ES 300 2001

On Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:37:15 -0400, "Accel" graced this newsgroup with:

sounds like your transmission is shot.

The type of gas you use would not cause the problems you are experiencing.

Since the problem happened while you were driving, I doubt if the problem is due to a linkage problem.

What is the recent maintenance history? By any chance, did you have the transmission power flushed recently or was the transmission fluid just drained and refilled?

Unfortunately, it sounds like a trans overhaul is in order.

Interesting thing happened on my old Mercedes once upon a time. As Ray pointed out, I had just done a flush on the fluid a couple days prior to the problem. And just like you, I was driving down the road when the engine started to race, the car slowed down and stopped moving even though the engine ran fine. After calling the tow truck, I went back to the car and checked the transmission oil dip stick. Funny thing, it had oil half way up the stick, like it had an extra gallon of fluid. After dragging it back home, I pulled the pan and checked the filter. It was clogged!! Apparently, the flush had cut loose the crud but not all of it had been removed. So, after driving for a couple of days, it stopped up the filter. So all of the fluid was on one side of the filter and could not circulate through the trany. After changing the filter, everything was fine!! I drove it about a week and changed the filter again (I was paranoid). After that, I drove the car for over a year with no more problems.

Larry In the back yard, under the oak.

check the torque converter

The 2001 I think still uses the dirty but otherwise decent Aisin A- series. So a possible rebuild at that mileage may be in order. The new

2007 U-series junk can skip gears, those have to be replaced with new ones -- can't rebuild, according to a Toyota Jan 2007 TSB.

Hello Larry,

There was metal shavings found in the the transmission fluid so I replaced the transmission. If I had I read your response first, I would have requested the flush. Maybe that would have saved me a few bucks

-- Message posted using

information at

I keep up with all my maintenance. I took the car in for repair and, oh what do you know, I had to buy a new transmission.

-- Message posted using

information at

Yea, I've done the same thing. Get so busy trying to fix the problem that I forget to check back for current responses. Then after I've spent a bucket full of money, some body has posted "Just use a left-handed widget remover but the trick is to turn it to the right!! Works every time!" And I think of all those dollars gone.

Larry In the back yard, under the oak.

How many miles?

How many miles were on it when you let Joe's Garage or Iffy Lube do a "transmission flush"?

Hmmm ... in a meditative mode ... so I wonder why they call it a transmission flush? What is it that gets flushed? Ah well ...

mcbrue meditatingly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

06 LS 430 kudzu burner