twister

I dropped it off this morning to my dealer, and they will check it tomorrow morning. Guess what? It happened to me this morning too, just like before 3 min into driving on the exact spot while accelerating on a main road - engine reved up, rpm needle jumped to 4k and right back done like nothing happened. Maybe it doesn't ACTUALLY happens every morning cause I push gas pedal differently? Honeslty, its not the end of the world, but knowning this could be a problem I want my dealer to look at it. They told me they've seen a few other cases like that.... and, they were not recommended to do TSIB fix but rather to replace the whole tranny. So, if they going to confirm that I have this problem, my tranny going to be replaced and warranty upgraded to 100k. I don't know what to think. I guess, first will wait for confirmation if they think its a problem.

BTW, I'm driving AWD IS250 now, and ... I miss my ES350!!! Last week when they replaced my scratched rim, I drove RX350 for a day (too stiff of a ride for SUV which they changed for '07 model). With IS, I am 5'10" and still bumped my head getting into the car. Had to push the driver seat all the way back which probably left no room for the back seat. Car is too small and cramped up inside, gas pedal is to close to the wall (my foot keep rubbing against the wall), acceleration is much slower than ES. Of course, handling during cornering and tight steering and push-stop breaks make it very sporty, but I felt every single pine cone on the road going to work This also reinforces my selection of ES as a perfect balance of luxury, comfort and performance. Of course, I haven't driven GS yet, but I think it will be a bigger version of IS. Anyway, sorry for the off-topic, just had to stick it in here.

Kaius88

Bizzaro bro, I have always wanted to test drive the IS. I was hoping they had an IS loaner, but no luck. I even stopped by a Lexus dealer, but was afraid they might look at me and think "why are you test driving this when you already have a 2007 car?"... so i ended up not test driving. i wonder if anyone makes it a weekend activity to test drive all the cool cars just for fun.

twister

Yes, they got lots of IS loaners over at our dealership. One thing I would suggest to you, when you are due for your 5k service tell them you have to leave your car and will need a loaner. Than, also tell them that you are considering to buy IS for your wife, so might as well kill two birds and get IS loaner which you can test drive with your wife Use that little trick and do it in advance so they can schedule your service when IS loaner is available!!!

In summary (my personal opinion): engine is noisy, ride is noisy, acceleration is noisy, I felt cramped up in there, and felt every little bump, but handling is awesome! It felt like you are sitting inside of a fighter plane LOL!! I would only consider something like this as my "weekend" car for fun. For everyday commute, this is not a fun but a pain in the ****

... one more things forgot to mentioned. There are 2 hand-pedals behind the steering wheel (I assume for gear shifting/limitingi). And another cool thing is when you floor the gas pedal and RPM goes over 4k, the RPM display turns RED. Very interactive. Oh, and one of the display options shows you what gear you are in (very addictive to see how it changes with acceleration and breaking). I also missed my "spongy breaks". In IS you tap it lightly and the car stops, almost instantaneously. I guess you can get used to that, but in a slow stop-and-go ride it was not pleasant...

wanderer99

What RPM were you at before it jumped up? This RPM point would have been where the gearshift would normally happen, only it didn't happen and your RPMs spiked.

oreokid24

I have done the Nav recalibration, but it still is off sometimes. I've had to recalibrate about 6 times already. It just doesn't seem to remember sometimes. I haven't figured out a pattern yet.
As for the RPM spike... I called the service dept. and said it wasn't fixed yet. They said there was another part that needed to be ordered. Would they have let me know.. if I hadn't called??? This will be the 3rd time to take it in for this.. where does the lemon law start? LOL.

twister

It was close to 2k where it usually shifts a gear. That spike interrupted it for a split second and than it went back to normal. Never happens again afterwards or during the day. Also, they told me about running diagnostics test all day today and nothing was found. Will see if they can recreate it tomorrow morning from cold start. If it is confirmed, the whole tranny going to be replaced. My dealership will not bother with TSIB.

wanderer99

I don't think they know how to troubleshoot this exact problem. Given the number of vehicles involved you'd think we could walk into the dealer, mention the problem and they'd know exactly how to identify it.

ES350Bob

Twister,

Can you ask your dealer why he deicded to avoid TSIB and replace entire transmission instead? I'm curious if it is because he realized the TSIB was not working and/or that more than one gear change was involved. As in not just 3 to 4 but also 2 to 3, so he is sharp and decided to just change out entire transmission?

