Updates On Rx330 Trans Problems?

[halkow]

The fact of the matter is I simply will not allow you to discredit my opinion because of my age, which you still insist on doing. I DO in fact own a vehicle inflicted with this problem EVERY Lexus is inflicted with this problem. Drop into the ES forum and read some posts in there. Drop into the LS forum, Lexus just replaced the transmissions on ALL 2004 LS430s as a warranty item. I apologize for responding the way that I did but regardless of what you say your comment was designed to discredit me to the other poster. "Don't mind him he's a stupid kid". Well, I'm not a stupid kid I'm a 23 year old man that owns a business and is a college graduate. I am just as qualified to state my opinion as you are sir. I deal with car dealerships for a living, thats my job and I am very good at it. I think I may have some sort of unique insight into how to best deal with them, regardless of my age.

I would never ban anyone for disagreeing with me, I myself was banned from another Lexus forum because I disagreed with an entire 3/4 of the members population (you don't want to prefer something other than a Lexus GS on this other particular forum) so trust me, that I would never do. That said I'm not going to allow members of this forum downtrod each other and discredit each other's points of view because of whatever differences there may be between them. This is something that happens a lot on luxury car forums, the older and the "wiser" tend to discredit the younger. Makes no difference here.

That out of the way, I'm perfectly willing to go on discussing the matter at hand, on equal footing.

If you want Lexus to address the hesitation issue in specific the first thing you're going to need to do is isolate a case lodged with the NHTSA where the delay in the e-throttle system is attributed to a collision, so far there aren't any. I know one member on the ES forum is having Lexus swap his ES300 (2003 year) for a new Lexus, either a 2005 ES330 or a GS300. This isn't really going to help him as both of those cars exhibit the same throttle lag but its definately a start, meaning Lexus has left the door at least partially open and is willing to consider buybacks on vehicles where the driver simply cannot deal with the throttle lag. I suggest anyone who wants info on how he's accomplished this check out the ES transmission thread that is at the top of the ES forum.

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[halkow]

The fact of the matter is I simply will not allow you to discredit my opinion because of my age, which you still insist on doing. I DO in fact own a vehicle inflicted with this problem EVERY Lexus is inflicted with this problem. Drop into the ES forum and read some posts in there. Drop into the LS forum, Lexus just replaced the transmissions on ALL 2004 LS430s as a warranty item. I apologize for responding the way that I did but regardless of what you say your comment was designed to discredit me to the other poster. "Don't mind him he's a stupid kid". Well, I'm not a stupid kid I'm a 23 year old man that owns a business and is a college graduate. I am just as qualified to state my opinion as you are sir. I deal with car dealerships for a living, thats my job and I am very good at it. I think I may have some sort of unique insight into how to best deal with them, regardless of my age.

I would never ban anyone for disagreeing with me, I myself was banned from another Lexus forum because I disagreed with an entire 3/4 of the members population (you don't want to prefer something other than a Lexus GS on this other particular forum) so trust me, that I would never do. That said I'm not going to allow members of this forum downtrod each other and discredit each other's points of view because of whatever differences there may be between them. This is something that happens a lot on luxury car forums, the older and the "wiser" tend to discredit the younger. Makes no difference here.

That out of the way, I'm perfectly willing to go on discussing the matter at hand, on equal footing.

If you want Lexus to address the hesitation issue in specific the first thing you're going to need to do is isolate a case lodged with the NHTSA where the delay in the e-throttle system is attributed to a collision, so far there aren't any. I know one member on the ES forum is having Lexus swap his ES300 (2003 year) for a new Lexus, either a 2005 ES330 or a GS300. This isn't really going to help him as both of those cars exhibit the same throttle lag but its definately a start, meaning Lexus has left the door at least partially open and is willing to consider buybacks on vehicles where the driver simply cannot deal with the throttle lag. I suggest anyone who wants info on how he's accomplished this check out the ES transmission thread that is at the top of the ES forum.

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I noticed a problem with my tranny also and the dealer said "tough luck". I took the valve body out of the tranny took it to a friends garage, made a few adjustments, increased some spring tension, replaced some check balls and presto no more problems.

