mmartin061

So here I have it. Nothing but issues with this car when I bought it this summer. Has proven to be far less reliable or fun than my IS300. Anyway. Cold weather started it this morning. 15-20º. I have noticed that when it gets cooler out and even cool I mean 50's sometimes, I let it sit for about a min before I drive away. This morning I noticed that when I drove away to about a 30 mph cruise the tranny I believe shifts from 1st to 2nd then from 2nd gear it holds for a little while and the engine rpms are high I believe around 2500 while I am keeping a steady throttle not accelerating anymore then a soft lurch and she shifts into 3rd. This never happens when it is warmer. Only when the temp starts dropping. I will be checking the fluid level and the "dummy" basics. The old mechanic told me the fluid was done on this car at some point around 100k I believe. Has 134 now. I didn't think to ask if he used the Toyota fluid as I have read you should be specific with these Toyota's. I have searched the forums for a while and didn't come up with anything. Read another poster who had what appeared to be the same exact issue but nobody responded. Any help guys? Only reason it doesn't happen all the time is because I have a heated garage. My IS300 also had a weird tranny tendency but it never affected anything for some 50k+ miles so I leave it.

islexusred

i believe thats normal for gs4s ... mine does it too and also for many other gs4 owners.... 50 degrees is still cold, the computer holds the RPM to about 2500 so the trany could warm up quicker. just to be safe check ur tranny fluid and make sure the car is parked on a level surface with engine on operating temp. i usually let mine warm up for about 2-5 minutes depending on if am in a hurry.

mmartin061

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that was normal or not a big deal. Evry car seems different andIbhave never had a car do that to me out of the ones I have owned. That would be a weird thing to have happen if you just spent nearly 60k on it new. I am also lesrning first hand howmisserable gas mileage is on these things in the winter. And that they take forever before the temp gauge is half way. None-the-less still a pretty nice ride..

Sampak

I'm in Texas, and the weather's been dropping into the 30's lately. Anytime it's cold, until the engine temp reaches around 100* or so, the car will hold in 1st gear or 2nd well into the 2000+ RPM range, which is why I drive it nice and slow until it lurches into 3rd gear, then from there on it's usually OK (the car warms up enough to let it shift smoothly, but does take about 5 minutes of driving to get up to around 170-180*F if I take it easy).

I've had several cars too and some do this more obviously than others. Nothing to worry about as long as it's normal when it's warm out, or the car warms up. Just let it warm up and take it easy if you must go (I typically warm up for 1-2 minutes just to get into the 90-100*F range for water temperature before slowly driving off). No reason to sit and waste gas waiting to see the needle move up a mark.

I am seeing about 1-1.5 MPG less (from high 21 to 22 MPG down to 19-21) in colder weather, so expect similar drops depending on your warm up habits,and winter gasoline mix in the region etc.