garsarno

I think we all purchased Lexus cars because of the styling, quality and previous experience with no problems for a Lexus automobile. When we experience the same problems with Lexus as we do / did with other makes, we are rightfully upset. It seems a reversal now for me: problems with Lexus, none with Chevrolet and Jeep (to date).

widlfiresd

I have a 97 ES300. A few minor parts along the way. But now with over 100k miles, it still rides great. I was going to replace it with an ES350 sometime soon. However I decided to wait until the engine and tranny issues are resolved.

I think what bothers me most, is not the faulty trannys but more so how Lexus is handling the issue. It seems they have enjoyed years of selling trouble free cars. Now with a serious tranny issue on the ES/Camry, I do not think they know how to deal with it. I would not expect a company like Lexus to replace faulty parts with faulty parts. I thought they were smarter than that. I guess their backs are to the wall on this one.

Maybe they are fighting internal politics as to who is to blame. i.e. Tranny design or manufacturing. Because however this plays out, someone will be getting a big bill.

dunnojack

well, their warchest is big enough to foot the bill.

lexus sells so many cars because of their previous reputation, and of course, their relatively cheap price. However, in light of the current situation, selling many Es350's doesn't indicate anything about the current quality of the car. This is probably toyota's most sloppy year, with record number of recalls, and build quality going down. Shockingly, the Koreans are catching up, especially in initial quality surveys.

Didn't the ceo apologize about the quality? that alone says enough.

ES350Bob

They need to clean house in the transmission area and also get rid of those deciding on what approach to take to customers as transmission problems are in too many models for too many years. Transmissiom problems in the ES have been going on for YEARS and sadly same for other Toyota models. The one Avalon owner at web link fourwheel under Avalon search claims to have spoken to a corporate engineer to no avail.

http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

http://blogs.edmunds.com/karl/.ee91194

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...n+&btnG=Search

rh26

My new pet theory is that the flare is difficult to diagnose, with a couple of really ugly options. Probably one school of thought is something is "broke" in the transmission (that's why early TSIBs attempted to fix various things). The alternate theory other is something else in the vehicle is wrong, externally causing the transmission to flare. Given that previous TSIBs didn't work, and likely all the other variables the engineers would try to correlate didn't either, they came up with an experiment.

The experiment is, replace the WHOLE transmission (transaxle). If the problem is in there, then the new transmission should be good (at least the majority of them). If the problem was outside the transmission, causing the flare through some "influence", then one would expect all (or nearly all) of the replacements to flare too.

Based on the outcomes so far (as reported here) I'm thinking the experiment was a "success"; Lexus now knows that the problem is not the transmission but something else in the car.

The real question is, why would Lexus approve such an expensive experiment? Options include:

1. If you are in the "inside the transmission" team then it's a great way to get your hands on a bunch of bad transmissions to diagnose the problem (because the obvious stuff wasn't fixing it).

2. The "outside" problem is very difficult or expensive to fix and this was a shot in the dark because if transmission replacement doesn't work all that's left is buy backs.

3. (Bonus) Regardless of #1 vs. #2, it allows Lexus to look like they are doing something significant to solve the problem (staving off lawsuits, etc. for now).

So what does Lexus do now? Assuming that it's apparent that the transmission is not at fault, do they withdraw the tranmission replacement TSIB and start swapping out computers, whole engines, etc? Or do they know enough to just surrender and do some combination of blowing off people with "it's normal" explanations (trying to preserve the financial bottom line short term, but potentially ruining the brand in the long run) and buying back vehicles (taking the pain now)? And will they ever figure it out and fix the real problem?

Stay tuned....

e-man

RH26 -- just curious, who are you (if you care to share)? A Lexus insider, prospective ES350 buyer, interested observer, or none of the above?

rh26

I almost added that to the previous post. Answer: Prospective buyer.

I've followed this forum since about August-September during very initial car research. After a while I had removed the ES350 from my short list out of concern regarding the transmission. Since my target purchase date is late spring (April-ish) I was actually wondering if I could delay for the 2008 model. In the mean time I'm also looking at the G35 and the TL (neither which are as attractive to me as I'm more interested in luxury than sportiness).

Imagine my relief when the December TSIB was released. I was convinced this meant Lexus had redesigned/fixed the transmission and that a spring purchase would be free from worries (okay, maybe wind noise is a concern but I could identify that at pre-purchase).

Now I'm on the down hill side of the rollercoaster based on this thread. And I really have to wonder if anything will get resolved in time for 2008. Does this mean I'm going to have to convince myself to love an Acura or Infiniti?

dunnojack

The best solution is for lexus to buy back ALL of the ES350's and create a fleet of defective cars to play with, rather than making us the guinea pigs.

I thought car manufacturers always tested cars for 2 years before rolling them out?

Let them ship these suckers back to japan, and test them till they're broken.

When acura had the bad transmission in the last gen TL, did the replacement transmission fix the problem? I'm assuming it did.

909dude

I would also look at Infiniti

widlfiresd

The IS or the GS would be my bet at this point. The ES is such a great value. I wish they would get the darn thing fixed soon.

ES350Bob

I agree this is similar to TSIB valve body results.

Here is a suggestion given me by a friend who serves in law enforcement. Let me know what you think.

Back in September he said to write via e-mail to our state's highway patrol official and alert him or her to the slipping as a safety concern and provide my VIN # whether or not I got a resolution, and to report it out of consideration for others. I did not do that, instead I relied on reporting it to Lexus officials as potentially dangerous.

He further suggested that once I had done that, take a copy of that writing with me to first service visit and any response acknowledging receipt of it I may have received.

Now, his advice may help others put in a position of having to prove this or concerned they may be placed in that position.

Write as suggested, including your VIN #, take a copy of that with you first visit, or next visit on this issue if that applies, and tell them you will write again to the state official if you are told cannot duplicate and that you will then record it slipping and also send that official a copy of the service ticket claiming cannot duplicate along with a CD, DVD, VHS of it slipping.

mjmg8rs

So my saga continues - when I first posted the dealer had replaced my transmission the first time - had the sam eissue - they have kept the car and replaced it 2 more time without even asking me to pick it up. Today I get a call - WE FIXED IT... I have not picked it up yet - but I told the guy to just keep it... and I called corporate and told them the same thing - we will see what happens

By the way - I have been trying to figure out what to buy and I am seriously bummed. Need a car with a backseat for 3 kids and this one is it - I will probably end up with an acura if I get a buy back option.

MJM

wanderer99

mjm - I know exactly how you feel. I had the we've fixed it! from my dealer after the original Valve Body TSIB was installed. I think they forgot to test the car because it immediately started slipping again, must worse than before.

They then replaced the trans and declared we've fixed it! Which was also totally wrong as it still slips.

Let us know what happens...

meadoel

I'm curious if more people have had transaxles replaced and, if so, was it a success? I just had mine replaced and I've already had slips twice in under a week.

wanderer99

Thanks meadoel for posting and voting. I don't believe that people are having any greater success now than before in regard to trans replacement. This is reflected in the poll results.

When this poll started there was no mention of the slip being classed as 'normal behaviour' by the dealer network. Back then it was either success or failure. Now over time - and as reported by CL members as an apparent policy shift - dealers and Lexus are moving towards the 'normal behaviour' explanation... which we all know is total BS.

I believe that if we started another poll now with a choice of "my dealer says its a normal behaviour for the trans to slip" we'd get a high percentage of the votes for this choice. Months ago we wouldn't have gotten any votes for this choice as the dealers never used this as an explanation.

I wonder what your dealer is going to say now about your car when you report your issues with the new trans