Sometimes the transmission in my 2001 gs300 will hang between 2nd and 3rd gear and then slam into gear. This only happens occasionally. Has anyone else had this problem. The dealer is puzzled. Thanks for any help.

 

i have the same problem on my car, i also drive a 2001 gs 300

 

I've noticed it recently and I only have 350 miles on mine. The car had been driven about 20 miles, so it wasn't cold. I don't know what it's problem is.

 

I believe all GS's 98 and up has that slight hesitation when acceleration. I don't know yet of anyone finding a solution.

 

There is no "slight" hesitation to it. It has a delay in shifting then it SLAMS into gear.

 

Hmm, if its not the hestitation that every on here knows about then I'm sorry I don't have an answer. Usually people feel an "oomph" during the acceleration. But it sounds like your problems is more serious than that.

 

I don't know all the details but many IS 300's which use the same tranny are experiencing this problem. Lexus issued a service bulliten which declares an upgrade to the ECU is needed. They flash the chip with a new program and most have said the problem goes away after this. :eek:

 

The tranny in the GS400 is different than the one in the IS300..(totally different)...the one in the GS400 is LITERALLY bullet proof!....the one in the IS is not and the ECU is different because the GS revs lower because it's an 8cyl and the IS is a 6cyl

Just pointing that out...don't want anyone going to the dealer and telling them that you want a tranny update. They'll look at you like you should be driving an ECHO...

 

I have noticed that my transmission isnt the smoothest, although I am not sure that it "slams" as you describe. Rather, when accelerating around town, not too fast, there is alot more hesitation in shifting than I would expect for a 40,000 car. I only have 5000 miles. Been wondering whether or not I should complain to the dealer or at least, drive other GSs to see if my car is any different. But I am intrigued by your post and wonder if there really is something wrong.

Please keep us posted on you and your dealer end up doing.

 

Disconnect your battery for 5 minutes, then drive your car. May be just the learned memory values in your engine ecu are out of wack. Try it! You'll see!

This problem is in no way related to the IS300 shifting problems!

 

I had the same problem with my 1999 GS300. I was a major concern. I upgraded to the GS400. I think should be a great concern. Warrantee for drivetrain is seventy five thousand miles. You should have the dealership fix this problem

 

I have a 2001 GS300 with 7000 miles. I've had the hesitation problems and now the 2nd to 3rd shiffting. I just picked up my car 4 days ago from a week-long stint at the dealer who couldn't duplicate the problem. It's the wife's car and I drove it to work yesterday (11mi one way) and had it happen four times. I even tried to duplicate it manually and almost got hit at a 4-way stumbling through the intersection with the traction light flashing. We are working as best we can with the dealer and the 800 number, but are at wits end. They say it's the way we drive and it's all electronically controlled and their are no error codes. If reseting the ECU does the trick, why cant the dealer get it done! We are preparing for arbritration but would just like the problem resolved!! Would appreciate any help or specfics on how I can reset the ECU myself for my particular model.

Thanks!!!!!!!

 

I reset the ECU by disconnecting the ground battery cable for about 5 minutes. Reconnect the battery cable and drive the car like you normally would. I did this about 3500 miles ago and I have not had the problem since, but I am still keeping a check on the situation.

 

I have a 01 GS300 with 2200 miles and just had the same problem for the sudden jurk feeling while driving. My wife normally drive the car but I'll continue to monitor it to see if this repeats.

 

I disconnected the battery before and apparently i don't think that's the way they flash the ecu since the problem still occured. I had a Lexus tech test drive with me and obviously i wasn't able to reproduce the jerk. Yes, they did have a svc bulletin for the IS but NOT for the GS3. I told them to do the same procedure as they did for the IS and they said they won't do it.....Well..the question is should we wait or should we complain to Lexus hq?