duffer649

I have the following issue that has happened to me twice now.

When it's cold outside (around -10C or below), I start the car and let it run for about 1 minute. I pull out of the parking lot and drive down the street for a very short distance and stop at the intersection and wait to turn left. This only happens when I wait for a minute or more. I go to turn left and the car feels like it has no power and stays in 1st gear all the way up to 4000 rpm and then shifts. After this the car is totally fine and it shifts at the normal 1500 rpm or so going about 15km/hr. When I'm sitting at the intersection waiting to turn, the car is idling at about 1200 rpm or so while the car is warming up.

I've tried many times to recreate the issue but I couldn't do it because I never let the car sit and idle. If it's constantly moving with stop and go it's fine.

I called the Lexus dealer to ask about this and they told me the first thing to do is change the transmission fliud because it could be low or dirty. The car is 6 1/2 years old (July 2006) with 58,000km on it. They said the transmission fluid should be changed at the 6 year interval. They also asked me if I had the car in the shift manual mode (which I didn't) because it seemed to exhibit this behaviour.

Has anyone experienced a problem like this before or would anyone know what would cause this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jcat_350

normal. My car does the same thing in cold temps. Part of it is the raised idle to help warm the car up when you first start the car and it's running in open loop.

The other thing is the trans fluid. When it's cold out, the trans fluid will thicken a bit. Thicker fluid = moves slower = harder to build up pressure which is what your auto trans needs to be able to shift. As you drive for a while, you'll notice a hard shift into 2nd and 3rd, but then once the car starts warming up, the fluid thins out and the trans fluid pump is able to build more pressure, then the fluid runs more easily so the shifts get smoother.

You can replace the fluid if you want, it can't hurt if it needs it. But my suggestion would be to try and let the car warm up a bit before driving. Reason is I believe these cars, like other Lexus and Toyota models, have a trans cooler that's built into the bottom of the radiator. As the car runs, it passes trans fluid through this cooler, which when cold actually cools it too much. As the car warms up, coolant heats up and that heat is conducted down into the trans fluid cooler, which helps to heat that fluid up and make it run through the system easier.

Hope this helps. As they say, to be able to troubleshoot something when it goes wrong, you need to know how it works when it's going right.

duffer649

Thanks for the explanation. It is very helpful. I have another 2 questions.

Why does it shift normal (at 2000 rpm or so) when I pull out slowly from the parking lot and drive up the little side street but when I get to the intersection and wait 1 minute before I go to turn left, then I accelerate and it revs up to 4000 rpm before it shifts? The thing is it doesn't always rev to 4000 rpm. Sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn't.

How long should I wait for the car to warm up properly when it's cold?

Thanks.

nevernu

perhaps you put the shifter lever in sport mode vs auto mode?

garsarno

There were problems with 2007 model transmissions. I bought my 2007 10/2006 and it was in the dealer with 1,000 miles for transmission replacement. After that, transmission ran well until I traded it in on 10/2011.

duffer649

The shifter was in auto mode. The dash had the D lit up green.

LexBob2

If you do a search here on 2007 cold engine transmission shift flares you'll find hours of reading on this issue. It was a widespread issue with the early models. I'm not sure if that is your issue but maybe some of the posts will shed some light on it for you.

duffer649

I thought the shift flare was for 3-4 shifting? Mine is 1-2 shifting at 4000 rpm.
I have read several posts about the shift flare from 3-4 and I watched a video with a demonstration of it. My shifting is not a sudden jump or flare after it has shifted. I couldn't find an example on here where the revs go to 4000 rpm when shifting from 1-2.

Thanks.

duffer649

Another thing, I've been driving the car for 3 1/2 months and it's only done it twice so far. I drive the car everyday to and from work.

It seems to only happen when I drive out of the parking lot and drive to the intersection and sit and wait for at least 1 minute idling. If I can stop and turn right away without waiting then it doesn't do it.

jcat_350

Mine doesn't always go all the way up to 4k, but it does sometimes get up to 3k. Again, this is because it has a hard time building up pressure with the cold fluid.

If you stop and turn right away your car may already be in 2nd rather than 1st so you don't notice it.

Also realize that the throttle control and ECU are a self-learning system. It may take a couple minutes after startup for it to realize that you're taking off and thus reduce the raised idle. That could be responsible for the extra 1000 rpm you're seeing when cold.

Try letting the car warm up for a few minutes first, don't move it until you see the temp needle moving. See if it goes away then.

golfnow

I had to replace my transmission at 142,000 miles.. Lexus said there was nothing they could do for me since I wasn't a loyal customer.. I asked what did that mean and they said I didn't own any previous Toyota or Lexus vehicles. I explained that the reason I bought my first Lexus was because the sales rep said I should get 350,000 plus miles. The repair shop showed me two gears that had separated at a weld causing the transmission failure. All of the transmission updates were current..

2007 es350

LexBob2

Sorry to hear about your trans going out. Hopefully the new one will work out for you.

With 142,000 miles on the old transmission it was iffy at best that corporate would do anything for you. And I'd take it with a BIG grain of salt if any sakes rep said I'd get 350,000 miles on the car that they are trying to sell.

golfnow

I only share this info because I was having the same issues as everyone else. Others had transmission failure at 142,000 miles

boaj

I'm having the same experience and it started at 147,000. I am considering replacing the transmission also