[Husker4theSpurs]

Apologize if this article has already been posted.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04345/424551.stm

Hesitation issue goes beyond Toyota's luxury line

Friday, December 10, 2004

By Don Hammonds, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Toyota engineers are working to find an acceptable fix for a hesitation problem in five-speed automatic transmissions in certain of its luxury Lexus and Toyota models, the Japanese automaker said yesterday.

The problem was brought to light this week when the Post-Gazette reported on troubles McMurray resident Timothy W. Farabaugh was having with his 2004 Lexus ES330 ("Hesitating Lexus unsettling for owners," Dec. 8, 2004). The vehicle didn't respond immediately when his wife pressed the accelerator while trying to merge into traffic, causing her to narrowly avoid an accident.

It became clear the problem was more widespread when other readers who saw Wednesday's PG story reported the same hesitation with their Toyotas and other Lexus models.

It turns out that the five-speed automatic in the 2002 to 2004 Lexus ES300 and ES330 models also is used in the Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX330 sport utility models, two of the company's biggest sellers.

"The engineers in Japan are trying to come up with a fix on this problem ... The first attempt to solve this has not been completely successful," said Toyota spokesman Wade Hoyt. That first attempt "involved reprogramming the computer that controls the transmission," he added.

The reprogramming "relieved part of the problem, but did not completely cure it,'' he said -- a statement with which Alvise Anti of Pittsburgh can concur.

She said her RX330 had the "update -- Lexus calls it the fix -- but obviously it's not working. The car is drivable, but if you are not aware of the problem, it can be dangerous."

Another owner, Beth Caldwell, said her 2004 Toyota Highlander V-6 with the five-speed automatic transmission had the same hesitation problem and that when she took it to the dealer's service department, she was told "that's how the new transmissions are."

Scott McAliley said he got a similar response when he approached his dealer about his 2004 Lexus ES330. He said the dealer told him that, "a.), They couldn't find anything out of the ordinary and b.), The problem would diminish over time as the computer learned our habits."

One 2002 ES330 owner, Michael Moran, said he "made contact with the customer service department at Lexus headquarters in California, which led to a test drive of my car and a resultant confirmation of the malfunctioning transmission.

"I was offered a new 2004 ES330 for $4,000, an offer I unfortunately accepted. ... The 2004 ES330 model I am now driving has an even more pronounced malfunctioning transmission."

There have been no reports of serious or fatal accidents because of the problem.

Spokesman Brad Nelson said that once Toyota comes up with a successful fix, it may issue a technical service bulletin to dealers so they could make repairs on cars when they are brought in or launch a service campaign that would notify owners that there is an issue and that the problem can be corrected.

Hoyt said he believed that only drivers who were unusually sensitive to their cars' shifts and performance would notice the hesitation.

[motocopter]

Interesting article. Looks like the issue now has big T's attention.

[wwest]

I too was banned, for life, from clubless, mostly because the moderators felt I was unjustly, and too often, denigrating their "beloved". But then I will be 65 this year.

Here is a post from another forum wherein someone was suggesting more frequent fluid changes might be the solution.

I don't think changing the fluid more often will be an effective effort.

The fluid is being "cooked" because something within the transmssion is over-heating. My guess is that that "something" is the bands and clutch surfaces because they are still not fully engaged as the engine builds RPMs and torque when the gas pedal is unexpectedly(***) and agressively depressed.

***The firmware in the transmission ECU is not downshifting from 3rd(?) to first until the vehicle comes to a full and complete stop. Accelerating just before coming to a full stops results in the need to quickly shift from 3rd(?) to 1st, all while the engine is already reacting to a (fully?) open throttle valve.

Except in the 04 or later with an e-throttle. In that case the engine ECU chooses not to "see" the open(ing) throttle until the transmission has shifted into 1st and the bands and clutches are fully seated. That very like takes more than 1.2 seconds, the time the shop manual says it take to shift from neutral when you first move the shifter to D, drive.

Same problem with/during coastdown, the RX transmission upshifts from 3rd to 4th (according to the 01 AWD Lexus shop manual) during coastdown, and now if you suddenlyn decide to accelerate the transmission must quickly shift from 4th to 3rd, or maybe even to 2nd, and while the engine is already building torque....

Except on the 04 or later models with e-throttle.