First post... any advise is appreciated. 2004 LX470, 117k mi, maintained and not abused, no mods other than spoked Tundra rims with BFG K02's (not up-sized). I noticed the dash oil pressure gauge being erratic on a trip over the mountains last weekend - had it looked at by the local Toyota dealer yesterday. They removed the sender, checked it with gauge: idle 25psi, 3k rpm 75psi (spec at low idle is 4psi). Recommended replacement of sender - which is booked for next week given the sender is coming from an out-of-town Lexus dealer. I picked it up this morning, 12h ago. Mileage pre-service was 117,340, it's sitting at 117,377 now. With their road test after replacing my old pressure sender, I figure I drove 20-25mi on the day, running errands in town.
Anyhow, this evening I was a couple blocks short of dropping a second kid off for basketball practice, 20mph, pushed gently on gas pedal and, nothing. Looked down, tried again... engine super smooth, no go. There were no catastrophic sounds from the vehicle, no sudden hitches in speed. Coasted off the gentle downhill/main road, made it a half block down a side street... nothing. Not down thru the gear selections, not in reverse, not after putting it in park, in low range, and into gear. I did recall smelling funny engine bay fluid/something when it happened (was sudden). A half-hour earlier I'd been picking up a teen and her friends from a soccer meeting up at at home up in the hills. This happened on a gentle downhill in town, under no load, in traffic.
Finally used my AAA membership for the first time in 12y (as the nice lady told me). Thompson Towing, East Wenatchee were quickly there to help - can't recommend them enough. Flatbed was out of town, so he made short work with a nice Dodge diesel dually tow rig, dolly for rear wheels. Yes, I looked up towing in the manual, turned the height adjustment/suspension 'OFF' in "normal" position. As we stepped out to look at it once in my driveway, I was snapping these photos of tranny fluid (hope they load) when he said... that doesn't look like water!. Well, I'd already shared all of the above on the way home - oil pressure sender, so he says, with a smile, "would you like me to just deliver it to the Toyota dealer for you?" "They must have moved some lines around to get to the sender, and failed to put them back on right."
At this moment, my questions would be:
1. Do you have to move/remove any transmission lines or the cooler, etc., in order to service the oil pressure sender?
2. Is it fair for me to assume this is related to their servicing the car yesterday?
3. What is the chance the trannsmission was grenaded by the sudden/immediate loss of fluid?
4. How should I proceed? I would place my shade tree mechanic skills at midland - given that I can do valve adjustments on the 65' Land Rover 109 I should have kept, airhead/oilhead BMW motorbikes, diagnose a bad stator on a KTM dual sport, change out needle jets and the like. But, I've never built or rebuilt an engine. I tend to know my limits and place trust in mechanics. I plan to simply go forward with the dealership who did the work, on the day tomorrow - simply presenting my experience, asking the open-ended question of what they plan to do?
5. Is it their fault?
6. If it is, how do I feel good about my otherwise problem-free transmission now having been run dry of fluid while driving?
Thanks in advance,
I've been looking in on this site for years - all good.
Anyhow, this evening I was a couple blocks short of dropping a second kid off for basketball practice, 20mph, pushed gently on gas pedal and, nothing. Looked down, tried again... engine super smooth, no go. There were no catastrophic sounds from the vehicle, no sudden hitches in speed. Coasted off the gentle downhill/main road, made it a half block down a side street... nothing. Not down thru the gear selections, not in reverse, not after putting it in park, in low range, and into gear. I did recall smelling funny engine bay fluid/something when it happened (was sudden). A half-hour earlier I'd been picking up a teen and her friends from a soccer meeting up at at home up in the hills. This happened on a gentle downhill in town, under no load, in traffic.
Finally used my AAA membership for the first time in 12y (as the nice lady told me). Thompson Towing, East Wenatchee were quickly there to help - can't recommend them enough. Flatbed was out of town, so he made short work with a nice Dodge diesel dually tow rig, dolly for rear wheels. Yes, I looked up towing in the manual, turned the height adjustment/suspension 'OFF' in "normal" position. As we stepped out to look at it once in my driveway, I was snapping these photos of tranny fluid (hope they load) when he said... that doesn't look like water!. Well, I'd already shared all of the above on the way home - oil pressure sender, so he says, with a smile, "would you like me to just deliver it to the Toyota dealer for you?" "They must have moved some lines around to get to the sender, and failed to put them back on right."
At this moment, my questions would be:
1. Do you have to move/remove any transmission lines or the cooler, etc., in order to service the oil pressure sender?
2. Is it fair for me to assume this is related to their servicing the car yesterday?
3. What is the chance the trannsmission was grenaded by the sudden/immediate loss of fluid?
4. How should I proceed? I would place my shade tree mechanic skills at midland - given that I can do valve adjustments on the 65' Land Rover 109 I should have kept, airhead/oilhead BMW motorbikes, diagnose a bad stator on a KTM dual sport, change out needle jets and the like. But, I've never built or rebuilt an engine. I tend to know my limits and place trust in mechanics. I plan to simply go forward with the dealership who did the work, on the day tomorrow - simply presenting my experience, asking the open-ended question of what they plan to do?
5. Is it their fault?
6. If it is, how do I feel good about my otherwise problem-free transmission now having been run dry of fluid while driving?
Thanks in advance,
I've been looking in on this site for years - all good.
Not to my LC thankfully.
