[jrobicheau123]

I got a weird one for you all. My door handle and lock fits perfectly but when i put the key into the door and turn it, it doesn't unlock any door at all. When i take the key over to the passenger door, everything works fine, all doors unlock. Any clues?

Plus i have 204,000 miles on my car, it is shifting a little hard, nothing bad though. Does that lucas transmission additive really improve? Should i just do a transmission fluid flush? I do not have any records of this ever being done.

Thanks everyone for taking the time out and reading this, i really appreciate it.

 

[jrobicheau123]

BTW it is a 1995 camry le 4cyl automatic

 

[cykaaro]

For your door handle issue, would remove the inner panel and take a peek inside to see if there's a problem with the linkage at all.

Not sure on the tranny though so there's probably those more experienced than me, but from my experience with jeeps though, it's usually better to leave enough alone. A lot of times flushing a tranny causes particles to come out but in doing so can cause leaks as they're actually keeping it from leaking. Might be a good idea though to replace the transmission filter [as far as I know it should have one] and drain and refill the tranny. On my jeep cherry it's all I did and had no issues and ran great. Hell, it had 280k on it and never had the filter changed. Still had the factory gasket on it even!

 

[flyeri]

Change the trans filter and refill with Dexton type fluid. See manual for specifics. You will be able to replace about 2.5 qts after on the refill. That is about 1/2 of the transmission capacity. If the fluid is dark brown rather than red get yourself a gallon or two of fluid from Advance or Auto Zone and after driving a couple days, drain the fluid and refill agian. Do this two or three times to repalce as much of the old fluid out as possible. In the DIY's there is a post with pictures showing how to do a flush yourself. This is a very good procedure if you can do it but a little more involved than the method I described.

 

[project92camry]

Change the trans filter and refill with Dexton type fluid. See manual for specifics. You will be able to replace about 2.5 qts after on the refill. That is about 1/2 of the transmission capacity. If the fluid is dark brown rather than red get yourself a gallon or two of fluid from Advance or Auto Zone and after driving a couple days, drain the fluid and refill agian. Do this two or three times to repalce as much of the old fluid out as possible. In the DIY's there is a post with pictures showing how to do a flush yourself. This is a very good procedure if you can do it but a little more involved than the method I described.

what happens if you drain out all the old fluid and refill the tranny with new dexron 3 fluid?

 

[abe88]

your door handle should be a central locking problem, if theres a noise when u trun the key (like it trying to unlock but getting nothing) then its a loose linkage as stated above, but if nothing at all happens then your drivers side central locking motor or chip must be fried...i got a question tho:
1) when you put the key into the passenger side, does the drivers side lock/unlock as well?

As for your transmission, has anyone tightened that transmission cable right next to the throttle cable? if so that would cause the car to shift a little harder

 

[JohnGD]

The door lock solenoid assembly probably has a fault in it on the driver side.

As far as the transmission goes, I personally would drop the pan, wipe clean the magnets, see how much debris you have in there, change out the strainer and gasket, and then refill with new Dexron III like Walmart SuperTech or your favorite Dexron III compatible ATF. A Fram ATF kits is only about $15-20.

Make sure the magnets don't block the strainer pickup port.

 

[JohnGD]

Well, only a portion of the fluid drains out. So you need to do drain/refill at least 3 times to dilute and get as much the old fluid out as possible that's sitting in the torque converter.

Fluid exchange machines can do this to within 95% fluid level, at a higher cost, but they don't wipe the pan and magnets clean or change out the strainer for you.

Make sure to do the differential too. It's often neglected.

what happens if you drain out all the old fluid and refill the tranny with new dexron 3 fluid?

 

[jrobicheau123]

When i put key in passanger side and turn the key, it unlocks ALL doors, even driver. They key just does NOTHING to the driver side, no noises or anything. I had a mechanic in there the other day, he prolly screwed it up.

 

[jrobicheau123]

I like all the information guys, you are all the best. I do not know what i would do without you guys, besides rely on dumb mechanics that want to rip me off.

 

[jrobicheau123]

transmission cable is right next to the throttle cable? i have a 95 camry 4 cylinder

 

[abe88]

your door problem sounds like its something disconnected in your drivers side door, the solenoid seems to be ok since it still responds to central locking, so jus open it up and have a look in there like cykaaro suggested.
And if you follow this link you'll see what i mean about the transmission cable, this is a sort of a mod that makes ur transmission shift slightly harder and faster.

I like all the information guys, you are all the best. I do not know what i would do without you guys, besides rely on dumb mechanics that want to rip me off.

you're welcome

 

[cykaaro]

Interesting link. Didn't even know about this. Took a look and noticed that my cable had a lot of slack in it. Tigthened it all the way and all I can say is DAMN!!! Could believe the difference it made. It did shift really hard between 1st and 2nd gears, but for the rest made everything feel 'tighter' and 'smoother' which is the best way to describe it. Guess I need to read up on some more little tweaks I can do. Up until now the only I've really done was the MAF adjustment. Thanks for the link!