Hello all,
I have a 2000 GS4, w/57k miles, and have kept the car in good condition, for that matter it is driving great. For the last 1k miles or so, for the first 1 minute after the car is running, it will not shift from 1st to 2nd gear when it should (you know your cars timing after a while), and when the car gets past 2k rpm it hesitates to shift from 1st to 2nd gear. Once it gets to 3k rpm it usually will shift up. From then on, no issues at all. I mean none, literally after it warms up for a minute it is good to go. Now in winter (I live Chicago, cold in winter!!) I can understand why it might take a bit of warming up for the transmission to be good to go, but we are in the end of summer here, and I can't blame it on the weather.

Could this just need a transmission fluid flush?

Do you think it could be anything bigger than that?

Let em know your thoughts, I am not that worried about it as it really does not bother me that much, I just don't want to ignore a potentially bigger problem.

 

Mine has done the EXACT same thing for the last 10,000 miles. I cannot get a straight answer as to what the problem is. It does not seem to be getting worse, so I just live with it.

I made this thread about it awhile ago:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...r-is-cold.html

Sometimes in really, really cold weather (under 30 degrees F) that first shift is downright hard.

Throughout this time the fluid in the trans has been fresh and still pink in color like it should be. Filled with Toyota Type IV around 142k miles. The car did it somewhat sporatically from 142k-144k miles and consistantly thereafter regardless of temperature if the engine/trans was "cold".

1999 GS400, 154k miles on it now.

 

Mine does it too. I think some one said that it holds first gear longer to help warm up the engine. When the engine is warmed up everything runs normal.

 

.

mine does it too and has since I have owned it...33,000. It's normal. Just go easy on it until it warms up. Which I have noticed is about 3 blocks until it shifts normally. Also let it warm up for about 30-60 seconds before shifting from P to D.

 

It is NOT normal.

Between the OP and myself, our cars at one point did not do it.

Its great and all to try and tell yourself its normal, but trust me....a $50k car does not drive like this.

I don't know what the fix is or if it will ever get worse, but it is not normal!

 

Down to the block distance, mine does the same.

 

Yep, mine does it too (2000 GS400 with 139,000KM). My 2004 Chevy also did it in fall and winter. I have a friend who is a dealership service mgr. He says many cars have a transmission temp sensor and are designed to delay the shift until operating temp. It could be with age the sensor responds slower. That's my two-bits, I am sure many will tell me I'm full of it.

 

i came across this thread because i notice my tranny doing the same. I have an 01 gs300 with 25k on it, the tranny fluid is still pink and sweet smelling but im not sure if prior owner changed fluid at all in its life so I'm thinking of doing it around the 30k mark just for good measure...i notice if the car sits for 8 hours or so when i first go up to 20 mph (from first to second gear) the shift lingers so you hear the RPM's go a bit higher and then it changes over. Mind you i live in south florida so cold weather shouldn't be a remote concern..after that initial bump It doesnt do it again till it sits...i did originally put in premium fuel when i got the car then opted to the lower grade and add fuel additive every 3k miles..i saw a performance change into a laggier GS so i went back to premium and i think the tranny shift problem has gone away but its only been a few days so i will confirm during the week.

 

Mine still does it to this day. I'm at 173.3k now.

 

Where did you find a car with only that many miles! What a find!

To add a little bit to this thread, I've owned several cars over the years and each car has a unique pattern to the automatic. There definitely is a tranny temp sensor, but it will work consistently unless something is going wrong.

In my 95 Altimas, they will hold the gear longer until the tranny temp is high enough for the torque converter to lock up. In one of my 95 Altimas, this doesn't happen the way it should, even after flushing the fluid, swapping to Amsoil, Redline and genuine Nissan.

Something like this could be going on for the Lexuses (Lexi?). Does somebody have a Lexus Factory Service Manual with the torque converter test procedure? That would help at least eliminate if the torque converter is the issue.

 

Search "Solenoid C", P0763 code