the referal to ACC Toyota. I will likely check them out later as I used a local independent Toyota/Lexus shop for the transmission repair - Garrards Automotive in Buford.

Now on to enjoying the LX and starting my mods!!!