Transmission Problem: Funky shifting and harsh reverse
09-12-12, 08:12 AM
#151
Lead Lap
I'm sorry to hear about the problem. If I were the owner, I would get Lexus to foot as much of the bill as possible--as was done here.
On the forum level, a lot of this seems overreactive and, in some regards, unrealistic in that this is unlikely to be epidemic for the "F".
I had the gearbox replaced in my RX at 110,000 miles. I drove the RX extremely hard on the interstates commuting from PA to MD for years. I beat it ...it's the ONLY problem that I ever had with the car, and it was MY fault. The rebuilt is running fine, and I will probably take the car to 150,000 if the cosmetics hold up--and they probably will.
The beast comes with 6 yr. / 70,000 mi. for the drivetrain. Given the class of car, the probability that owners are going to frequently push the car to or near the limits, track it, drag it..., I would say the warranty is quite fair.
We bought the cars to drive them hard and have fun. I don't doubt that there will be some undesirable maintenance along the way, but I do love the ride!
On the forum level, a lot of this seems overreactive and, in some regards, unrealistic in that this is unlikely to be epidemic for the "F".
I had the gearbox replaced in my RX at 110,000 miles. I drove the RX extremely hard on the interstates commuting from PA to MD for years. I beat it ...it's the ONLY problem that I ever had with the car, and it was MY fault. The rebuilt is running fine, and I will probably take the car to 150,000 if the cosmetics hold up--and they probably will.
The beast comes with 6 yr. / 70,000 mi. for the drivetrain. Given the class of car, the probability that owners are going to frequently push the car to or near the limits, track it, drag it..., I would say the warranty is quite fair.
We bought the cars to drive them hard and have fun. I don't doubt that there will be some undesirable maintenance along the way, but I do love the ride!
Well put and I agree!
- But the mind boggling issue here is in a sealed trans with ZERO leaks, ZERO dipstick, NEVER claims of overheating and no replacement for factory spec life long fluid; Then opening after failure and finding low fluid as said by factory tech I DO have tons of questions and posses problems, and yes I agree many of us are being very cautious so same doesnt happen so no one is out in an awkward postion..Bc honestly even if were $500 to flush and change fluid I would do as often as required! But it is not recommended and we dont want failures so we are being pro active...
09-12-12, 09:23 AM
#152
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
First....
I never said the tranny was low on fluid, and the tech didn't necessarily say that either. What we do know is that the fluid is dirty...that's it.
I've gotten engine temps to hit 5 bars before, but once it hit 5 bars, I chilled a bit and let it drop down to 4, then eventually 3....then drove it some more...I would say 4 bars I've hit probably half a dozen times. Normally I'm always at 3 bars with oil temp. Now that oil temp i know is for the engine, however, possibly we can use engine oil and trans oil the the same kinda.
But the car has no leaks, and i was never able to check, and the book says you don't. So I suppose that's my fault for listening to the manufacture.
At this point, they're willing to front 50% of the cost of a rebuilt tranny then i'm responsible for the other 50% and also the labor. At this point not much else I'm willing to do. I'm out of warranty, I do not have the time to go look for a low mileage tranny and have some other place put it in and roll the dice that way. Just because the tranny is low mileage doesn't mean it's in good condition.
I've never launched the car per se...how do you launch this thing anyways? Put it in N then drop it to D?
Anyhow, I don't mean to scare anyone, but I do hope that I'm an isolated issue.
There's no second or third...or it's somewhere up there...LOL
I never said the tranny was low on fluid, and the tech didn't necessarily say that either. What we do know is that the fluid is dirty...that's it.
I've gotten engine temps to hit 5 bars before, but once it hit 5 bars, I chilled a bit and let it drop down to 4, then eventually 3....then drove it some more...I would say 4 bars I've hit probably half a dozen times. Normally I'm always at 3 bars with oil temp. Now that oil temp i know is for the engine, however, possibly we can use engine oil and trans oil the the same kinda.
But the car has no leaks, and i was never able to check, and the book says you don't. So I suppose that's my fault for listening to the manufacture.
At this point, they're willing to front 50% of the cost of a rebuilt tranny then i'm responsible for the other 50% and also the labor. At this point not much else I'm willing to do. I'm out of warranty, I do not have the time to go look for a low mileage tranny and have some other place put it in and roll the dice that way. Just because the tranny is low mileage doesn't mean it's in good condition.
I've never launched the car per se...how do you launch this thing anyways? Put it in N then drop it to D?
Anyhow, I don't mean to scare anyone, but I do hope that I'm an isolated issue.
There's no second or third...or it's somewhere up there...LOL
09-12-12, 12:56 PM
#153
Driver
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I'm sorry to hear about the problem. If I were the owner, I would get Lexus to foot as much of the bill as possible--as was done here.
