Tranny Lag?
Thread Starter
Lexus Champion
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,124
Likes: 0
From: Massachusetts
Tranny Lag?
When I start my car in the morning, the engine obviously is slightly cold. When I leave the house, and make the first couple turns with the car it seems like the transmission lags. Is this normal for the a 2000 Gs300 transmission to be doing this? Anyone else feel this in there cars? I did a search but nothing really related to this specific problem. Hmmmmm....
Thread Starter
Lexus Champion
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,124
Likes: 0
From: Massachusetts
Ya that sounds like where I should start huh. It is just weird you would think a Lexus would have a nice tigh shifting tranny but then again most cars have at least one flaw.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,250
Likes: 1
From: Georgia
Well, in Lexus' defense....they were only really concerned with a "luxury" shifting tranny. They didn't design it to shift fast and positive. Those kind of trannies are more harsh for everyday driving.
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What you're describing is NORMAL. When you drive off and the tranny and engine oils haven't warmed up, the tranny stays in 2nd to higher rpms than normal even at very modest throttle. You might notice kind of a jerky shift 2nd/3rd. Again this is NORMAL. If you want it to go away, just drive it for a bit or let your car warm up longer before starting out.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,474
Likes: 2
From: Tennessee
This is normal with almost every modern-day car including the GS. The car's ECU forces the transmission to wait until higher RPM before shifting in order to warm the car up faster and get things lubed up.
As stated, if this bothers you then let the car warm up for a couple of minutes. But again, it's not harmful at all, it's actually good for it and 100% intentional- a built-in feature found in almost all modern-day automatic transmission cars. Just some cars make it more noticable than others!
As stated, if this bothers you then let the car warm up for a couple of minutes. But again, it's not harmful at all, it's actually good for it and 100% intentional- a built-in feature found in almost all modern-day automatic transmission cars. Just some cars make it more noticable than others!
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: New Jersey
Hello fellow GS owners... I've a 99' GS4 w/103k mi. Bought it used last July w/89k mi. So far the car has been very solid, but for the tranny lagging as described below. I too experience the cold running scenerio described above, also happens with my 96' T100 automatic V6. Warmup time is very short...less than a mile usually. This is ok.
But, what about when the car is warmed after driving an hour...I'm traveling about 50mph in pwr mode and VSC off...tranny in "D"...flat road...I push the gas pedal to the floor quickly...the rpm's quickly rise to about 4500 but there is a noticable lag with power to the rear wheels. The lag seems about 2 seconds...most likely shorter, but the lag is noticable. It's weird to be able to rev the engine so high..ease off the gas and the car doesn't accelerate at all. The lag time needs to be taken into consideration when passing on the highway. I'm somewhat aggrevated by it. Has anyone else experienced this lag? Is this normal? Can anything be done to reduce the lag?
But, what about when the car is warmed after driving an hour...I'm traveling about 50mph in pwr mode and VSC off...tranny in "D"...flat road...I push the gas pedal to the floor quickly...the rpm's quickly rise to about 4500 but there is a noticable lag with power to the rear wheels. The lag seems about 2 seconds...most likely shorter, but the lag is noticable. It's weird to be able to rev the engine so high..ease off the gas and the car doesn't accelerate at all. The lag time needs to be taken into consideration when passing on the highway. I'm somewhat aggrevated by it. Has anyone else experienced this lag? Is this normal? Can anything be done to reduce the lag?
Lead Lap
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 400
Likes: 0
From: California
on my 90k service I had my mechanic flush and replace the tranny fluid. It took 20 qts to get it done right. The first 5 qts were completely black. Anyways to make a long story short, the car has never shifted so smoothy and the hesitation is gone. I mean you don't feel the shifts at all even when the car is cold.
Originally posted by jawnthen
on my 90k service I had my mechanic flush and replace the tranny fluid. It took 20 qts to get it done right. The first 5 qts were completely black. Anyways to make a long story short, the car has never shifted so smoothy and the hesitation is gone. I mean you don't feel the shifts at all even when the car is cold.
on my 90k service I had my mechanic flush and replace the tranny fluid. It took 20 qts to get it done right. The first 5 qts were completely black. Anyways to make a long story short, the car has never shifted so smoothy and the hesitation is gone. I mean you don't feel the shifts at all even when the car is cold.
And yes, that morning lag is annoying but I've learned to live with it.
Last edited by Neo; Oct 28, 2003 at 09:49 PM.