Hey Gang.

I've found and unusual issue with the upshift on the car. Another RCF owner and I have had the same issue.

The problem is that in occasionally the car will not upshift in manual mode, most notably in the lower 2 gears. You can click the paddle and nothing happens.

I starting doing some test and this is what I have found so far.:

Drive mode:
Normal
Sport

In 1st and 2nd gear there is a shift window between 6-7k, if you miss the shift window the car will not shift at all. I've found that the shift has to happen before the redline with the trans shift delay factored in. If you miss the shift window, you will hit the rev limiter and will be unable to shift until you lower the revs 6.5k or lower. Normal and Sport seem to have more aggressive lockout settings. I can easily replicate the issue.

Drive mode:
Sport +

In 1st and 2nd the rev window seems to be the same 6-7k however the lockout is not as aggressive. I wasn't able to get the lockout to occur as easy as the lower drive modes. Seems more forgiving.

Drive mode:
Expert

Expert doesn't care, you are a expert right? Bounce the rev limiter then shift. I was not able to get a shift lockout to occur in this drive mode.

Conclusion:
It seems like there is a traction or safety system engaging, though I don't understand why. I've read through the manual and only found a brief mention of what safety systems are at play based on drive mode.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

Is the Transmission temperature a factor at all? With mine, it doesn't let me upshift when I'm baby'ing it, like when I first drive in the morning, until it's fully warmed up. Also, your title "paddle shifter..." does this mean you don't experience the issues when you use the shift lever? I don't see this happening at all as the lever and the paddles send the same signal to the computer.

 

agree. maybe try to correlate the issue with trans temp. only time ive seen this as well...

 

probably has to do with how imprecise the protection from over-revving is. So, Toyota gave themselves some slack there... by not allowing the upshifts past certain RPM point, and by factoring it the “inertia” of the system. pure speculation tho.. I bet it also depend on how quickly the engine approaches that zone.

 

Transmission will only do whatever you tell it to do when the oil temp is at least in the middle.

 

Yes, definitely sounds temperature related. The transmission is heavily de-tuned when the engine is not at optimal operating temperatures. Once it is fully warmed up (and it takes forever for it to get there), it does exactly what I want it to do when I want it to do with the paddles.

 

Some great input folks.

I'll throw a wrench in this though. I tested this 3 different days on the same stretch of road on my way to work. The engine was at its normal operating temperature. It takes about 15 minutes of highway speeds to get there. I also practice extreme mechanical empathy while the engine is cold. Seeing as how I cannot replicate the issue in Expert mode, I'm thinking it is a safety system.

I do need to test it with the gear selector. I did find one article about a ISF having a paddle shifter fail.

So have any of you noticed this or have it happen to you? Am I just pain crazy? Maybe some videos would help?

 

15 minutes most likely did not get it to proper temperature. The bar indicator need to be in the middle for the oil temperature (not the coolant temperature). The oil temperature gauge takes forever to reach the middle.

I have never seen the behavior you mentioned unless the oil temperature is not up to optimal level and it does weird things. Maybe, you should make a video of it and it would be very easy to see all of the factors at play and behavior.

You can see this video of mine. I go all the way to 7300+ rpm at 0:13 in 1st gear and it lets me bounce off the rev limiter for a split second before quickly grabbing second. You can hear the paddle clicks as well.

 

Yup...it takes awhile to get 9+ quarts of oil at the right temp. Especially now in the middle of winter....and I live in SoCal 🤣

 

So I went to "the spot" today. I was wrong its approximately 20 minutes away. All temps are center, outside temps were mid 40s. I could not replicate the problem at all. Really frustrating because before I could do it almost every time.

Could there be a clock spring issue?

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-2nd-gen-2006-2013/698937-2006-lexus-is350-paddle-shifter-not-working.html

https://www.my.is/threads/paddle-shifters-and-cruise-control-not-working.431019/

The big question, how do I get the dealer to fix it? I could totally jump in and do it, but if its under warranty.....

 

I run a Scan Gauge II and if it is correct, the trans takes much longer than the engine oil to warm up in the cold.---Especially when low load highway driving. IMO, they almost cool too well. 50F+ shouldn't be an issue, but unless you're driving rather sporty, the trans will take a LONG time to get to temp when ambient is 40Fs and below.

 

Yes, unlike the engine oil cooler, the transmission oil cooler has no thermostat, so its constantly flowing through the air to oil cooler on the passenger side of the car. So on a cold day, say ambiance of 40-50 F, the air to oil cooler is supercooling the transmission oil. So most likely your gauge is fairly on point.

 

Thanks! That would make sense (trans oil cooler not having a thermostat). I've read things on forums for other Toyotas that say the trans when cruising runs I believe 60-80F above ambient.

 

I want to bump this old thread. I just replaced my paddle shifters with some aftermarket ones. The car is fully warmed up, left hand side (down shift) works perfectly fine. Right hand side (up shift) has completely stopped working. I was trying to troubleshoot. I reset the battery, swapped back in the OEM shifter, nada. Any thoughts?

 

Make sure the wires didn't get damaged, at least that's the first thing I'd check if the issue happens with both right paddles.