This poll is for owners of vehicles that have had their ES350 transmission replaced on or after December 2006. Most would have had the TSIB for trans replacement, but some dealers may have just decided to swap the transmission themselves.

Just like our last TSIB poll for the valve body it makes sense to keep these results in one place. It gets hard to track on the success\failure rate otherwise.

Please vote if you've recently had your transmission replaced. You have two simple choices:
- Success: transmission is working perfectly!
- Failure: transmission still skips\flares\slips.

If you could also make a brief post describing your result and the date of the trans replacement, that would be appreciated.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by ESsearch
Maybe I can help. I just picked mine up from the dealer today (2-1-07) from having the transaxle replaced. It states on my receipt:

"Replaced transmission assembly as per TSB TC001-07.
T1=26 T2=99 OPN=30510-33530"

Under the section where they list the parts it shows:

Qty FP Number Description
---- ------------- ----------------
1 30510-33530 Transaxle Assy, A

I am hopeful that your posts were correct and this is a newer version of the transaxle. I've only put about 25 miles on it and everything seems fine. The normal shifts seem smoother but admittedly, that could be pre-learning mode or my imagination. Coming from the "Show Me" state and based what we all know today, I guess only time will tell. I'll keep you posted. Pete
-------------------------------------------------------------------
2-5-07
Only time will tell - HA - that didn't take long! Well my worst fear came true. Not only is the new tranny acting up, it is worse than the one they took out. At least it only took about 80 miles to find out. I saw a small (200 rpm) 3/4 flare today. Worse than that I have a consistent new issue. At a steady speed and around 1200 rpm with a very light throttle, the tranny will shudder like it is slipping and cannot find the correct gear. It can be felt and heard and it is as though the car is running over a washboard surface. In fact I optimistically hoped that was the case the first time it happened. The second time it happened, I applied more throttle and the tach shot up about 1200 rpm and then it banged into gear and went on. Tonight it happened about every time I was cruising under the scenario described. My wife was with me and had no problem hearing or feeling it. They should have no problem replicating this problem.

Pete

 

[QUOTE/?]Originally Posted by e-man
HCDesign -- I'm just curious. I see that you're from Illinois and I was wondering whether you brought your car to Lexus of Naperville. Here's why I ask. My dad was in there the other day and personally observed approximately 15-20 used transmissions in a storage area just off the service department. When he asked one of the service guys about it, he was told that they were all defective ES350 transmissions, and that the truck would be by in a few days to pick them up and drop off some new ones. The service guy said that the dealership has been regularly replacing ES350 transmissions for the last few months, but that in recent weeks it has really picked up. Again, this is just hearsay, but the service guy told my dad that the truck comes every other week to pick up the old trannies and drop off new ones, and that usually there are about 15-20 waiting for them when they get there. I'm not sure how many the dealership stocks, but my guess is that it's more than just a few.[QUOTE/?]

The quote above coincides with a comment from someone at the dealership I go to. He told me they are inspecting new car arrivals as they come in and replacing trannys if need be. I do not know if that is being directed by Lexus, or just the dealership taking precautions, if it's legal, or even a true statement. FWIW.

Pete

 

My transmission was replaced on or about January 12th, 2007. The paperwork says:
"OLD UNIT 32A06D119384 NEW #2A06M111310
OP CODE #366011B T1=30 T2=999
INSTALLED NEW TRANS"

Disturbingly enough, in the past week and a half I've also noticed the low rpm shudder when I'm cruising along at highway speed, in particular. I thought I was imagining it, but it sounds like others may be experiencing the same thing. I didn't notice it before the INEFFECTIVE transmission replacement, but I can't say with 100% confidence that it wasn't there.

Lexus reps are in contact with me and I'll have a field visit soon.

VR,
Kent

 

This poll is not scientific. However, I am trying to ascertain what reality is.

Are the majority of ES350 owners (within CL and in general) having no issues, or are the majority having issues?

It is hard to decipher if most folks will have issues if they buy an ES350.

 

This is getting silly. Uh... How big is Naperville? I have some doubts about this. I mean, how many 350's could they sell that they would have to truck the defects away? FWIW, I live in a city of 280,000 with one Lexus dealership. They have had zero tranny replacements. In fact the service mangager is aware of this issue but none have come in. I believe him, as he is very frank about everything (he gets paid no matter what). Interestingly, he said current thought within Lexus is that some of these issues have to do with tansmission fluid levels being improperly added/replaced.

 

+1 Naperville? WTF? A defective tranny is probably the most excitement they get all year long.

 

Actually, Naperville is pretty big (the city and the dealership). Look, all I can tell you is what my dad told me. He's a car guy and very attuned to stuff like this. He personally observed 15-20 transmissions sitting in a storage area, and when he asked, this is what he was told. I'm not sure why a dealership employee would lie about something like that (unless, of course, they had an axe to grind with their employer). I will say that I can't imagine this dealership is replacing trannies on new cars prior to selling them (and certainly wouldn't do so without disclosing that fact to the consumer). This dealership has a great reputation, and there's no way they would risk doing something like that.

Maybe other dealerships in the area sent their faulty transmissions to this dealership and all of the trannies were being picked up by a corporate truck. I really don't know.

 

I can't speak to the tranny issue (I think you and Frozen may have a point), but Naperville is one of the largest suburbs population-wise in the Chicago area and I'm sure the Lexus dealer there does a BIG volume, as it's also quite affluent.

 

"Disturbingly enough, in the past week and a half I've also noticed the low rpm shudder when I'm cruising along at highway speed, in particular. I thought I was imagining it, but it sounds like others may be experiencing the same thing. I didn't notice it before the INEFFECTIVE transmission replacement, but I can't say with 100% confidence that it wasn't there."

Swobro,

Please describe the low rpm shudder at highway speeds.

 

I had my transmission replaced at the end of december. However, I'm not going to answer the poll just yet. I want to have more time with the new transmission.

 

I would say it is fixed since you have not been back to the dealer in 6 weeks.

 

I wouldn't say that. My original transmission took about 2000 miles before it started slipping regularly. Plus I think I saw a small flare a few days ago.. but when I tried to reproduce it yesterday I couldn't.

 

I'm going to vote now to add my trans replacement as a failure. Technically I didn't have the new "trans replacement" TSIB installed... because at that time the TSIB didn't exist. Lexus did advise me though that the old valve body TSIB was a failure, and my dealer has now confirmed that I do have the "latest" new transmission available. So I'm voting on this, because my new trans is as bad as the first one. My trans replacement date was Dec 1st 2006 from my dealer service report.

My dealer is currently doing the "can't duplicate" routine, which is identical to the first 3 attempts to diagnose the first transmission.

 

Sometimes it does take a little while to show up.
It was 2000 kms on my first trans, 200kms on my second.
With just the valve body replacement on my first trans it was technically around 200 metres before it started flaring again.

So if you do have your trans replaced, give it a little time and accumulate some miles before you give us your judgement.