LS 460 Acceleration Problems
 

I have a 2007 LS 460 with about 50,000 miles. Some 18 months ago, at about 35,000 miles,right after a service, I began to experience hesitation/lack of power when accelerating from a stop. Lexus fixed this by doing a software update to the transmission.

All was well till last month, when again right after a service, the car hesitated and totally lacked power , most noticable from a rolling stop. Revs would very gradually climb to 5,000, with foot flat on accelerator, yet car barely moving. Once speed built up to highway speeds, car reacted normally. Took it back to Park Place Lexus who held the car for 10 days and did a major job changing the cylindar head, I think per L-SB-0033-08.

A month later, the hesitation/lack of power is even worse then before! I suspect the issue is the transmission, and the big surgery on the engine done last month was not required. After nearly being hit trying to merge with traffic today, the vehicle is back at the dealership, and I took their head tech for a drive. He experienced the problem, but did not venture a solution. He told me they take instructions on what to do directly from Lexus.

Can any members share some light on this problem. I find it very strange that the problem each time manifested itself right after a routine service.

That's exactly what my bros GS300 did. he was flooring it and the rpms were cranking but car went slower, and slower, and....(up a hill)
I think the prob was O2 sensors, and MAF
(still has startin issues

Try this at the dealer, you should still be under power train warranty:

This is what he said he had done already.

Snow mode?

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts. Your post is very interesting to me.

I also have a 2007 LS460. I bought mine new in the Fall of '07 from Sewell in Dallas. My car has about 28,000 miles on it now - cars last a long time for me. I get the oil changed once a year, regardless of the mileage. Because of my campaign to get Lexus and the local dealers to recognize that there was a simple fix for the the "Wind Noise" problem that many LS460/LS600 owners experienced, I was in contact with Sewell and Park Place many times trying to get them to provide help to the people who were having that awful problem. They were so nonchalant about it that I eventually decided that I would not take my car to either dealership ever again. No angry words were ever spoken and my dealings were always pleasant, just never productive. So, for the past four years I've been having my car serviced at an independent shop that only services Lexus automobiles. It is located about two miles from Park Place Lexus.

My car has exhibited some odd performance on several occasions during the past few years. It seems to sort of loose power and gives me the feeling that it is going to leave me stranded. When this happens I suspect bad fuel. This is a low speed effect and seems to go away after the car gets up to 40 or 50 MPH. This last for a few hundred miles and then clears up and is gone for an extended period. I never correlated this to getting it serviced because that didn't come to mind and I didn't pay any attention to the tach when it occurred.

However, the last time this occurred, about a year ago, it began right after I had my oil changed and it crossed my mind that something had been done during the service work that caused this. Just when it was getting so bad that I thought I would be forced to seek some sort of remedy it just cleared up, like it always had in the past, and it continues to run perfectly. I think it is a real stretch to believe that this is related to the oil change but I assure you I will be paying attention when I get my oil changed in a couple of months.

The only work that has been done on my car by the dealers or independents, except for oil change and tire rotation, is the Front Door Glass change, Fuel Rail recall, and Valve Spring recall.

After thinking about this some more, I think a better explanation for the relation of the "acceleration problem" and service events is that the Adaptive Transmission is reset during service if the car battery is disconnected. Resetting the transmission electronics starts the "learning" process over. Although this condition, the uncertain acceleration, is undesirable, it is probably normal as my car has gotten through this several times without going to the dealership and continues to perform very well - gas mileage is very good and acceleration and shifting seems perfect. Driving habits and conditions may influence how long the learning process takes. Driving for me is usually 20 mile trips with smooth acceleration and smooth stops and my car seems to get over the undesirable performance period in less than 200 miles of driving.

There is a TSB that addresses updating the Transmission Control Module firmware however it did not apply to my car.

Here is a link to the TSB if you want to see if it applies to yours: http://www.lambros.net/LexusTechInfo...L-TC009-07.pdf

I wouldnt say that my car hesitates as much as I get this significant surge in power at about 4k rpm. Anyone else feel this serge ? It feels a bit non linear to be designed that way unless we are talking about one of the older Vtech motors

Thanks for the input.
The car has now been at Park Place Lexus for a week and the latest news is that they are still sorting out what to do with Lexus HQ. They still think its an issue with the cylinder heads, and not the transmission, even though they performed the major cylinder head TSB a month ago. I will keep you posted.

my only assumptions of the 8 speed transmission is that it wonders gears to much but when i punch it it goes but there is a hesitation but that is the tranny searching for the gears but nothing that has left me in a intersection in snail mode. I wonder if the isf has this problem.

I do notice it searching for gears when you floor it. What i end up doing is just putting it in manual mode and choose the gear for it. it's generally 2nd or 3rd it needs to drop down to. That's only if i need all the power to the ground.

well i hope i dont have this problem but if i do dealer is like 10-20 minutes up the street.

This was my past experience with my vehicle that I no longer have. I now own a 2010 Sport LS460.
Have Lexus check and confirm. Hope this helps.

Nov 11, 2010 (3:23 pm)

One month ago I had the recall for my 08 LS 460 completed on this vehicle that I enjoyed as a lease for three years. A few days later I had to drive the vehicle 1500 miles each way. Late the first day the vehicle started hesitating, couldn't accelerate past 50 mph, almost involved in accidents on highway due to lack of power, or it would not go any faster, loud noise from engine, without panel notification. When I arrived at my destination I immediately brought it to a Lexus dealer and was told " the recall parts were defective and we have to replace the left lifter that's bleeding." They had the car for three days.
The Lexus dealership broke the radiator overflow tab and fixed it with " superglue/epoxy but you will need a new radiator when you return home." In SHOCK I stated " A 72 K Lexus repaired with super glue?? That's unacceptable and I will complain with an investigation. Will my children and I be safe traveling back 1500 miles?" I was assured "Yes".

Needless to say the second day while I was driving on the highway where there was construction and no breakdown lane the engine overheated, panel warnings on, smoke. We jumped out of the vehicle called Lexus immediately and when we lifted the hood antifreeze was all over the engine and the hose was broken sticking up in the air. We were stranded for three hours and the vehicle was towed to the nearest dealership 50 miles where it still sits after 3 weeks and I'm still responsible for this lease that expired 2 weeks ago without any vehicle. I'm VERY thankful my children and I are safe from this ordeal. I wanted everyone to be aware of these very dangerous repairs.

I have the exact same issue on my 2009; although i didn't have any recall....looks like maybe they didn't fix the problem. i have taken it to the dealership and they say they have never heard of any acceleration problems :( did you get anywhere with them?

Car has been at dealership going on three weeks. They say that Lexus HQ is telling them what to do. There is a vehicle elsewhere in the USA with a similar history, and they were waiting for outcome of the fix to that vehicle. The latest is that once again they are going to redo the cylinder heads (done about a month ago), but this time replace all the parts. I am deeply concerned as this is a very dangerous issue which can cause a serious accident.