Transmission Problem

[Navsafe]

ES-350 with 4000 miles on it. All these problems are intermittent. First, sometimes, engine surges when decellerating. Foot off the gas and the RPM will surge from 800 to 1800. Applying brakes to come to a stop and the car lurches forward as the RPM increases.

Second, in reverse the RPM surges and you have to apply a lot of brake to stop the car from running away. DANGEROUS!

Third, between third and fourth gear under heavy acceleration the RPM increases rapidly to 6000 RPM with no torque and slow accleration.

Visited dealer twice and they can not duplicate. This is my wife's car and she is afraid to drive it. Any one else experiencing this?

Thanks :( :( :( :(

[Lexus Master Tech]

I have seen this problem with the ES 350...what dealer are you taking it to???? They should be trying something....like a reflash for the ECM, or I have heard rumors about replacing the valve body....or even the tranny to fix this!!! What ever they do, if they replace the valve body, make sure they reset the memory for the tranny, or the problem may still occur. These kind of dealers that "cannot duplicate problem" give Lexus a bad name....Good Luck...

[Navsafe]

I have seen this problem with the ES 350...what dealer are you taking it to???? They should be trying something....like a reflash for the ECM, or I have heard rumors about replacing the valve body....or even the tranny to fix this!!! What ever they do, if they replace the valve body, make sure they reset the memory for the tranny, or the problem may still occur. These kind of dealers that "cannot duplicate problem" give Lexus a bad name....Good Luck...

Thanks M.T., took it in again for the 5000 mile check and the technician experienced the reverse problem. He then drove other ES-350's and said the problem is common to the 350. He suggested an "adequate" warm up time prior to putting car in reverse.

I don't think this is the end of it. Time will tell. Thanks Again, I am all ears.

[ejohn]

ES-350 with 4000 miles on it. All these problems are intermittent. First, sometimes, engine surges when decellerating. Foot off the gas and the RPM will surge from 800 to 1800. Applying brakes to come to a stop and the car lurches forward as the RPM increases.

Second, in reverse the RPM surges and you have to apply a lot of brake to stop the car from running away. DANGEROUS!

Third, between third and fourth gear under heavy acceleration the RPM increases rapidly to 6000 RPM with no torque and slow accleration.

Visited dealer twice and they can not duplicate. This is my wife's car and she is afraid to drive it. Any one else experiencing this?

Thanks :( :( :( :(

[ejohn]

ES-350 with 4000 miles on it. All these problems are intermittent. First, sometimes, engine surges when decellerating. Foot off the gas and the RPM will surge from 800 to 1800. Applying brakes to come to a stop and the car lurches forward as the RPM increases.

Second, in reverse the RPM surges and you have to apply a lot of brake to stop the car from running away. DANGEROUS!

Third, between third and fourth gear under heavy acceleration the RPM increases rapidly to 6000 RPM with no torque and slow accleration.

Visited dealer twice and they can not duplicate. This is my wife's car and she is afraid to drive it. Any one else experiencing this?

Thanks :( :( :( :(

[JGTNewLexusOwner]

Hey Navsafe, I have a minor transmission surge when decellerating. It happens at about 20mph...check what speed yours happens. Sometimes I feel this at 40mph (but not as much as at 20mph). Mine is minor though. When I put on the brake, it does seem to decel normally then. Interestingly enough, this seems to help when going down a hill or up a hill in the snow....not sure why.....maybe it has something to do with the traction control or vehicle stability control. Let's hope the dealer will fix it. (by the way, I did notice that if I let the car warmup a little, it is not as noticeable). Keep us posted! <_<

[amf1932]

Sorry to tell you, Navsafe hasn't been on LOC's website since, November 7th 2007 - 10:47 AM

[myLexus350]

My 2007 ES 350 has the similar issue. RPM may surged if I decelerated to 20~30 and then accelerated. It happened a couple of times a week.

Two weeks ago I had 10K service, and fortunately I showed them this transmission issue. Then they fixed. When I picked up my car, I found it's actually a recall for shift flare concern. After that, It never happened again, even if I tried to replicate it. So I think this issue is resolved.

Hope this is helpful.

[JGTNewLexusOwner]

Sorry to tell you, Navsafe hasn't been on LOC's website since, November 7th 2007 - 10:47 AM

WOW, what happened there? I didn't even notice that! Hope he is doing ok...ha ha! Thanks for pointing out that I am an idiot....oh well, getting old is heck!!!! Thanks.