Lexusfreak

Hi everyone,

I have yet another transmission concern I've noticed over the last couple of days & just wanted to run it by you to see if this is normal or if I should take it to the dealership to have it looked at.......sorry if I'm getting on some nerves here with asking so many questions (quite a few about the maintenance of the tranny as well) but please bare with me. I'm still learning about the ES as I go here. Here goes...

- When the car is cold & has been sitting over night outside (I work nights & can't park it in doors) the temp is between 0 c (32 f) & - 18 c (0 f). I would start it in the morning & let it idle for about a minute to a minute and a half, I start to drive under VERY light load, I find the RPM's extremely high when it shifts from 2nd - 3rd gear (fairly high when shifting between 1 & 2 also but a lot more noticable on the 2 - 3 gear change. I am doing between 16 MPH (25 kph) & 30 MPH (50 KPH) but the tach is about 3,100 RPM during this time & as I said I am accelerating very slowly to get up to this speed & it takes a good 20 - 25 seconds for it to shift to a higher gear to bring the rpm's down to a more normal level (I am aware that because the vehicle is cold it usually rev's higher while warming up). My question to everyone is, does anybody think this is a little excessive & should take this long before it shifts into a higher gear? or is this just perfectly normal operation of the transmission? Could it be that something is not quite right with the transmissions computer & needs some sort of an adjustment or recalibration? & do you think it's serious?

Once the vehicle has reached "operating temperature" all seems fine & normal.

I don't recall my 01' Maxima taking this much time when doing the exact same thing I described.

I plan in the next couple of weeks to do a complete transmission flush, but I think I will hold off for the time being to see if I should have this problem looked at by my Lexus dealer under warranty. Any answers, advice or suggestions would be helpful, thanks everyone!

amf1932

The delayed shifting when cold is by design. I remember this happened with my '94ES when I bought it new and I also thought there was something wrong. I noticed that when the temp gauge moved up to the cold mark(1st. mark) everything then shifted normally. My Lexus dealer also confirmed my findings.

steviej

iTrader: (1)

Alan is right. It is by design for mutiple reasons including emissions. This is extrememly prevelant in newer cars. My 02 does this also. Do not let it worry you, as this will subside as the warm weather starts to come back.

steviej

Lexusfreak

Thanks guy's,

I just thought over 3,000 RPM was a tad high is all.....glad I asked the question.