Es300 Tranny

[TomWoodLexus]

So I have figured out that my ECU is to blame for my "solenoid circuit A electrical" code. But the car does pretty high RPM's when cruising.

It does 2200 at 55 MPH. And 3,000 at 70! Does that sound right to you guys?

[camlex]

3000 rpm crusing @80, i will check rpm @55

[mburnickas]

So I have figured out that my ECU is to blame for my "solenoid circuit A electrical" code. But the car does pretty high RPM's when cruising.

It does 2200 at 55 MPH. And 3,000 at 70! Does that sound right to you guys?

Those look about right..+/-

[homemechanic]

The RPM can vary depending if the car is climbing up hill or down hill or flat road. 3000RPM is about right at 70MPH when you are going up a grade. If going down grade at 70MPH, less than 2000RPM.

At 55, a bit hard to really pinpoint. It all depends if the tranny kicked into the next gear or not and also up/down grades.

A lot of times, the RPM can depend on the driver. If you are heavy footed and steps on the gas pedal hard, the tranny will change gears faster. If you go gently on the pedal (like me wanting to say a little gas), the tranny tends to hold at the higher RPM for a while and just want to make sure before changing gear.

What year and mileage is your car? As tranny ages, running a bit higher RPM is not unusual because of wear and tear inside.

[amf1932]

If you are heavy footed and steps on the gas pedal hard, the tranny will change gears faster. If you go gently on the pedal (like me wanting to say a little gas), the tranny tends to hold at the higher RPM for a while and just want to make sure before changing gear.

I think you have it backwards.

A lighter pressure on the accelerator pedal will let the transmission shift to a higher gear at lower RPM's. This is the way ALL automatic transmissions work. :)

[camlex]

2000 rpm crusing @55.

Hope that helps.

[homemechanic]

by the way, did you happen to check the tranny fluid level? I forgot which way it goes. Overfilling will cause the tranny to shift at lower RPM??? and vice versa?

[lenore]

I hope it is not from the overdrive not engaging. Could be a sign of a early transmission failure. Check the fluid and see if it smells burnt.

[VBdenny]

My 04 ES330 turns 2000 RPM's at 60mph. Here is a video I made that shows my dash at 1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak86U-xufgk

[TomWoodLexus]

It has about 90K on the tranny, the car has 120K on it. Fluid is new. I think it is weird that it cruises at 3K at 70 MPH. My cutlass goes 2K at 70!

What kind of crappy milage are you guys getting at city and highway? (fuel)

[powerbob]

It has about 90K on the tranny, the car has 120K on it. Fluid is new. I think it is weird that it cruises at 3K at 70 MPH. My cutlass goes 2K at 70!

What kind of crappy milage are you guys getting at city and highway? (fuel)

Are you sure you are getting the transmission into overdrive? The high RPMs may be due to not getting into overdrive. I get 24-25 MPG when all is working properly. I am having problems with the overdirve and have seen the MPG drop to 21 - 22. But I have stopped and turned off the car to re-set the computer to allow the transmission to go into overdrive so prevent additional fuel consumption. I am still fighting the problem and have been looing to this forum to find a cause for the check engine and trac off indicator coming on my 2000 es300. bob

[homemechanic]

It has about 90K on the tranny, the car has 120K on it. Fluid is new. I think it is weird that it cruises at 3K at 70 MPH. My cutlass goes 2K at 70!

What kind of crappy milage are you guys getting at city and highway? (fuel)

If the tranny has never been taken GOOD care of, I suspect lack of maintenance is resulting in high RPM. Common causes of high RPM could be plugging up torque converter and/or overdrive band wear down. Flushing the tranny could help or put insults to injuries on this problem. If you have to release the gas pedal and reapply it for the gears to change, the overdrive band is a good suspect.

Mileage: 30-31 MPG freeway and 18 +/- city or 24 MPG to-from work (freeway and city combined).

[byf43]

It has about 90K on the tranny, the car has 120K on it. Fluid is new. I think it is weird that it cruises at 3K at 70 MPH. My cutlass goes 2K at 70!

What kind of crappy milage are you guys getting at city and highway? (fuel)

I'll have to check the engine rpms on my es300 to tell you what it's doing.

As for your Cutlass, IF it's a rear-wheel-drive, GM loved to put high ratio (low numerical) gearsets in their rear-ends. I had a Caprice that had a 2.48:1 rear-end in it.

At 55 mph it was taching 1600 rpm! Top end on that car was 148 mph!

As for fluid replacement, here's what I learned over the last 40+ years.

ATF acts as a detergent.

IF you don't regularly flush/drain/refill (including filters on cars that have them). . . when you do finally change the tranny fluid, it can DESTROY the transmission.

Been there. . . done that.

ATF should be reddish in color. The color is only to distinguish it from other fluids in the car, in case of leaks.

IF the color is maroon (getting dirty) or dark brown (very dirty) or black (filthy). When fluid becomes black in color, let an expert evaluate the transmission's condition.

IF (sorry. . . emphasis on the "If" today) you change out black fluid, you will experience problems, in short order. Slipping or very hard shifts, even catastrophic failure.

Now, with that said. . . I just drove 265.4 miles, round-trip, to Newark, DE and back in my '93 es300.

Starting with a full tank of gas, and driving 65 to 70 mph (at one time, up to 80 mph), I used 10.95 gallons of gas. That equates to 24.237 mpg.

Not bad for a car with 107,000 miles on it. . . and it's been tuned up ONCE in those 107,000 miles.

[TomWoodLexus]

Hmmm... Ok. I know the tranny has regular maintenance done to it, I was playing around one day and looked up the service history on the computer at work. Few warrenty items, like re-setting steering wheel nut to proper torque, and a new tranny at 30k. It has had all the other services done, and the bigger 30k 60k and the ultimate 90k done to it. The fluid was drain and filled 5 times over the period of a month because when I bought it, sometimes it would not shift by itself and I pulled a code for the dolenoids. I figured that too much particulate matter plugged solenoid A up. That is exactly what TIS said too. But I replaced them and replaced bad wires from the ecu to the tranny. But in coincidence (sp?) the ECU was internally open for the solenoid A circuit! So a used one from a 1995 ES is on it's way!

I also did a complete flush when I found out about the regular service!

BYW, I am in chicago right now for the LEXUS foundations course, so after tomorrow I will be a certified Lexus technician! YAY!

I also just got the results back from ASE through myase.com, and I know have passed 6 auto ASE's, double YAY! I took four at a time for the fall testing, so I need to take 2 more in spring to become master ASE!

But enough about me and being modest :whistles: Thanks for all the input! I definately would ,like a pool of info for anyone that has a 1994-1995 es300 for RPM's at 70 MPH.

Thanks guys!