mick_foley

I've had no luck with the tranny's 'learning curve' either. I think Lexus just designed this car perfectly except for a few things, parts of the exterior being a little blandish and the tranny being one MAJOR thing. I was going to go in for a flash whenever I got the time since I'm still able to get it done for free but your horror story has turned me away yet again. The occasional jerk doesn't bother me too much because I came from a '03 Camry with similar predictable jerks. But the hesitation really sucks and frustrates me especially since my wife has an '02 with MUCH less hesitation. What Lexus actually did to make all of these cars drive similar but so different is still a mystery to me.

bostonsnow

I cant comment on what happens after the FLASH as I have not had it done to mine, but it sounds like if you do the flash you are going down an irreversible point of no return.

Here is an update on my situation, as I now have about 2 months and 2500 miles on the 2005 ES330 that I bought. I test drove about 10 different 05's in my search, and I found considerable variability between models. I am not sure how much variability in the jerking and/or hesitation that occurs after a slowdown or with exceleration in general is due to differences in the car itself vs the learning that has occurred, but it could be some of both. There are two issues that seem to potentially occur: 1) if you slow down but then quickly try to re-accelerate before coming to a complete stop, there can be a noticable delay and then a jerk once the transmission decides what to do (this one I think is the most problematic) and 2) a general sluggishness on acceleration.

As far as #1, the car that I bought had essentially no noticeable problem with this when I bought it. THe dealer changed the battery for me prior to pickup, so when I got it, it had to go through the learning phase. It seemed to me that in the first few days there was some of this hesitation and jerk, but then it went away. I am not sure if my driving allowed it to learn a "smooth" shifting pattern, or if my right foot just learned and adapted to press the accelerator later and softer to avoid the jerk. BUt my theory is that it can "learn" to shift more smoothly. I will add that I am generally NOT an aggressive accelerator.

As far as #2, yes, the ES330 in general is a sluggish accelerating car. I think that this is a well known attribute of the car, described in most reviews and not a surprise. I dont think it is a big deal, and if people dont like it, they should'nt be driving the ES330! If you want a fast accelerating sporty car, go for a manual transmission BMW 3 or 5 series!!!! The ES330 accelerates slowly for 3 reasons in my mind: 1) V6 engine that is not that powerful 2) fairly heavy weight; and most important 3) gear shift pattern that is meant to focus on quietness rather than performance. So to me, it is not surprising that I can't do 0 to 60 very fast, and I am fine with that.

-I would be interested to hear what others think about the learning factor preventing the #1 issue. If the car "learns" from a smooth and slow accelerating driver, can the slow-down-then-step-on-the-gas hesitiation be minimized?

bostonsnow

It may be that my car actually is still prone to the downshift hesitation thing but that I have unconsciously learned to drive so as not to trigger it. I know that this theory has been mentioned before in posts and may well be true.

mick_foley

Well if you drive these cars long enough, you know what triggers the hesitation and you know beforehand when you are about to do something to make it jerk so I'd say that you have probably learned the characteristics of the car. To test this, do the following: go about 30-40 mph roughly, slow down as though you are approaching a stop sign in the distance, and then pretend a semi truck is about to rear end you. I'm almost certain your car will jerk when you step back on the gas. Your foot steps on the gas the way that Lexus intended now so you think the problem is gone. It's not. lol.

As I mentioned before, some cars are more sluggish than others. I use my two ES's (or mine and my wife's) as an example of this. Both are sluggish but my personal ES is NOTICEABLY more sluggish.

I know it's not a BMW or any other sports car but.......most of the complaints about power come from this type of question in general. Should an I-4 be more powerful than a V-6 from basically the same car company? Sometimes my car gives me the impression that my old I-4 Camry was more powerful. I'd say that's a fair complaint.

JSM1284

My 05 has had the shift enhancement program, I never drove it before that. But it shifts slightly different than my 02. My 05 is like a bat out of hell compared to the 02 though.

bostonsnow

RE: paragraph #1, you are probably right I likely do consciously or subconsciously avoid doing this in real world driving. However, even for this, I do think there are some cars worse than others. Was I was test driving I deliberately tested it out and some cars seemed worse than others.

RE: paragraph #2, I entirely agree. I think that (for some unclear reason) there are differences from one car to another, even within the same model year. I know that others on the forum have not agreed with us on this though.