On the forum level, a lot of this seems overreactive and, in some regards, unrealistic in that this is unlikely to be epidemic for the "F".
I had the gearbox replaced in my RX at 110,000 miles. I drove the RX extremely hard on the interstates commuting from PA to MD for years. I beat it ...it's the ONLY problem that I ever had with the car, and it was MY fault. The rebuilt is running fine, and I will probably take the car to 150,000 if the cosmetics hold up--and they probably will.
The beast comes with 6 yr. / 70,000 mi. for the drivetrain. Given the class of car, the probability that owners are going to frequently push the car to or near the limits, track it, drag it..., I would say the warranty is quite fair.
We bought the cars to drive them hard and have fun. I don't doubt that there will be some undesirable maintenance along the way, but I do love the ride!
On the forum level, a lot of this seems overreactive and, in some regards, unrealistic in that this is unlikely to be epidemic for the "F".
I had the gearbox replaced in my RX at 110,000 miles. I drove the RX extremely hard on the interstates commuting from PA to MD for years. I beat it ...it's the ONLY problem that I ever had with the car, and it was MY fault. The rebuilt is running fine, and I will probably take the car to 150,000 if the cosmetics hold up--and they probably will.
The beast comes with 6 yr. / 70,000 mi. for the drivetrain. Given the class of car, the probability that owners are going to frequently push the car to or near the limits, track it, drag it..., I would say the warranty is quite fair.
We bought the cars to drive them hard and have fun. I don't doubt that there will be some undesirable maintenance along the way, but I do love the ride!
09-12-12, 01:02 PM
#154
Lead Lap
First....
I never said the tranny was low on fluid, and the tech didn't necessarily say that either. What we do know is that the fluid is dirty...that's it.
I've gotten engine temps to hit 5 bars before, but once it hit 5 bars, I chilled a bit and let it drop down to 4, then eventually 3....then drove it some more...I would say 4 bars I've hit probably half a dozen times. Normally I'm always at 3 bars with oil temp. Now that oil temp i know is for the engine, however, possibly we can use engine oil and trans oil the the same kinda.
But the car has no leaks, and i was never able to check, and the book says you don't. So I suppose that's my fault for listening to the manufacture.
At this point, they're willing to front 50% of the cost of a rebuilt tranny then i'm responsible for the other 50% and also the labor. At this point not much else I'm willing to do. I'm out of warranty, I do not have the time to go look for a low mileage tranny and have some other place put it in and roll the dice that way. Just because the tranny is low mileage doesn't mean it's in good condition.
I've never launched the car per se...how do you launch this thing anyways? Put it in N then drop it to D?
Anyhow, I don't mean to scare anyone, but I do hope that I'm an isolated issue.
There's no second or third...or it's somewhere up there...LOL
I never said the tranny was low on fluid, and the tech didn't necessarily say that either. What we do know is that the fluid is dirty...that's it.
I've gotten engine temps to hit 5 bars before, but once it hit 5 bars, I chilled a bit and let it drop down to 4, then eventually 3....then drove it some more...I would say 4 bars I've hit probably half a dozen times. Normally I'm always at 3 bars with oil temp. Now that oil temp i know is for the engine, however, possibly we can use engine oil and trans oil the the same kinda.
But the car has no leaks, and i was never able to check, and the book says you don't. So I suppose that's my fault for listening to the manufacture.
At this point, they're willing to front 50% of the cost of a rebuilt tranny then i'm responsible for the other 50% and also the labor. At this point not much else I'm willing to do. I'm out of warranty, I do not have the time to go look for a low mileage tranny and have some other place put it in and roll the dice that way. Just because the tranny is low mileage doesn't mean it's in good condition.
I've never launched the car per se...how do you launch this thing anyways? Put it in N then drop it to D?
Anyhow, I don't mean to scare anyone, but I do hope that I'm an isolated issue.
There's no second or third...or it's somewhere up there...LOL
Oh hmm, sorry I clearly mis read that there was low fluid.
- Interesting Iwonder what the temperature difference is for each bar above the nominal 3 bars our cars run at...Thats interesting Ive hit 4 bars once last year in summer rev-matching and tearing through gears with high HP cats on a fun run..dang five bars is interesting but then again I do not have enough info to say thats high or low or to make any assertion towards...Any one know the temperature of each bar? adn of each above three?
- Sorry not to disect the nature of these posts so much..just my nature I love data
09-12-12, 04:55 PM
#156
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Right now she sits in my garage, dirty as hell after driving for the past 2 weeks without a wash. I want to roll her out to wash her but my garage has an ever so slight slope where it doesn't cause the car to roll forward, but I also can't push it out myself. SUCKS!
