My wife called me last Wednesday and said her transmission was acting up big time. I drove over to her hospital and swapped car's with her so I could bring it back to my shop. Sure enough, it has a problem. A very pronounced thunk after you first take off from a dead stop. Slowing down and when you hit about 18 mph it slams into the next gear, going into 6th is not the usual butter smooth either.
I hooked up my TS and I had 1 code, P0756. That is a shift solenoid B/S2 problem code. I performed the diagnostic procedures that Lexus states in the FSM. Everything checked out fine. Not fine for me though...
I am extremely busy at my shop and really don't have time to mess with this. I decide to make an appointment at my local dealer to have them diagnose it further. When I got there the lead tech and I went for a quick drive so he would know exactly what my concerns are. He felt it for sure. They called later in the morning to let me know they have good news and bad news. Oh ****, here we go I thought.
She said the good news is that we found your problem and Lexus is picking up the tab. Bad news is it will take about 3 to 5 days.
Basically the ECU is defective and causing this condition. They advised me that Lexus approved for them to replace it under warranty. She said getting the part would be a little more difficult as they do not stockpile ECU's. She called me on Friday to let me know it's coming in from California and the car will be ready this Tuesday.
Now, why are they picking up the tab on a 2006 LS with 142K miles on it? I have no clue. I have been in this business long enough to know to not ask too many questions in this situation, at least not at this stage. I will on Tuesday, that's for sure. I can't find anything that supports this as being something of any known problem on this car. It has to be though. This has to be falling into the category of a good will gesture on Lexus's end for a reason.
Can you imagine my shock when she advised me of this? This is easily close to a $2500.00 to 3K repair bill.
I figured you guys would find this interesting. I apologize for rambling on so much...LOL

 

"Dealer warranty" on a 10+ year old LS? The dealer didn't decide that on its own. Must be Lexus corporate ... too much money involved (both ECU part & labor) to be a dealer goodwill gesture. Good for you.

 

I don't believe I stated that the dealer warrantied or did the goodwill. Although the dealer can do goodwill repairs. Lexus allows each dealer a certain dollar amount each month to use. That figure is determined by the performance of the dealer's service dept. Such as CSI scores, dollar amount in the service dept, size of the dealer.
My dealer contacted Lexus Corp and requested assistance with this repair. I know several people in the parts and service dept that I will talk to and get the full scoop. I worked for Toyota for over 15 years and still have my resources.

 

Like my great grand dad always said "Even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in a while"...

 

possibly they extended the warranty on power-train. Toyota has been extending warranties on alot of the older cars for weird complaints.

 

That is very interesting. I'm looking forward to your update on this. Are you the original owner, or did you buy this car used? Do you think it matters either way?

 

This is not good news; glad it's being covered.

I had to swap the ecu on a 98 LS400 due to blown capacitors last year and it fixed multiple issues like tach and shifting. Caps were easy to do. However, it's sad that it sounds like ECU's are still a problem for Lexus. Or is this an isolated issue?

 

Got the car back yesterday. I discovered that Lexus has extended the warranty on some certain components from the unintended acceleration debacle. 10 year/150K. The ECU, throttle body assembly and it's related components. The cruise control switch and some other items that I can't remember exactly. He told me that mine is only the 4th one that they have had to replace the ECU. They have 2 dealers in Atlanta so they see a boat load of the Lexus cars in Atlanta.
Free repair, full tank of gas and complete detail.

 

Found it. I forgot all about this.

 

Is it shifting smoother now?

 

It is shifting exactly the same as it was before the ECU failed. Smooth as butter.

 

Glad this was an easy fix. Interesting about the ECU, wonder what caused it to fail.

 

Capacitors.... Wonder if our former toyota tech from Japan knows.. Hes the one that helped the capacitor effort on the previous gen.

 

This campaign ends 08/07/16. You just made it and are very lucky.

 

Yes, that was Yamae.