I've been waiting and watching and reading and finally thank you thank you thank you Lexus service (or whoever is responsible) for fixing the transmission lag problem on the ES models after 2002... I need a new ES bad and I've been waiting for a fix because I just didn't want to change to another make or model car...Yeah!!! I'm going to my dealer this weekend!!!

 

Nice!! Thanks steviej. I'll call my my dealership to get mine applied as well! About time they fix this thing!!

 

I have a new ES330 and my wife has a 04 Rx330. Neither has the transmission problem. I'd just about imagined that you all were making this up until today. They gave me a loaner es with 2600 miles on it and boy does it have the problem. I can't imagine putting up with this for any length of time! I feel for those of you with this problem and fervently hope neither of our cars get the problem.

I told the management about the problem. THey didn't deny the problem exists and agreed with my suggestion they do the 'fix' discussed here.

 

wow. i might over found the problem to the 2004 3.0 camry my parents have in taiwan. i've been looking all over the toyota forums the last few days-well for suspension problems--but i think this explains the transmission problem. the new fully loaded camry's in taiwan have taken the outgoing ES300 engine, and i immediately noticed a lack of power in this engine. it performed a lot slower in acceleration than my their previous '97 camry and my sc300 here in the states. this car won't even redline when i floor it. the dealer told my parents that's just how the car is when they expressed this problem. i don't know if they have the fix here, but i'll look into it. thanks for the info!

 

has anybody tried this on the Camry?

my parents have a 03/04 Camry V6 and it has this bloody problem, its so annoying and pissed me off, the dealership says there's nothing much they can do if they can't detect the problem. I assume they share same drivetrain since the post '03 July cars have same VVTi/5spd auto as the ES.

do you think Lexus will re-flash my ecu if the Toyota dealership won't do it?

 

My father has an 05ES330 and I noticed on a long trip, hesitation at 20-30mph, as if the car didn't want to shift. Had to press it down hard to get it to kick down a gear.
I've been debating whether or not to get it done as I read some edmunds post from some that did not like it.

I wanted to know if anyone who has the fix done, has been disspleased with it?

thanks in advance.

 

We had the 'fix' performed on our 2003 ES300 and it didn't help one bit. Waste of time.

Poppi

 

when coming to a red light,,,, then hitting the gas when the light turned green the es felt like it didnt know what gear to go in and sometimes would make a big jolt,,,,, so i brought it in today and they reprogrammed it,,,,, so far so good, car feels much quicker... before it felt like it lagged,,, now it is much smoother and faster,,,,, highly recommend anybody with an es330 to have it done if they havent done so yet....

 

Moving this to the stickied thread regarding the transmission issues with the current gen ES.

Good job hearing about the tranny fix with the ES330

 

I did the fix today and I like it so far. The jerk is a lot less noticeable and the whole car feels tighter (not sure if it is also related to the 60K service I did at the same time). I think the change is much more noticeable than the last fix. Like another member said, the first shift point is changed to higher, which is good IMO.

My car is 2002 ES300.

 

I had this done under warranty this weekend. I have to say that the car is 100% better. Shifts and drives like it should with no hesitation. FYI, according to my receipt, it would have cost around $86 to reprogram the computer without warranty.

 

Hi, guys, I am new to here, just found out about this place. I saw this thread so I come in, I think every one has the trasmission problem, I dont know if my problem can be fixed with the 2005 transmission fix.

I has a 2003 ES300, currently 33K on it, it's a used car when I got it, and I just found out about these problems.
When I press brake on a red light, but suddenly it turned green, I press gas again, just regular pressure, the car will be like, I dont know the word to explian it, just feel like a sudden stop and accelerate, same on the highway, when there is traffic, I have to press brake, gas a lot, and the problem came up every time, so when ever I am in those situations, I have to press gas soft like I am driving in slow motion. And sometimes when driving, the gears sometimes doesn't shift right.

So should I do the trassmision fix? thanks a lot.

 

havn't kept up on the post. computer took a dum and i can use one when i can get to one. i wanted to post up here to let everyone know i did the fix and it got worse......but after about 2 tanks of gas it is much nicer. the shifts are a little firmer and it seems almost quicker shifting also.

all in all i liked the fix after 2 tanks. before then it shifted VERY hard and keep double and sometimes triple shifting.

it needs to learn your driving i think.

 

Exactly what you described is what many owners are howling about.
From day 1 as I drove my brand new '03ES out of the showroom I noticed this crappy shifting. I waited a month until Lexus released an upgrade to alleviate this problem. The short story is......it didn't work!
This Spring Lexus once again released a new update, and once again I had this done to my car.
My first impression was that it was better then before, but after a few thousand miles of driving I feel this recent update is just a tradeoff, and I still feel that Lexus has a long way to go to fix it properly.
I have found:
1- For normal acceleration, the car shifts are delayed........In other words, the engine RPM increases to such a degree that it sounds like the engine is screaming before it goes into the next higher gear.
2- If you're on the highway in stop & go traffic you still have to nurse the accelerator to get it to downshift & upshift smoothly.......otherwise there's a jerkiness in shifting that can be very annoying. When I have passengers in the car they definitely feel this.
3- This upgrade has decreased my overall gas mileage. I was told that you needed to use Premium grade fuel, which I did for a few tankfulls.....but there was NO difference in the transmissions performance.
4- This is my 3rd. new Lexus, and I never had these problems with the previous two.
5- If you'd like to read somemore about Lexus owners dissatisfaction read this> http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX?14@@.ef14656/0

 

After driving the car for over a month after the fix, I feel it is not as smooth as I first drove it after the fix. I feel like the transmission is always worsen after it learned my driving habit. I would rather it doesn't try to learn at all. When the car is in slow speed, it is so easy to upshift when you step on the gas. Even downshifting when brake sometimes the car seems like it doesn't know what it is doing.

I wish this car is not drive by wire, my friends' accord and camry feel so much smoothier.