Before I take it to the stealership I wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar. I have a 2001 GS430 with 120k miles. When I lightly tap the throttle the car hesitates to shift and then shifts suddenly. This happens usually from first to second gear (from a standing start) and then shifts normally. Sometimes I also hear a ticking sound that seems to come from the engine. The sudden shifting can can also happen if traffic is slowly moving. So I did a trans flush (after replacing the fluid first and riding on that a week or so) and replaced the MAF. I still have the same issues. So I thought about changing the ECT modes. Snow mode it still does it. Power mode however, it completely goes away (still happens rarely). So I have left it in power mode. I used to think it was the engine mounts or transmission mount since I had something similar with an Audi A4 I used to have, but when I started to notice it was happening when I pressed the throttle certain ways I eliminated that. Highway and passing the car shifts fine. Any ideas?

One more thing. I did replace the battery (Costco), but I noticed the radio audio garbles and even restarts sometimes when I press the brakes or use flashers. So I will get another one and see what happens.

 

did you reset the computer ? by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes then reconnecting ??

 

Yes I did. The problem returned after a week or so. I don't drive it everyday. Is it possible I have bad spark plugs? Maybe a misfire? They are probably due for a change.