Hello

I bought my 2004 LS430 with 66K miles about a month ago. I noticed some hesitation and "jerkyness" with the transmission. I tried the battery trick and it seemed to fix it.

This morning, I took the car out and as i was going into second gear it seemed to slip and then kicked in......It did it for the first time but i still notice some hesitation.

Any ideas? Suggestions....I was thinking maybe the tranny needs to be reprogramed with that TSB for transmissions...

 

I have never heard of a tranny problem of any real repairs since on this forum for 2 1/2 years. Good luck my friend! Probably a dealer maybe even Toyota dealer is cheaper time.

 

How fast were you accelerating? The TSB to reprogram the shift point is not a fix-all, it reprograms the transmission to shift a little quicker in low gear and then improves the response time slightly. Don't think makes the vehicle any quicker to 60 mph though.

If you were slow accelerating and it slipped, then that's probably a different problem. Anyway, more info. would help the people here to help you.

 

I was doing less than 10mph.....I had just pulled out of my driveway......It took a while to shift.......I do notice the transmission to be jerky...but only in very low speeds

 

Try the shift pattern TSB thats out there.....but otherwise this is how the LS transmission is. Sometimes you get that hesitation on throttle tip-in. Totally normal

 

Id have to disagree. The symptoms he described certainly don't sound normal to me.

 

Any kind of slipping is not normal.

 

maybe it wasnt slipping he was noticing. In my LS....it hesitates to shift sometimes on throttle tip-in. Ive checked my tranny at 3 dealers and they said its normal. I drove 35k miles since that point and there is no change in the tranny performance.......maybe this case could be different

 

Mines seems to at funny only going over big speed bumps , when I go over them slow and smooth then I hit the gas it seams like its in a lower gear and will take off fast.

 

Are most of these shifting characteristics common only with the 04-06 LS430s? I don't seem to have heard any transmission issues at all with the 1st series LS430 (01-03).

 

first have you checked the fluid level in the trans? start with that, now, if the fluid lucks burned and smells burned, your trans is slipping. if the fluid looks good, you could be having computer problems. I would also think your problem sounds like valve body problems.

 

The '04-'06 6-speed was a sealed trans. with WS fluid that supposedly never needs changing. So, there is no dipstick to check fluid. I guess the only warning is when the transmission light comes on.

It's hard to determine what is hesitation and what is normal. Someone coming from say a BMW, everything else out there will probably feel like hesitation. If you come from driving a '90 Caravan, then everything seems pretty responsive. What's hesitation to one person, might seem perfectly normal to another.

The TSB fix that fixed my problem was that I would slow down to about 5-10 mph or so approaching say a traffic merge and then when I gun the gas, it would not immediately downshift and accelerate but would lag. Causing to me a serious safety condition. If I came to a full stop and then gased it, the car accelerated fine, it was the slow and then quick up that caused it. After I got the TSB done, it now accelerates fine, but be warned, you'll see a nice 1 mpg or so drop in fuel efficiency, which for me is better than possibly getting hit because you've lagged.

 

I have noticed when my car is cold and my first drive is a half block and then turn down a small hill and my speed is never over 15 mph,, the tranny usually seems to get confused when it is time to shift,, does it most every time,, when it gets warmed up no issues,

Derry

 

My 2005 Ultra does the same thing for the first 5 miles till it gets warm. Do you think that a trans fluid change will make a difference?

 

My 1998 LS400 did this occasionally only at low speed and only on a cold engine. The car was sold shortly after so im not sure what happened to it but it is annoying because your always expecting it to happen