I personally would never use a off brand of oil. Mobil or Toyota fluid for me. Never heard of costal. Maybe someone else can chime in.
Sounds like you are low on fluid or wrong fluid.

 

It had this issue slightly before the fluid change, now it seems worse. I'm going to ask if he can completely flush it and put the T-IV fluid in.

 

It is highly unlikely the fluid is to blame if it is indeed that fluid. That is not an "off brand" of fluid and it's both high quality and a more robust fluid than the original T-IV.

Coastal/Warren have been around decades. In fact, I am using their Mag1 brand (also from Warrenn) "Low Vis" in ours. It is thinner than that as it's more a pure DexVI/WS clone. It works fine - we have 253k on it and it shifts like new with that fluid. Mag 1 is from WPP and I used 12 qts of their FS the last time I flushed our 2002 about 30k miles ago.

I would MUCH rather have WPP's full synthetic in the transmission than T-IV or the later WS.

These cars are known for having a harsh downshift from like 2 to 1; that was what the re-flash was about. It gets mildly annoying if you drive hard (PCU changes shift point) or when your motor mounts wear. Perhaps that was the reason for the OO's request for fluid service. Or they just were smart and wanted a drain/fill at 30k like any savvy owner would. Hard to read too much into it when you don't know the real reason.

Considering it has what appears to be a correct fill of a compatible, high quality fluid, I would consider the following steps:

A) add the reommended amount of Trantune or SeaFoam to the tranmission (either one, same stuff, just a red dye in the TT bottling). This could serve to clean up varnish or something that might be making a valve or solenoid stick.

B) If that fails, I'd then drop the pan to check the filter was not changed.

I've had low idle from worn plugs, dirty MAF, etc., but nothing like you describe. But by all means check out

 

I never said it was "off brand" (you seem to be using a different context than me)
I consider off brand is anything that isn't oem. The mobil fluid matches the same part number as the t-iv fluid. It's the Toyota fluid with a mobil sticker, that's all.

You can find tons of disputes about fluid and brand names. However the condition of your car boils down to:
Weather, climate, location
Maintenance, proper oil changes
And driving habits,

Not so much what oil your using.
However obviously you will see problems if you are using the completely wrong oil.
My parents have an old Camry they had since 0 miles. It's now a little over 220,000 still only original transmission and engine. 5w30 conventional oil and T-iv fluid.


I'm pretty sure checking your oil level is the same as mine.
Drive around town for about 15 minutes, no highway
Park on level surface
Set E Brake
Put car into L, wait a few seconds
Put car into P, check oil


There are also many debates on flushing your transmission and just doing drain and fills. Some people argue that flushing is dangerous or that drain and fills aren't efficient enough. You may want to research that as well.

In the end. I believe speedkar may be right on the money on this one.
Unless it's as bad as you say. When you say bang, do you mean you can actually hear something clunking in the car? Do RPMs raise high for a short moment during the bang?

 

Do I leave the car running while checking the level? By bang, it's like giving it a bit of gas and shifting into gear from neutral. If I repeatedly let up on the gas and then give it some gas in stop and go traffic, I can make it really bang. I choose NOT to do that!! Hit lots of traffic going to and from Austin this past weekend - probably SXSW traffic.


Any second opinions on SeaFoam in the tranny?

 

Leave the car running.
Take the dipstick out, wipe it, put it back in, take out, check level. Should be in between hot and cold on the dipstick assuming yours is the same as mine.

Even if your check engine light is not on, get a code reader and check for codes.
You may have some pending codes if its a valve body solenoid.
Drop the transmission pan and check for metal shavings / pieces.

 

You are using a different definition of "off-brand" than the rest of the world. See your post above where you indicated it was an off-brand. Here's what "off-brand" means:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/off-brand

Coastal is not an off-brand and the point is to explain, based on the best information here, that the type or quality of the fluid is not the issue. Toyota does not even make the T-IV fluid they put in this vehicle, and contracts it out to different oil companies in different parts of the world. There isn't even a single OEM for their ATFs globally. While WPP is not an OEM maker, this fluid is considered superior to the OE formulation; it uses superior base stocks and has a more advanced additive package from years of additional research and development in the industry.

Mmatheny - the proceedure for checking the fluid properly needs it running and similar to what crwys said. It can be done hot or cold (marks for both). Driving on highway does not matter. You need to shift through all gears, not just a few. You can google this; it is widely available on the internet. If you are not sure if you've done it properly, brush-up on checking ATF level and check it again.

 

However, I have never driven in miles of stop and go traffic like I did this past weekend. It MIGHT have been the same all along.

 

Rest of the world? Where's your proven statistics on that? Everyone's different.
You are obviously biased towards coastal for whatever reason and it is affecting your posts. I'm not going to argue with you anymore.
If you like using that oil that's fine. All I said was I've had a Camry since 0 miles, original transmission, no problems, 220k miles, tiv, still runs great. Everyone has their own opinion.

 

Um, dictionary definition? Kinda a gold standard for what a "definition" is. As they say, you are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. I am just pointing out a 50+ year old company with international distribution is not "off-brand." If you have a different definiton of "off-brand" - which you articulated, I am pointing out it is not in conformation with what is understood. See the link I kindly provided.

Crwys, I'm trying to clear up a misconception and move forward factually. Let's just do that and help the OP, ok?

 

Please guys, let's leave the semantics out and just offer solutions, OK!

 

Mike - you said you checked the fluid level. But then later you asked about the proceedure. Have you reviewed it and verified you checked it correctly?

 

Yes I did - only thing I did different was shut the engine off. I will do it correctly when I get home. At least I feel better about the fluid that was put in (I think!). Plus reading the links I posted this apparently was a problem that Lexus didn't see fit to fix. How can I tell if the tranny control unit has been flashed? I saw nothing on the Lexus service that said anything. I read something about a sticker being applied.

 

What misconception? You're the only one who thinks there is a misconception here because you are hell bent on this oil for whatever reason. You created and started this problem. There was absolutely no need for you to go on a rant in your first post about this coastal oil. But you did.

If you want to argue about oil and brand names, there are other forums for that where you can bicker and argue all day.
Toyota, mobil, penzoil, royal purple, etc
It is highly unlikely the fluid is to blame if it is indeed that fluid. That is not an "off brand" of fluid and it's both high quality and a more robust fluid than the original T-IV

Coastal/Warren have been around decades. In fact, I am using their Mag1 brand (also from Warrenn) "Low Vis" in ours. It is thinner than that as it's more a pure DexVI/WS clone. It works fine - we have 253k on it and it shifts like new with that fluid. Mag 1 is from WPP and I used 12 qts of their FS the last time I flushed our 2002 about 30k miles ago.

I would MUCH rather have WPP's full synthetic in the transmission than T-IV or the later WS"

This whole wall of text was completely unnecessary and did not contribute to the OP at all. You wanted to start an argument on purpose or accidentally because you are letting someone's comment affect your emotions about a type of oil. Maybe you work for the company, a family member, friend, etc? Whatever your attachment is don't let it make you start arguments like this.

An appropriate response would be:
Coastal oil meets ( or exceeds) T iv specs and is fine to use in your car.
Plain and simple.

 

Check the fill correctly.

Most people who had the flash reported a noticeable drop in MPGs. If you can put in quality real gas (like 91 e0), and cruise on the highway and get 29mpg, you did not get the flash. If it were done, it should certainly show up in the lexus maintenance records (I think you accessed them you said).