Toyota U140E

Transmission general data

Transmission repair specialists frequently have to deal with repair issues in the 4-speed automatic transmissions U140E, U240, U241 and the entire range of these transmissions from Aisin Co. Aisin engineers wanted to design the U140E unit with a potential extension to 5 speeds.In 2000, more enhanced modification named U240 was introduced and a lot of U140\ U240 automatics found application in the whole range of popular Toyota cars at the auto market in Japan.

The U241E (U240E) transmission has been operating safely since 2000 on the front-wheel (four-wheel drive) middle class cars with engine capacity from 2 up to 3 liters.The structure of these automatic units is so robust and sophisticated that even the presence of some soft spots (such as the third planetary gear) does not prevent U240-241 transmissions from being installed on very popular Toyota cars.

Technical issues and repair guidelines

The risk group of car with this reliable transmission includes heavy cars with 3-liter engines, where gearbox components operate under heavy loads and the 1-st overhaul may occur even before the car travels 200 thousand kilometers. The first component to be repaired is the torque converter. In "old" U140 units transmission specialists have to pay closer attention to the output planet, which may have some issues related to the damage of pinion-satellites axles caused by critical loads. The sun gear gets damaged together with satellites of the planetary gear. At the following stage of damaging process, fragments of the damaged planetary gear crush the rear planetary gear of the U140 unit.

The back cover is the second problematic place for this transmission: it performs a support function in U140-240 design. This issue is common for high-power engines both in RAV-4, and in Camry, Lexus RX300. According to the statistics change of frictions and steel disks in the Direct package is performed 3-4 times more frequently than in any other package.

One more frequently replaced element in the Direct clutch package is the rubber-covered piston with a holder. The rubber gets damaged very fast failing under higher temperatures and dry functioning with jittering. When the pump bushing gets damaged it should be repaired together with the torque converter. The typical problem of the ECU during first years of operation – non-soldered contacts, causing unpredictable burning of packages and pressure jumps. Almost each overhaul includes a preventive change of the pump cup seal on the left side and the left semi-axle seal on the housing side.

The 4-speed automatic transmissions U140E , U240 , U241 from Aisin Co traditionally have very reliable and persistent elecal components. Specialists almost every time are restricted to the repair and cleaning of the valve body and solenoids without any expensive replacements. The repair of old valve bodies involves cleaning of soot deposits and rebuilding of channels used for movement of valves.