ServiceGuy

Just from reading some of the posts on this forum, it just seems that people are thinking that most of the new ES's have this issue.

I'm not bias just cause I work for a lexus dealer.
I'm just giving a little insight from my perspective.

I've only seen less than 5 ES350's come through that have trannys that needed to be replaced due to the flare issue since the ES's were introduced.

I'm not downplaying the seriousness, but just my $.02

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

When something goes wrong, one person tells a dozen people.

When a dozen things go right, only one will say anything about it.

Oh well. Some people voice their opinions louder than others...

thermo

Did they correct the problem in the later models? My ES350 was made on 3/07. So far so good.

MD350

My car does not flare, but the 3 different service loaners I have had sure did. 3rd to 4th on a cold start. Only once and then it was fine. As silly as it sounds, it is unexceptable and if my car did this I sure would be upset.

ES350Bob

service,

Interesting that you actually work for a dealer and have seen only 5, I do not work for one and experienced 4.




thermo,

It seems it has not been corrected as we have had 02/07 build report this.

robob2

So, one dealer has seen 5. Lets say there are 10 Lexus dealers that have seen 5 times 50 states equals 2500. I think I read a while back that there are around 50,000 sold which yields a 5% rate of failure. This sounds pretty significant to me.

And this is assumes that everyone that has the problem reports it.

MD350

Not to mention the number of buybacks for sale on E-Bay. Those cars are out there.

meadoel

Don't forget all the people who don't realize the car isn't supposed to do it. If my wife drove my car she'd be reading this saying "what flare?".

While there may not be THAT many... I find it interesting that my car had the slip, replaced transaxle, the new one slips. That means either the problem isn't in the transaxle or that I had two bad units in a row. And I'm not the only one that has happened to.

e-man

Same here (almost). I've had one ES350 loaner, and it flared 3rd to 4th after every cold start, but just once, and then not again until the next cold start.

garsarno

The problem is also that if you do not notice it or report it, when the car comes out of warranty and you have a transmission failure, the "corporation" will tell you you need to replace the transmission on your own.

kchristian

The problem is that the issue can be subtle in its manifestation. If someone doesn't look at the tach. is a lead foot in the morning, doesn't know what to look for, is distracted by kids or others in the car for example, they may very well miss the problem. I originally thought it was just a warm up issue in the morning and since it didn't appear to happen later in the day I was not concerned initially. That was until I had my husband in the car one day and he said it was a transmission problem. I had the tranny replaced at 9300 miles but noticed the issue early on. I didn't think it was a big deal and did not troll the Internet for similar issues which is surprising because I am a computer geek. I am returning my car today for an overnight visit to the dealer so they can check out the flare on the new tranny (less than 200 miles on it). My car has a production date of 6/1/06 and was purchased on 7/6/06.

Maybe ServiceGuy can post the latest TSB on the issue for all to see. The comparable one for Toyota Camry is TC007-07. It is dated May 17, 2007. It involves a reflash of the TCM.

2thfixr

So I guess 5 is an acceptable number?

mrshyvley

Though I have a 2007 Camry SE V6, I follow this forum too, being that we have the same engine/6 speed transaxle.
I was just in to my dealer today, and showed them the TSB that came out on 5/17/07 calling for trying a re-flash with newly released firmware before doing a transaxle replacement.
I also showed them a video of my once after each engine start 3rd-4th slip (flare).
I got an appointment to come in to get the new re-flash without any argument.
Will be going in Tuesday 5/29.

I'll report how it turns out.

MD350

Now that was funny!

kchristian

I dropped my ES350 off at the dealer today for its overnight rest/check the following day for flare tomorrow AM. This is on the NEW tranny with about 200 new miles. The Service Manager mentioned to me that they would thoroughly inspect and test the car and that they had recently applied an update (last week) to another vehicle that did NOT take care of the issue. I then told him that I knew about the Camry reflash process that was released via TSB on 5/17/07. I let him know that I know more about cars than I ever wanted to know (transaxle assembly, TCM, flare, torque converter, etc.) The loaner I got today (2007 ES350) also has the flare issue.... Now that makes 2 out of 2 ES350s for me :< I hate shopping for cars! I thought I had that job handled for 8 to 10 years by buying the ES350. Grrrrrrr
I guess I'll have to let Consumer Reports know when this is finally resolved.