RE: paragraph #3: I think that your complaint is valid, but that is the way it is. I suspect that the shift patterns are a big part of it too though. If the car was allowed to stay in 1st and 2nd gear longer before shifting, the acceleration would be quite a bit faster. BUT, the engine would make more noise and shifting would be more noticeable. It could be that Lexus preferred the former.

As far as some sort of further dramatic fix coming from Lexus for either of the 1st two problems, I would bet a month's paycheck that nothing will be done. Others have suggested that the 06 ES330 was without these problems, so now that it is 2008, I dont think Lexus will care much about going back and fixing 2005 and earlier model years. there is no incentive for them to further please these owners of earlier lexuses. If anything, their marketing people may deliberately want us to be dissatisfied with our older models so that we will consider upgrading! When someone goes out now and buys a used lexus, it does not directly do Lexus corporate any good. THey would rather you go out and buy an 08 or 09

mick_foley

................

LexGrl702

I bought my 05 last October. I shopped for my car for two months. I test drove two 2004s and then my car. I didn't notice any jerking or transmission delays on any of them. My previous car was an 86 mercedes so my lexus was a speed demon compared to my grandma car. I didn't learn about the transmission problems until I joined CL. Then after a couple of months my car jerked for the first time and only does once in a while. It just jerks and that's it. As far as acceleration and delays, I'm not an aggressive driver so I don't notice any of that. But I don't know if I have the updated transmission fix or not.

mick_foley

Oh, it's pretty sluggish. But I'm getting more used to it and I'm OK with it. I'm an up and down driver. I'm not totally aggressive and I'm not totally grandma-ish. I was going to do the flash if it would improve my car's hesitation issues but the risks suck so I'm not going to try it. I still love my car.

bostonsnow

So you may be supporting my opinion that there is a quite a bit of variation in cars, with some of them having hardly any jerking, OR, (possibly like me) the way you drive just does'nt produce my of the jerkiness and/or you have adapted so as to avoid it.

If you want to find out if you have had the transmission fix, lift the hood and look on the underside of the front edge for a sticker that says "CHANGE AUTHORITY: TSIB TC004-03" BUT, if you have not had this flash done, and if you hare happy with the way it drives (sounds like that is the case), then DON'T go in and get it done! From what I have read and heard in person, that could end up causing more problems than it solves and then you are permanently stuck with the results!

-Boston Snowboarder
2005 ES330 Silver/Black, standard except 17 inch rims

bostonsnow

I think its too late once you have had the TSB. I dont think re-learning can change much of what the TSB has done. ALthough no harm in trying. If you make it relearn and dont like the way the learning turns out, you can disconnect the battery and try again. But, in this case, dont think it would do much.

FOr people who have not had the flash - it may be that relearning can make some difference - at least from reading many other posts that is what it seems. I'm quite happy with mine now so am not going to be purposely disconnecting the battery anytime soon.

mick_foley

I had the flash done to my car. I was VERY skeptical at first but after a few days of driving the car, I can say that I like it MUCH better with the flash. The thing I had to do to really see what the benefits of the flash were was to unplug the battery so the car could learn from scratch. If you or the dealer doesn't unplug the battery, the flash will feel like it had no effect on your car.

It's not a placebo effect because I have unplugged the battery before the flash to start the car's learning over and that hadn't done anything in the past. Today's a different day though. As someone mentioned, the car's shifting still has a few kinks in it but it is overall much better to drive.

The rumors about the gas mileage starting to suck are false so far in my experience. It actually seems that my city driving mpg has gotten better at least as displayed by the computer.

I've been trying to test using the computer to compare the gas burned at different highway speeds (55mph vs. 65mph vs. 75mph vs. etc.) but that testing is incomplete.

tpsunshine

Hello everyone, I'm a new member I bought my 2004 ES330 in March (previously owned a 1997 ES300). But it did not come with an owners manuel? I want to know how to bring my back window screen guard up? I discovered it on a fluke and now I don't know how to get it up.

Also I think I have the same problem with the transmission it doesn't go into gear correctly and my car is still under warranty so thank you some much for bring that problem up.

Have a wonderful day~~

mick_foley

There should be a button to the left of your shift **** that controls the sun shade. Pretty easy to use. lol.

cory143

Hello, all. Just joined the group. First time posting.

Rather than scrolling thru 15 pages of posts, can someone answer this question?

I just bought my 2005 ES330. After driving it for the last 4 days, I've noticed one instance of the clunky acceleration that others describe.

I'm going to the dealer soon to have work done anyway, so while I am at it, should I ask them to update the transmission software? What, specifically, should I ask for?

Thanks...