MadMark

Hi all. Today we went to lunch in my wife's car and we experienced for the first time ever, the 2nd-3rd and 3rd-4th shift flare. The car has a build date of 08/08 and has 97k miles with one transmission flush and filter change having been performed by me about 30k miles ago using the "bucket method". I tried unplugging the battery for half an hour to see if that would fix it, but it didn't. I drove around for about 20 minutes and noticed in "manual" shift mode, it didn't seem to flare at all or at least not as noticeably. After the car got completely warm, the 3-4 flare went away. The 2-3 flare became intermittent rather than occurring on every shift by the end of my driving. The flare was typically 300-600 rpms. Has anyone else with a later build date experienced this? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I'd also be curious to know if anyone who has/had this issue kept driving their car and if it led to any other issues or ultimately a transmission failure. Thanks again,

ESh

I have that sometimes, 2-3 and 3-4, sometime even when the tranny is warm. Try to disconnect the battery over night then in the morning start the engine, let it run for 5 minunes while you shift from P do D, then manually shift 4321-123456 then back to D, and then take it for a spin but drive it hard so it can shift at 3000+ rpm. Then turn it off. That's the way it can relearn.

MadMark

I'll give that a try this weekend or next and will update. Thanks for the suggestion. How often or how many times have you experienced this LjeksesES?

ESh

Every month but that has nothing to do with realiability. That's a software glitch. You can do a tranny flash at a dealer.

MadMark

Update - I did nothing further to the car last night, but today it is shifting perfectly normally. I'll update again if the problem returns.

oldgrump

Other than minor "delayed" shifting when cold (due to cold tranny fluid) the transmission on these cars should not have ANY issues (intermittent or otherwise), particularly with the later years. As I'm sure some of you know already the fluid level with these transmissions (as with most) is kinda critical. If there has been any kind of transmission servicing and then a problem develops, then I would ensure that the fluid level is checked by someone who actually really knows what he is doing.

Tyson16

About a year ago I also got the 3rd to 4th gear flare every once in a blue moon on my 08 ES350. But then it became more and more frequent. eventually 4th gear would slip completely. Took it to dealer and they scanned it and came back with about 3 codes showing that some of the solenoids are busted. They suggested a trans replacement and quoted me about $4800-$5000. After that I went to my mech and had him replace the trans (cheaper and I trust him).

TL;DR: You might just need a trans flash @ dealer like LjeksesES said, but keep an eye on the flares as it might also be some serious trans problems.

MadMark

It's been nearly 3 months and 3,000 miles since I first encountered this issue, and I'm happy to report that the car has been symptom free for the entire duration of that time. Runs, drives, and shifts just like it should. Thanks for the help and advice.