Heys guys my uncles 1994 Lexus ES300 is having transmission problems, when u start to drive the car 1st gear wont shift till you reach 5000 rms and then it shifts 2nd,3rd and 4th shift fine and he is wants to know what the problem is before taking to a shop to get a qoute. I told him it might be a solenoid but im not to sure, if any of u guys know or have a idea to what it could be would be very helpful.

 

I myself havnt had that problem but have heard something like it before...

Any of the other ES owners remember? or have any advice?

 

Did the check engine light come on?
Sounds like its slipping.
I got the solenoid check engine light code, but it disappeared after a month, so I'm just ignoring the problem right now.

 

Does it happen all the time or only when the engine is cold? I use to have that problem on cold mornings but it would go away once my engine would warm up.

 

its does it all the time cold or warm, remember it holds 1st gear till about 5 to 6 thousand RPMS and then shifts, 2nd 3rd and 4th shift fine

 

If it does it when the engine is cold, that's the ECU purposefully warming up the engine. If theres no check engine light, and it only does it on a cold start, then its very normal.

 

it does it warm and cold and he does have a check engine light on

 

Get it checked up at autozone for free, and bring us back the code.

 

What's the big deal if it doesn't shift until 5k rpms in 1st? It's not like you're wasting much gas or hurting your engine. On the freeway entrance, I have ECT Power on and gas it until I merge (usually around 65mph), then turn off ECT and turn on cruise control at 62mph. It's also fun gunning it from a red light and then cruising at 35mph in city. I still average over ~22mpg.

 

You can't check codes on a 94 lexus with the the code readers that Autozone has. It has to be a 96 and up....right??

 

95 and 96 es's can be checked b/c they are both obd II
I forgot If the 94 is OBDII or not.
How do you check OBDI cars anyways?

 

Paperclip jumping + counting blinks, or OBD I reader/scanner