I've owned my 1999 ES300 for a few years and driven it 40K, up to 108K. It always had a hesitation under part throttle shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. After all this time I finally found the tech service bulletin that speaks directly to my issue. It states that:

"Some 1999 RX 300s & 1999 ES 300s may exhibit an intermittent shudder during the 2-3 shift under the following conditions:
* Engine and Transaxle at operating temperature. * Light throttle acceleration (30% throttle opening or less)."

The fix is to replace the transmission valve body but the warranty period is six years or 70K, and I'm outside both of those.

Questions: 1. Is this "intermittent shudder" actually causing excessive clutch plate wear that will lead to premature failure. 2. How involved a job is it to replace the valve body with a new one? I removed and modified a valve body in my ford 4R70W transmission ten years ago. Not sure I'd want to spend the time doing it again now. I imagine the local Lexus dealer is not going to want to do the work for free. 3. Anyone have luck negotiating a reduced rate for out of warranty TSB work?

Thanks!

TSB Info:

SHUDDER DURING 2-3 SHIFT
Model(s): 1999 Lexus RX 300 & ES 300
Section: Transmission & Clutch Bulletin No.: TC002-99
Date: August 6, 1999

The valve body can be removed (I think) relatively easily. This fix required replacing the entire valve body? You could try calling Lexus to see if they will help out you with at least some of the cost, but I would not hold my breath.

Yes, you have to remove and replace the old valve body with the new and improved version. I haven't called Lexus yet and I'm not looking forward to it.

It is not actually that hard to do yourself. It involves dropping the pan, disconnecting all the various electrical connectors, a couple of pipes, then removing the bolts that hold in the valve body. The hardest part is not having the various springs and ***** fall out on you. I looked at the price of a new one from Toyota it's about $700.

But a visit to a salvage yard will fix that.

I wonder if its really worth the trouble. From the little I know about transmissions any "slipping" equates to clutch plate wear which is definitely bad. I'm surprised more people have not posted about this problem.

How bad is the hesitation?

Sometimes modern automatic transmissions just seem to get "confused" because of all the factors (emissions, fuel economy, and a thousand other factors.) that it sometimes might have a slight delay.

I know on mine, there seems to sometimes be a slight pause during this shift, but I really don't think anything is necessarily "wrong". It doesn't jerk or rev up when the shift is happening, there's just a small delay.

I've changed the transmission fluid several times, and it always came out bright red, I don't think there's any clutch damage going on.

Unless it really seems bad, I would probably just keep an eye on it before I would pay around $1,000 for a shop to put in a new valve body.

As far as I know, these autos have a pretty good reputation for longevity.