I had the dealer do a transmission flush late last summer/early fall on our GS430. At that time, there were no problems with the car, it was more just for my own piece of mind since it had not been done before.

After I got the car back, we had noticed that on occasion the car would shift from first to second pretty hard.

By the time December rolled around it was doing it much more frequently and had to be addressed. I took it back to the dealer to find out why it was shifting so hard from first gear since the transmission flush. They ended up putting in 1/2 quart of transmission fluid because it was low.

Everything seemed to be going ok until yesterday. We get in the car to take it up to the store and the transmission is shifting very hard form 1st to 2nd again. I drive very easy in all my cars, but for some reason the GS shifts horribly at times.

Can anyone shed some light on this issue? Is it likely that my fluid level is low again? This would leave me to believe I have some sort of leak then. I never see any fluids on the garage floor, so thats why I question that this may be it...unless it is leaking internally to somewhere else. Is it likely that my transmission is damaged since the first incident?


Thanks in advance!

 

This afternoon I went out and checked the tranny fluid level. Car was cold and not driven today. The fluid level measured way above the cold mark, and even above the hot level. So when I took the car back into the dealer last time who said the fluid level was low, seems to have now filled it up way to much. What throws me off is how the car seemed to shift better for the past month or so up until yesterday. Anybody have any ideas here? Not sure if the extremely high reading on the filler stick is a problem or if there is something else going on causing the rough/hard shifts from 1st to 2nd.

Any advice?

 

I'm not sure if we are experiencing the same problem, but ever since it has been cold out when I first start driving my car it hesitates to shift into 2nd gear. It will rev up until around 3000 RPM, and then finally shift pretty hard. This has only been happening on very cold days, and after the first couple of shifts, the car seems to be warmed up and works without any further problems.

 

pretty sure i had your problem. if you ask me its your shift soleniod going bad. happend to my car.. took forever but my mechanic finally found out that was it. flushed it like 2 time and didnt fix the prob. so i dont think its the flush that did it. it'll eventually trigger the check engine. mine was working on and off. now its completely dead. especially for me. the higher the rpms go the harder you'll fell a kick. (rough shift) hope this helps mine was the shift soleniod C

 

I am going to try and get in to the dealer tomorrow. It does seem to be more of an issue while the car is cold for some reason. I just find it ironic that I start having problems after the tranny flush. How much was the transmission solenoid assembly? Thanks!

 

too much fluid could mess things up aswell..

def take it back and have them mess with it until you get it solved since you got work done there already

 

Same problem here.

 

Hoping to get this taken care of tomorrow, once and for all. On another note, what will having too much tranny fluid do? Now I am a bit concerned since it has been too full for the past month.

 

Please keep us updated on the actual problem and what they did to resolve it.

 

Took the car to the dealer today. Of course they couldn't duplicate the problem. I seem to notice it when the car is cold. The transmission was filled to the correct level, I just didn't check it with the car running was why it was so far above the HOT level indicator on the dipstick they said. I will be bringing it back to them Thursday night, leaving it there and then they will look at it again first thing Friday morning so that the car is cold when the test it.

 

me too.... I've been led to believe this is normal??

 

definitely keep us posted. this'll be a good preventative maintenance item to watch out for me this spring/summer.

 

Yeah, I just thought it was just being sluggish because of the cold weather, but if you find a fix I would be happy to know about it.

 

number one rule of auto transmissions, always check the fluid level with the car running.


number 2, more fluid than needed can cause harder shifting. Also, did they change the filter when changing/refilling the tranny fluid?

number 3, if you take note of the person who had to replace a shift solenoid, the problem is NOT easily duplicable. Bring the car to the shop and tell them you want them to test the shift solenoids. The car's not young anymore, electronics will fail.

(yes, that is my way of hinting that it is either the tranny filter, shift solenoid, or both)