chbow

Hi,
Newbie lexus owner (2007 UL, ML, Nav) and my car has 65000 miles. I've spent quite some time since I got the car reading through these forums (thanks everyone - good info!) and a recurring theme I seem to see is transmission issues with the 2007 es350. With the drive train warranty ending at 70000 or much more likely soon due to 6 yrs, I wanted to check mine out. Any ideas, or things I should look out for? Thanks in advance and thanks for all those commentators of old whose posts I've been reading now!

dreyfus

If your transmission hasn't given you any problems then at 65,000 it isn't likely to in the future. All the tranny issues with the 2007 show up immediately or very early in the life of the car. I've 119,000 miles on mine and it's still going strong.

sutter1961

To Dreyfus:

Do you think this 3 to 4 shift issue will shorten the life on the transmission? I know some people are/have been getting new transmissions to solve the issue- my Lexus dealer is giving me a hard time with this ES350 I purchased 2+ weeks ago. If I live with my (early build 2007 w/73K miles) issue can I expect a normal transmission lifespan? How hard should I fight my Lexus dealer over this?

I'm trying to find out if the sometimes hard 3 to 4 shift at 30 MPH will contribute to future transmission problems. If not, maybe I can live with it. If my Lexus dealer refuses to help (Crown Lexus, Ontario, CA) should I purchase an extended warranty to help me with potential transmission issues down the road? Would a "second flash" of the computer help? My Lexus dealer did one a week ago- it might have helped a little, but I don't see much change. If anyone can help, please advise.

LexBob2

The good news is that there doesn't seem to be any major long term reliability problems with this transmission issue. At least according to Consumer Reports and their Predicted Reliability report taken from their owners surveys.

chbow

Thanks for the responses. It's good to know there doesn't seem to be a problem. I'd just like to know when the issues usually occur such as at certain speeds or during hard acceleration (I haven't had that much non city driving time as of yet, and what I had I did very gently), or if it's impossible to say when it would occur if someone could tell me what the issues feel like so I can look out for anything. The only thing I've seen is that at hard acceleration from a stop there seems to be a bit of a gap of torque (maybe at ~ 45mph but I'm not sure), coming from a 05 taurus I'm in no position to judge what is "normal". Thanks again to all

dreyfus

Well that depends upon how hard the shift is and how often it happens. Yes, it should be smooth as silk, but a rough shift doesn't necessarily mean a shorter lifespan.

I doubt it. If the flash was done correctly you have the latest firmware. Reinstalling it won't make a difference.

I don't like extended warranties but if you're nervous then it might be worth the peace of mind. You can take your car to any Lexus dealer for warranty service if you don't like Crown.

Like LexBob2 said, it doesn't seem like the transmissions are failing, they just have varying levels of poor performance.