U140F

---

2002 TOYOTA CAMRY with 40000.0 miles

Just after the warranty expired (5 years, 4 months) the ?Check engine? Light came up with the generic P0770 code of what seems to be a frequent transmission/solenoid failure problem for few Toyota models. I contacted Toyota canada for support in this matter to only experience more disappointment. After being assured that a response to my request would not take longer than seven to ten business days, i had to follow up with customer service on few occasions, by e-mail and phone, until finally receiving a response after six weeks ? A negative one. My current disappointment is not so much due to the fact that Toyota took such a long time to reply, but to the inflexibility proven by those who analyzed and ?Solved? My case. Also, they seem to send "canned messages". But, to be more specific, here are the quick facts about my car as also presented in my correspondence with the customer service: 1. The solenoid failure was first reported at 43,000 km (25,000 miles) when the car was 4 years old, well under warranty. At that time instead of dealing with the root of the problem, a transmission flush was performed and the code reset. But the code reappeared when the car was five years and four months old, and only 67,000 km (40,000 miles). Just 4 months out of the official warranty. 2. The problem my car has is common for Toyota cars. Although the P0770 code i got is a generic code, a google search returns only Toyota reported issues in the first 40 results. My Camry has transmission U140E which is shared with other Toyota cars. Lexus rx300 (using U140E) has a service bulletin (1999-2002): proper identification of the 5 solenoids used in the U140E/U140F transmissions (nhtsa item number: 10009396) there are also numerous tsb for solenoid problems with the following Toyota cars: tundra, highlander, matrix, Camry, lexus rx300, sienna. They seemed to be plagued by this problem. Even sienna 2004 (5 years later after the first tsb in 1999) still has that problem.
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION,

---

2002 TOYOTA RAV4 with 111000. miles

The automatic transmission of my rv4 failed at 111,649 mileage. However, the mileage is the problem, aamco technician reported that the following vehicles ; lexus ex 300, lexus rx300, rv4, Toyota camry and Toyota highlander are all equipped with bad transmissions U140F and U140E. Those transmissions are made for failure. Toyota company is aware of the problem but refused to take responsibility to either repair it or reimburse customers. It cost me 2,760.58 dollars to have my transmission rebuilt. Also within two months, the computer engine failed and was replaced for 1,403.53 dollars. Once again, that was another matter Toyota had to be accountable. The same model had a recall in march 2007 and nothing was done.
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION,

---

1999 LEXUS RX with 139000. miles

My 1999 Rx300 awd (U140F) transmission gave 2 shudders while driving at 40 mph and then quit pulling except for 1 blk or so after restarting the engine. Took it to transmission specialist. He said planetary gears wiped out. Obtained new ones and repaired ok. 1 month later i parked and when restarted, it would not go into reverse or neutral. Had to drag out of space. Fwd ok. Drove 200 miles back to transmission shop. Planetaries again. Replaced. Ok 1 wk. Replaced whole transmission with one from highlander. Still shifts occasionally poor at 10-30 mph 2-3 shift shudder. Seems it has a maf sensor error now that may have been causing the shudder / hard shifts/failure. Car has 140 k miles. I think toyota is hiding this simple failure causing major ($8k) failures. *nm
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION,