About a month ago I bought a new 2002 GS300 (sportdesign version). My previous cars had been a Camry SE (95) and a Supra (85). I was very happy with my sporty Toyotas. Decided to treat myself to a sporty Lexus. I have a very odd problem. The car has a tendency to shift up to too high a gear in city driving, so that when I go around a corner, coming out at 5-15 mph and try to accelerate, the car stays in 3rd gear. I’ve also noticed it cruising at 20 mph in 4th gear! Needless to say, the car has no pep whatsoever under those circumstances. A couple of times I’ve nearly gotten myself in trouble when I expected the car to accelerate and it didn’t. I can, of course, get it to downshift if I floor it, but that seems way more aggressive than necessary for the circumstance. Also it drives fine when I drive it in manual mode and shift for it. The longer I’ve had this car the worse the problem has gotten.

I’ve taken the car to the dealer (in Atlanta) twice. They say “they all do that.” I doubt this. Could you folks help me with this problem? Is there something electronic that isn’t set right, or that can easily be reset? I’m grateful for any suggestions. Linda

 

Maybe someone took it on a test dive and really screwed up the ECU or maybe it was a factory "bug". Try disconnecting the battery for a few minutes and hit the brake pedal to purge any remaining electrons in the system. Then reconnect the battery and try driving again. That's the only thing I can think of, I'm not an expert on this by any stretch of the imagination. This is certainly a strange problem. Maybe someone else can help you to a greater extent. I hope it gets resolved.

By the way, welcome to CL, I hope you stick around and enjoy your new Lexus.

 

for a few he means 10-20 minutes

 

A/L, what my cohorts are desrcibing is "resetting the ECU" which in effect, makes the car drive as it did when it rolled off the line.

The GS ECU has the ability to 'learn' your driving habits, so if you drive it gingerly a majority of the time, the ECU will learn to decrease the throttle resposne so as to not snap your neck on low throttle starts.

Resetting the ECU is accomplished in 1 of 2 ways. Pulling one of the battery cables off for (no proof yet) at least 10-15 minutes, or, pulling the ECU fuse in the fuse box under the hood for the same amount of time; I believe it is #34.

Try this first, and let us know if the zippy throttle response you desire returns.

Other possibilities to check:

bad gas (no jokes please)
slow leak in one or more tires
sticky parking brake / brakes

Good Luck, and Welcome again to ClubLexus.

 

QUOTE:
"bad gas (no jokes please)
slow leak in one or more tires
sticky parking brake / brakes "



aww man dex!!! I was going to!!! anyone for 100 octane??

Actually, i do think that what our friend is experiencing is something I have experienced before... The GS drives differently that a lot of other cars I have driven. Mine used to go through all the gears... and end up on 5th gear at 35 37 or 40 mph... 2nd gear would engage at around 5-10 mph.. this was with my "conservative driving"... With my car now, to get it to downshift (go to 4th or 3 or even 2nd gear to get better acceleration) I only have to depress the pedal about an inch (each) to get that response. The car is extremely responsive!!! I guess it depends on the way you drive it.
It takes some getting used to. I actually thought my car was missing the 5th gear at one point because i didnt hear a shift after 35mph. but no... it was normal... after the ecu got used to my driving( or after i got used to the ecu) , it shifted at a higher speed..

~manny

 

First of all, congrats from a fellow Atlantan.

That IS normal because the car will learn the way you drive, and if you generally drive sedately, the car will stay in high gears improving fuel economy and lessening noise.

When you say manual mode, you mean e-shifting with the wheel buttons? I shift that way MOST of the time now. And I've noticed because I tend to keep the rpms up that when the car is in Drive (not e-shift) it tends to keep in a lower gear (good) now that it's learned my evil driving habits.



They're right.

Instead of disconnecting the battery, I recommend the alternative way of resetting the ECU which is pulling the fuse (in fuse box on right hand side of car under hood) for just a few minutes and then putting it back in. That way you don't lose radio presets, seat memories, etc.

Then drive it like a madwoman for a week!

