The car is programmed to not shift between 3rd and 4th under 31 MPH until a certain operating temperature is reached (this is in the FSM)...

This operation where the shift is limited is clearly displayed in my "slow speed" shift flare video.

I suspect there are many people who drive miles before clearing 31 MPH because they live deep in subdivisions or city streets... What may be occurring in these situations is the transmission has built up enough pressure to "burp" the air bubble from the valve body by the time they actually do shift from 3rd to 4th.

In my case, the flare was probably more likely and occurred with more frequency because whithin the first 500-700ft of drivinng each day I turn onto a 40 MPH road... In essence, I have to force the car to shift from 3rd to 4th in order to comply with the Rules Of The Road.

 

You and I may have different definitions of the term "gunning it" so let me try to clarify what I'm experiencing. When I say accelerate to ~50 MPH, I don't mean a particularly rapid acceleration. I'm just talking about a "normal" acceleration up to ~50 MPH. When my car shifts b/twn 3rd and 4th gears (somewhere ~ 30 MPH - 35 MPH I think?), the RPM needle flares up about 300 - 500 RPM for just a second and then drops down as the transmission shifts into 4th gear.

 

Hello all, Not going to say much. I’ve said it before I’ll say it again. You bought a new car – 8 weeks old – 550 miles – you have a defective transmission. Meaning if it flares it’s broken. Others buy a new car with a good transmission. Don’t go through hell, get a new car or upgrade to the next model now, don’t wait you deserve better.

 

i wonder if lexus will take responsibility for a broken transmission 10 years down the line due to this flare. They should take responsibility for the life of the car, since it was defective from the start.

There must be a lot of people who continue to drive the car even with the flare, and don't bother to bring it in to the dealership, especially those who don't read the internet.

 

I agree, if you have the flare at 500 miles, I would definately try to get the dealership to swap you out for another ES with a later build date. If you do this while you still have very low millage, the dealer should not be taking too big of a hit. From my experience, the flare will get worse over time, I started out flaring once a day ~200-300 rpms, and I eneded up flaring anytime I let my car sit for more than an hour and occationaly saw extreme flares of up to 2000 rpms (all the way to redline). I'm a bit weary about driving a car with a transmission replacement, you never know if they will forget to tighten a bolt (like one on your stearing rack.... ).

 

i'm afraid of that too. how many parts are there just for the transmission? a few hundred?

damn. redline flares sound nasty. I'd expect a broken down 1985 ford to do that. But not a new car. not even a new ford.

 

Sounds like the OP has a bad transmission. I was bummed when I noticed that my car had a bad transmission at 1,800 miles. I would feel worse if this happened with only 500 miles. I would talk to your dealer about trying to get your car swapped out with a new car with a good transmission at no cost to you.

 

If they have any class they will. Just like Acura, when their transmissions started showing up dead everywhere, they did the right thing and installed a new tranny under warranty. My ex-gf had a 2002 Acura TL and her tranny went at 80+K and Acura acknowledged that it was their fault and not the owners fault that the tranny went.

If you look at it logically, I am presuming that the 2007 ES350's tranny comes with the world standard or "WS" fluid and claims to be a lifetime fill and never needs changing. Now say if your tranny dies at 85k miles, I sure to hope that by saying lifetime they dont mean only 85k miles!! Regardless folks, make sure all you good folks change your tranny fluid at 30k increments.

 

BMT,

I looked at our poll of transmission problems by build date and there are 2 indicating 10/06 builds with this issue, that and the acknowledgement from dealer about this issue and number they see indicates it is unlikely you will be faced with a claim of cannot duplicate where that requires you videotape it. Don't get discouraged if that happens and good luck in general in deciding how to proceed. Please consider adding your finding to our poll by build month as it does help others.

 

If this has already been covered, I apologize for repeating it. I did a search for "catalytic converter" and came up with nothing.

Upon "cold startup," my '99 MB CLK320 would always have a "delayed upshift" until it reached a certain operating temperature. The reason I was given for this from the dealer was that allowng the engine to "rev higher" when cold would heat up the catalytic converter more quickly and therefore reduce emissions. I believe this car was classified at the time as a "low emission vehicle."

It seems to me this operation runs counter to the idea of keeping revs low on a cold engine to reduce engine wear until the oil has warmed up, but it's supposedly a price to pay for reduced emissions.

I have absolutely no recollection of how high it revved, but I don't imagine it was ever 4K. And, I live on a hill, so I usually just coast out of the driveway and down the hill allowing the engine to warm up 15 seconds or so more before hitting level road and then putting the vehicle in gear.

However, on a REALLY cold morning, it would immediately go into FIRST gear and I'd end up with the engine revving up to match the speed it would normally be doing in that gear - WAY TOO HIGH for the coldness of the engine. It also would immediately give you an "engine braking effect" which was probably not good for the transmission, either. I quickly stopped doing the "coast down the hill" in neutral bit on really cold mornings and resorted to letting the engine warm up a bit more before popping into gear. I'd then just crawl down the hill to keep the revs as low as possible on the cold engine.

That first shift into second gear was always a harsh one in that circumstance. But, it was ONLY that first upshift.

Maybe this factors in somehow on the "cold engine flare" of the ES transmission during the first few shifts.

Again, if this has been covered previously, I apologize for the redundancy.

 

well, I think I spoke too soon about my transmission and jinxed myself.

I think I saw the first symptoms of flare.

After I picked up my car from the dealer today, I sloooowly accelerated the car. Between 20-25 mph, there was a tiny spike. I could hear the spike, and I think it was a small 200 rpm spike at slow speed.

It's not that big of a deal. But I'm waiting to see if it will get worse.

The loaner es350 I returned, on the other hand, flared so many times at 3-4k rpm. It also had the low speed 200rpm spike. That car's a gonner. It was an earlier build- like april or something.

 

I was just wondering last night, why the IS350 6speed doesn't have a problem, but the ES350 does?

Why can't they just take the IS trans and modify it and put it into the ES?

 

The IS is rear wheel drive. Not a transaxle configuration.

Pete

 

Could the RX350 5 speed fit into the ES?