Also, not dealer svc., but Lexus tech claimed diagnostics would have picked up my transmission issue whether or not it slipped while driving the car or not. And that main tracking computer data, our black box, would have captured it too if it was happening. Both of which I don't believe because my car does it and he claimed it didn't show up on diagnostics.

twister

OK, here is the latest update (my Lexus blog). They confirmed the problem at cold start (woo-hoo!!! I'm not going crazy!!!). The new valve body has been ordered and should arrive by Thursday/Friday. Also, an engineer from Lexus, CA, will be flying over to look at this. Apparently, my RPM cold spike start generated a different code from what they have seen with TSIB. After changing a valve body they will keep it to see if problem still exists. If it does, a new tranny will be put in place. Something tells me they are not too confident about valve body fix. Either way, I feel comfident they will fix the problem one way or the other. Also, due to this work, warranty gets automatically updated by Lexus factory to 100k. It is kind of weird that car is perfect in every possible way. That RPM spike would of been something I could live with, but after reading all these posts in here and learning about TSIB, I will be driving a loaner all this week

Speaking of loaner, I could not take that horrible IS anymore and asked them to switch to RX. I go through a lot of stop'n'go traffic and IS is not for that. Plus, the car is tooooo small for me (and I mentioned that I'm not that tall at 5'10"). RX is not better either, don't like breaks and ride is not as soft as ES or even my wife's Highlander. Anyway, bottom line, I really miss my ES!!! Oh, also seen LS460 at dealership. All I have to say: WOW!!!

e-Mel

Twister,

I am also in NJ. Can you tell me which dealership this is? You can pm me if you like.

Thanks.

wanderer99

I've had my car at the dealer on two occasions to diagnose the 3/4 shift slippage and RPM spike. Yesterday they informed me that they tried to recreate it twice and couldn't do so. They said I could pick up my vehicle. I didn't pick up my vehicle.

I went back this morning and did what I always do to duplicate the issue:
- start vehicle and wait until engine slows to 1000RPM (~45 secs)
- drive off slowly at under 15km\h (simulate exit from parking lot)
- accelerate at steady 2200RPM and just wait for 3rd gear to engage
- between 40-50km\h the RPM spikes as the trans slips, just as it always does.

My dealer is a small shop, so they don't see many issues like this. I told them I would do this and it would happen. I don't think they believed me. Once I demonstrated it there was no discussion - its there and it needs to be fixed. If I couldn't demonstrate this I'd be screwed though, as they won't fix it unless it presents itself as an issue. I'm posting the procedure above just in case it helps anyone with their issues.

The Tech in my vehicle advised that the procedure is to do the trans TSIB, and if that fails to fix it then they replace the trans. This was mentioned in the same sentence as the TSIB, so I kind of get the impression the TSIB doesn't fix every car. This matches with what Twister mentioned. My dealer called me later to advise that they've ordered the parts, but its on back order. They've since clarified this to me as there is a large waiting list, and we've now joined this list. There is no ETA for me right now.

The funny thing is (ok, its not funny) that I had my vehicle into the dealership for this issue over a month ago. There was no TSIB in Canada at that time, so they couldn't do anything. Now that I've demonstrated the fault, I can get fixed... once the parts are available.

I'm going to talk to Lexus Canada about this tomorrow to see what the deal is with warranty extensions\trans replacements and vehicle swaps if we get to that point. We pay 25%++ more for our cars in US$ than the US does, get our TSIB's weeks after the US does, so it will be interesting what I find out about the customer relationship side of this and what happens with these trans issues. I expect nothing less than what the US folks are receiving.

twister

... and you deserve to get it!!! No matter what they tell you, warranty ugrade is not an option. I was actually very impressed with how my dealership handing this. BTW, they placed an order for valve body today and it should get here in a couple of days. That whole "ETA" you've been told about sounds like a real BS. I'm also afraid that valve body change is just a waste of time. They are using our cars for "testing" of their fix. Either if it works or not, going to be another data point for them. I only believe in full tranny replacement.

ES350Bob

Wanderer,

I get and have gotten the same thing over both transmission and engine knocking tapping, they try to send you away with no repairs and no action.

The engine knocking they admitted AFTER I did what you did, made them let me drive it cold and demonstrate it for them.

The transmission slips but they say it is learning and what BS that is, but they say it because their computer diagnostics did not reveal it as slipping and claimed they would whether the trans slipped or not when driving the car.

I'd advise anyone with either of these problems to do what Wanderer did or I did, go there yourself and force them to admit it with you present. I have to wait till my trans slips more often than currently like others progressed on here.

wanderer99

I've raised a ticket with Lexus Corp in Canada. The CSR had no knowledge of the trans issues, campaigns, or what the procedure is for problem resolution on this. I've asked two questions - a) what is the ETA on the part, and b) what is Lexus Canada's position on warranty extension and\or vehicle buyback for this major mechanical work. The call is in the system and I was told I can expect a call in the next 7-10 business days.

Nextourer

I believe it changes orange first then red?? You can set the rpm threshold when that ring colour change occurs. The same goes for the speedo.

Also did you notice the light-sabre start up sweep?