Just a guess, but I don't think it would -- given that it's a change with the low-speed shifting behavior.

 

Two same trips to Orlando from Nj, and i saw no gain or loss. For me, it's been the same.

 

I am guessing that there would be no difference on long trips as it is related to lower gears. Once you are floating in the 6th gear none of the shifting matters. It would be gard to notice difference on local driving because as it is mileage is so low.

 

That's true actually, final gear didn't change and.once you get.moving on the LS it.just.floats along. I would say my local numbers have been.about the same. I get (per trip computer) 18.3 when doing mostly local trips, but my locals are not stop-n-go traffic.

 

Hi All,
I just tried to have this update done at my dealer on my new-to-me '04 LS 430 w/92k. I gave them the tsb number and explained the symptoms. They said they could not replicate the problem (I have noticed it) and strongly advised against updating the ECM at this mileage and age. The shop foreman said it was the worst thing you could do to make a change like that at this point in the car's life. Sounds like nonsense to me. They also didn't want to be responsible if the ECM went during the upgrade. Then they said if I really wanted them to do it they would charge $285. I mentioned other people being charged half that to no avail. I don't know if they just wanted to go home because it was Friday or what. Not sure what I'll do, obviously you can adjust your driving to deal with it as the car has been driven 92k miles as is. Maybe I'll try a different dealer? Or just deal with it.

 

Perfect example of nonsense!
What damage did they expect?
Many (presumably almost all that were covered) LS430s had this TSB applied, and I think that someone on this forum would know if it had caused any problems.
You may want to ride with them when they try to replicate the problem, or perhaps demonstrate it to them. previous posters have mentioned that it is not easy to show.
If that doesn't work, contact someone higher in the chain of command at Lexus and let them know that you will post the results on this forum.
Just my opinion - they are justified in charging some fee since the warranty is over, but $285 is robbery for a 1.3 hr re-programming.
N.B. 1.3 hr is a direct quote from the TSB

 

I went to my dealer and they knew exactly the case and went to it without question and at the time for me, it fell under some EPA emissions thing and i got it done for $0.

 

I mentioned the 1.3 hours and they said that was what they can charge Lexus for warranty work but for non-warranty work they charge what Alldata says to and that's how they came up with $285. They were quite certain I should NOT be applying this fix despite my best arguments. This was at Ira Lexus in Danvers, MA, which is where I bought the car. I suppose I could try Lexus of Watertown or Herb Chambers. Anyone know the best dealer in the Boston area?

 

They are reflashing/programming the ECU, so i guess there COULD be chance for damage. I doubt it though...

 

Mine is 05 with 35k miles on and called the Lexus Corp and they suggested me to bring the car in for proper diagnosis since my VIN number, according to information available to him, does not indicate that it is effected. He said, that is the only way to find out. .. B.S....Not gonna bring it in for whatever they are gonna charge me for....
Just talked to one of the service persons in NorCal dealer and he informed me that the TC006-04 is related to vehicles with VIN number lower than 5005700.
However he will update the software for $150 if I want to.

 

Well, the lowest I can get so far is $199. It is rated at 2 hours for the re-flash and apparently it takes about that long for the ECU to be reprogrammed. Anyway, I think I will have it done next week. The service adviser mentioned that there were several updates available for the car but was not specific on what the others would be and said that the car needed to be hooked up to their computer to determine what was upgradable. I will update when I have it done next week.

 

Just a quick update:

No computer updates are available according to the dealer. This surprised me as there was never any mention of this in the cars extensive dealer service history but maybe it is not documented. Or maybe it was done when the car was reconditioned before the sale to me. He mentioned that the symptoms of an intermittent abrupt downshift from 2nd to 1st might be because of a dirty throttle body. So, I am having them remove and de-carb the TB it as we speak. I will update in a few hours. I am thinking what I notice is just the way the transmission is programmed to shift. I never had any delay or weird shift when accelerating or turning as others mentioned. Funny, my transmission on my LS400 acted the same way sometimes.

 

Did you take the specific TSB number to them? Did they say the upgrade had already been done?

You'd be amazed how clueless many service advisors are, it's one of those jobs that has a really high turnover rate. Also, LS models are their lowest volume model, so they're usually pretty clueless.

I remember I had a Lexus service advisor tell me there was absolutely no way you could disable the Auto tilt steering, he even "double checked" and came back with the same answer. I went to a different service advisor at the same dealership, and it was no problem.

 

I gave them the TSIB number and after diagnosis and they showed me a printout. According to the service adviser, they connect my ECU to their system, which connects to Lexus's database / server and it is checked for any updates. Honestly, the printout they showed me did not make a lot of sense and it had a ton of columns listing ABS, AC, and all kinds of stuff. It just noted as being up-to-date in every area. They acknowledged the cars VIN falls within the update parameters but no software update was needed according to the computer. It must have already been done.

Mine never did this or any weird shifting when turning. Just sometimes it would seem to kind of abruptly downshift from 2nd to 1st when slowing down. Again, only under certain conditions.

Honestly, the service adviser seemed pretty knowledgeable. The throttle body cleaning was really the only thing I have not done so I went ahead and had them do it. Have not had a chance to drive it properly yet but I will post back tonight.

 

The tsb is not for an abrupt downshift but for a lag in downshifting to accelerate at low speed. I don't think this would have solved your problem.