So my tranny finally decided to take a shit on me today and guess what year my TL is? The VSA and ABS lights are on but not flashing D light. Its a nasty noise coming from what sounds like the tranny it has been making this noise since yesterday so I kinda knew it was a matter of time. It revs high and barely goes anywhere and it bucks something crazy. Funny thing is my battery light indicator was on all day today prior to the tranny failure weird because I have a new battery, now the car needs a jump to start and wont hold a charge. This has come at the worse possible time, Kid birthday party next week, Im out of work and really cant afford to put this car in the shop for a rebuild or a swap. So a very mechanical friend of mine (he took out and installed his supra motor a few years ago and he helps me out whenever I get stuck working on my TL) we are going to do the swap without a lift gruesome I know... A few questions for you guys. Can a JDM tranny fit our TL's? And has anyone here ever did the swap themselves? Anything I should be on a look out for?
Ooooo and I have a 04 TL (go figure) Would a 05,06 tranny be a direct swap? I want to stay away from the 04 tranny all together.

 

Jdm tranny ? No swap,just rebuild it.

 

Sorry about your trouble; please take some pics of the transmission removal.

 

Are you sure its the transmission? Did it give any warning signs (slipping or erratic shifting) before total failure? How is the fluid? Your symptoms do not sound like transmission issues. Please check your axles. Maybe a broken axle damaged a speed sensor? Less likely that an axle damaged your charging circuit, but anything is possible.

 

if im not mistaken having the abs and vsa lights on doesn't relate to a failed transmission.

 

Agreed. It sounds more like axles, except for the bucking but that bucking and noise might be the ABS going crazy. If the axle failed after the reluctor ring (long shot I know), the ABS would go crazy with one axle spinning fast while the others sensors are stationary. You can try and take VSA off and see if it gets any better and actually drives but you'll still have the ABS to deal with. It might not even have anything to do with a broken axle. You might just have an electrical problem causing this, especially with the batt light on. These cars are very sensitive to voltage.

 

the battery light coming on usually indicates a fault in ur cars charging system...an alternator will drain the battery and eventually cause ur car to lose throttle response and power when it does not have enough power. have you checked the voltage when your car is running? and off? not saying ur completely on the wrong path, but you may have 2 separate issues?

 

I thought instead of a reluctor ring we have a magnetic encoder integrated in the wheel bearing?
Not to go off topic but my knuckle ring was placed back incorrectly and upon driving broke the abs sensor and I believe messed up the magnetic encoder which has triggered my ABS light and VSA to stay on.
My vehicle doesnt buck at all. Just I have no ABS or Traction control until I swap out this knuckle with another one I have.

 

As far as I know, it's a traditional reluctor ring and hall effect switch but I've never actually messed with the Tl's setup so you may be right. I assumed it was a reluctor ring because the axles are different between the ABS and non ABS models.

I've seen them do weird things. My friend's BMW would always pulse the ABS when slowing down at exactly 15mph due to a bad sensor. I could see a dead sensor causing just lights and a loss of ABS and TCS but if he had a few teeth missing it could possibly cause a bucking assuming that bucking is the ABS triggering when he's trying to accelerate. My car did something similar when I forgot to turn the VSA off when getting it dyno'd. It's a stretch, he probably has transmisison problems but I thought I would throw it out there just in case.

 

How many miles were on your car when tranny went?

 

and the error codes indicate what?

 

^...probably fixed it and haven't returnd to post results.


I hate that.