Lately I've noticed my tranny seems to shift quite sharply on the 2-3 upshift. The shift itself seems quick and there is no slippage but it causes the whole front end of the car to become unsettled causing a very annoying, bordering on dangerous jerk on the steering wheel. It tends to jerk to the right a couple inches even if I hold it with two hands very firmly. This doesn't occur on any other shift and it also is almost unnoticeable in all shifts under about 3k rpm, but very annoying merging onto highways. The fluid is changed on a regular basis and all the other shifts are buttery smooth just like they should be. I was thinking maybe mounts? but then it wouldn't just be the 2-3 shift right? Idk I'm kinda stumped, the car only has 77k and has had lexus service it's whole life till I bought it then it's gotten my personal service. There are no other front end problems either as far as I know, other than some squeaky end links. Any ideas??

The shift solenoid associated with the 2-3 gear shift could be on its way out. Do you have a check engine light on the dash when this mishifting happens?

Nope no CEL at all. I've never seen it on this car since I've owned it (almost 2 years) the steering seems to be affected in second gear before the shift as well almost like a torque steer feeling but it is intirely inappropriate at 2.5-3k rpm. Every other gear seems excellent and there is no hesitation, slipping, or loss of acceleration. I cant figure it out.

Still sounds like a shift solenoid try to replace it.

What kind of damage am I lookin at? A complete rebuild? Thats out of the question right now as it's not in the budget nor nearly severe enough for me to consider it yet. Every other gear shift is like new, no clunking, gears quickly engage, no slipping. It starts the odd steering feeling a few seconds before the shift just for some more clarification. I'm gonna try dropping the pan and cleaning the screen maybe? Isn't it metal particles from wear that generally causes this problem? Sorry so many questions it's just a big concern, I use my car for severe service as I do delivery a couple days a week but I change the fluid every 15k and change mobil one extended every 7500. I change every fluid in the car basically about half as often as is necessary. This **** is pissin me off.


.........One more thought? auxiliary trans cooler? anywhere to mount it and has anyone done it?

new development.... there appears to be chunks missing from the main motor mount rubber over by the coolant expansion tank? Possibly causing or magnifying the problem? It clunks more than it used to going into and out of reverse as well now that i think about it, also don't know if this has any bearing at all but when the car is manually shifted from second to third no symptoms occur at any rpm.

Please keep us informed. You're doing a great job of tracking down possibilities and I hope you can manage the repairs.

Sorry I'm no help, but like many others on this forum, we're very interested in what cures the problem.

Hopefully someone will chime in and give some guidance.

Thanks
Harry

Are you sure those missing chunks are not the result of the hard shifting you mentioned before? You could be doing more damage to your car by not finding the solution. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away, only make it worse. Get it checked out or you may find yourself with a bigger problem than you had hoped.

replace the mount as it will definately magnify what your feeling

Just to follow up, the tranny turned out to be ok as I had a drivers side control arm with a badly work bushing. Now there is no more jerk or odd feelings in the steering during any shifts, it feels almost like new.

So you had the bushing replaced and that was the problem? Did it wear out on it's own due to wear and tear or was it a defective part?

Wear and tear I beileve, although the passenger side is fine I can't justify replacing it because it's absolutely solid. I guess the bushing was just so bad that the steering had a problem handling the torque of the car at certain times. IT just feels a hundred times better the wheel has no play, it feels like a lexus should again. It's funny the more i talk about it the more it does sound like a defective part.

That's right.

In my RX300, I have replaced both lower suspension arms and when they were bad I had steering play issues.