Also, leave it in power mode ALL the time, and even if you don't e-shift all the time, if you can, try to e-shift it into M-4 anyway so it doesn't get into fifth.

I guess because I have the V8 I don't notice any problems with a lack of grunt when it's in 3rd

 

I agree, I've had the same instance. I thought I needed to change something in order to fix the slow response. But, after driving for a little more than 2500 miles in e-shift and harder than normal driving, it's gotten alot better. Ride is very smooth and responds to my liking.

I wouldn't rule this out. I was the only driver to my car (picked it up from the docks myself), so I didn't have this possibility. Wouldn't hurt to reset the ECU and start over again.

Welcome to CL, the happiness begins from now.

 

To amplify just a little on bitkahuna's reply (he whom I sometimes address as sensei-bit, for his broad knowledge and reasoned, well phrased replies............is it a british thing?): all mfgrs struggle with fuel economy issues these days, and attempt to generate numbers that are as high as possible primarily to avoid CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) fines.

One of the strategies is to program the engine/transmission to upshift earlier with light throttle settings than the owner might desire. (Even manual transmission cars can be so affected. The Corvette's manual trans will force a shift from 1st to 4th gear when the car is being driven gently.) Since Lexus transmissions "learn" driving habits, most of us end up with a car that upshifts even quicker (and downshifts less so) than when first purchased, since most driving is of the less aggressive, "grocery getting" nature.

For newer GS3/older GS4s, the answer is e-shifting or gate shifting. For older GS3/GS430s, we have to make do with gate shifting. Of course, resetting the ECU is also effective, but one must do that every few weeks or the "problem" recurs.

Congratulations on your SportDesign!!!

 

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll try resetting the ECU and see what happens. I've always thought of myself as an aggressive driver (at least that's what my passengers say). Hard to drive like a madwoman in Atlanta traffic, though. I'll have to try harder. Linda

 

another suggestion might to keep it in power mode on the ECT. that is designed for more aggressive driving. that way it is faster to kick down when prompted with the gas pedal. the ECU reset will definitely help. oh and welcome to the club. atlanta is rivaling SoCal as far as the number of GS owners now. must be the chattahoochee.


Doc

 

Automatics stay in the lowest gear possible when you are casually driving. Any automatic. To maximize fuel efficiency, keep noise down etc. That is why e-shift is great. SO at 20mph you can keep in in 2nd gear if you want to if your cruising instead of putting it in D and letting the car put in a higher gear.

We'd love to see the sportdesign in our next meet July 13th (check the SE meetings forum)

Welcome to Clublexus fellow Atlantian!!!!

 

Think you mean 'highest' gear.

 

I was experiencing the same issues with my GS300, and the ECU reset did the trick. It had gotten to the point where I almost got in an accident a couple of times because it didn't down shift or engage the throttle like I would have expected. I used the ECU B fuse method, went for about 10 miles of aggressive driving and could immediately tell the difference. At first it almost seemed worse until I got on it a few times, but it continued to get better today the more I drove it.

As expected I lost the clock setting, radio presets, seat memory, steering wheel position and climate control settings. Just as DaveGS4 promised me, I did not lose my HomeLink settings.

 

You guys are brilliant!! I did as suggested and removed the fuse for the ECU (it IS #34). Left it out for 30 minutes or so before putting it back. And I have a totally new car! Almost all its doggy habits have been forgotten without suffering any other memory lapses. I've also developed a fondness for using the e-shift, which of course gives me much more control when accelerating.

Here's where the "almost" comes in. When I accelerate in the M mode all seems just like a manual transmission (except for the lack of a clutch of course) except that in the middle of third gear it seems to shift up (rpms go down) without my doing anything and without actually shifting up to fourth. Any ideas here?

Thanks again for your diagnostic skills. You all are considerably better than the guys at the dealership. Linda

 

Even though you're in M3, you're probably feeling the shift from 2nd to 3rd. As you probably know, the M number means the max gear it will go up to, not the gear you're actually in.