09-12-12, 05:07 PM
#158
i jacked up the car earlier today and found no leaks of any kind near the tranny, or the oil cooler. So it looks like it could be a heat problem...who knows. Right now, Lexus can't even tell me when the transmission is coming. There's none in the country and I don't know if anything has been ordered yet. Dealership hasn't told me "the part has been ordered". So...waiting game right now...could take as much as 30-45 days.
Right now she sits in my garage, dirty as hell after driving for the past 2 weeks without a wash. I want to roll her out to wash her but my garage has an ever so slight slope where it doesn't cause the car to roll forward, but I also can't push it out myself. SUCKS!
Right now she sits in my garage, dirty as hell after driving for the past 2 weeks without a wash. I want to roll her out to wash her but my garage has an ever so slight slope where it doesn't cause the car to roll forward, but I also can't push it out myself. SUCKS!
As for the loaner, I am sure that they will provide a loaner once they take possession of your F for repair.
09-12-12, 05:23 PM
#159
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
When I bring in the car to get the service done, they will provide me with a loaner...as of right now, I'm on my own so I just drive my BMW instead...for once the BMW is more reliable. WTF did I just say? BMW and reliable in the same sentence is weird unless BMW is followed by aren't very reliable
09-12-12, 06:55 PM
#160
Tech Info Resource
iTrader: (2)
I've had the oil temp one bar from the top for 30 minutes at a time on the track. Oil temp doesn't have much to do with ATF temp, and there are sensors in the gearbox to measure the ATF temp AND a warning if it goes out of spec on the high end. Not something you'll miss for sure.
To take a sample, jack up the front of the car, put it on stands, remove the transmission undercover, then identify the overflow plug. Clean the area around the overflow plug to ensure no dirt gets in the sample bottle. Loosen the overflow plug with a 5mm hex wrench with your sample bottle directly under the overflow plug - you're going to get fluid very quickly. As soon as you have the bottle 3/4 full, start stuffing the plug back in the hole. Undo all the stuff you had to do to get the sample. Send sample to a lab (like Blackstone) for analysis.
I've had the oil temp one bar from the top for 30 minutes at a time on the track. Oil temp doesn't have much to do with ATF temp, and there are sensors in the gearbox to measure the ATF temp AND a warning if it goes out of spec on the high end. Not something you'll miss for sure.
To take a sample, jack up the front of the car, put it on stands, remove the transmission undercover, then identify the overflow plug. Clean the area around the overflow plug to ensure no dirt gets in the sample bottle. Loosen the overflow plug with a 5mm hex wrench with your sample bottle directly under the overflow plug - you're going to get fluid very quickly. As soon as you have the bottle 3/4 full, start stuffing the plug back in the hole. Undo all the stuff you had to do to get the sample. Send sample to a lab (like Blackstone) for analysis.
Here's the scoop on the oil temperature gauge:
To take a sample, jack up the front of the car, put it on stands, remove the transmission undercover, then identify the overflow plug. Clean the area around the overflow plug to ensure no dirt gets in the sample bottle. Loosen the overflow plug with a 5mm hex wrench with your sample bottle directly under the overflow plug - you're going to get fluid very quickly. As soon as you have the bottle 3/4 full, start stuffing the plug back in the hole. Undo all the stuff you had to do to get the sample. Send sample to a lab (like Blackstone) for analysis.
I've had the oil temp one bar from the top for 30 minutes at a time on the track. Oil temp doesn't have much to do with ATF temp, and there are sensors in the gearbox to measure the ATF temp AND a warning if it goes out of spec on the high end. Not something you'll miss for sure.
To take a sample, jack up the front of the car, put it on stands, remove the transmission undercover, then identify the overflow plug. Clean the area around the overflow plug to ensure no dirt gets in the sample bottle. Loosen the overflow plug with a 5mm hex wrench with your sample bottle directly under the overflow plug - you're going to get fluid very quickly. As soon as you have the bottle 3/4 full, start stuffing the plug back in the hole. Undo all the stuff you had to do to get the sample. Send sample to a lab (like Blackstone) for analysis.
Here's the scoop on the oil temperature gauge:
Last edited by lobuxracer; 09-12-12 at 07:21 PM. Reason: weird duplication issue
09-12-12, 07:18 PM
#161
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
I've never abused the car to the point where the AT oil light has come on. And the one time it was on 5 bars, I backed off and in about 3-5 minutes, it dropped to 4 bars...But i drove it on 4 bars for probably 15-20 mins
09-12-12, 07:23 PM
#162
Tech Info Resource
iTrader: (2)
I routinely see the #5 indicator lit at the track. Every session. It doesn't impact the gearbox at all.
09-13-12, 12:19 PM
#164