osokuko

Thanks guys for the help. WANDERER99 - in your post you talk about the tranney problem you had. I'm assuming it was the same problem I'm having. My question is did they perform the valve mod for you and if so did it work for you. Also I just read the "es350 transmission resolution" thread and "GOOCH" had the same build date I have. Darn! Well it looks like I'm going to have an adventure shortly. Thanks again.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

I have an idea why it differs but you guys are gonna think it's crazy.
I get wind noise with my 95 SC. It decreases to almost nil if I go over a week without letting down the windows. Since I always drive with the AC on it's easy to not put them down. Then I go to a drive through and forget to not let them down, then I have to start all over again. Before you think I'm crazy, try it. Works for me.

I love the looks of the ES350 and I am very disappointed it is having problems. I shouldn't be too surprised though. The IS owners are complaining about issues. The 3GS owners are complaining.....it seems Lexus has slipped in the quality department. I'm disappointed but not surprized. I warned everyone a couple of years ago this could happen. Car makers always watch each other and copy money making moves. I speculated that Benz makes the crappiest cars on the market yet sells a ton of them. How could other manufacturers watch this and wonder why they should spend extra money and time making their car super reliable when Benz still makes money. It has to rub off. It just makes too much sense.....unfortunately.

Kaius88

Its cost-cutting. They might be willing to sacrifice some quality to save some money. It's difficult to have a fine product with superb quality, at the same time, manufacture it with minimal costs. Toyota was able to do this in the beginning....for years actually. It takes expertise and innovation to design and manufacture products efficiently at low costs. Apparently the trend now has shifted the balance a little... due to competition and the overall economies of today. The reputations are paying off finally. These guys can actually trick us into paying extra $$$ to buy less-than-reliable products just because their brand and reputation command such premiums. I bet if we stopped buying these luxury cars, the quality would improve instantly.

wanderer99

I haven't had the fix done as yet. Parts are back ordered for me with no ETA at this time.

LexBob2

You have to keep in mind that owners with a specific problem(s) visit these forums to see if others are having the same problem(s), so you primarily see posts from owners who have issues with their cars. There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of ES350's on the road without major problems and satisfied owners. I have a 4/06 build date, purchased in mid-May, just returned from a 3,000 mile driving vacation, and have had no issues/problems at all. I sincerely hope that everyone with problems gets them resolved to their satisfaction, but you have to keep the big picture in mind.

twister

I think it could be a problem that all those thousands of other people who are driving ES350 and not aware of this forum think they don't have a problem and its a normal behavior. I first visited this forum before purchasing my ES350 back in June. Got all the pointers about early builds and other stuff to look out for. When I got my 06/06 build in July, it was all perfect and even up until last couple of weeks that RPM spike was considered by me as a normal cold start behavior until I start reading more about TSIB and recent tranny problems. If it wasn't for this forum, I would be still driving my car without any doubt in my mind. Thankfully, now the car at dealership getting a new tranny...

ES350Bob

twister,

I didn't realize your car and mine are the same build date 06/06 and like me you bought your car in July.

I agree with you on other owners out there, and also your view of this forum. If not for this forum I would have plodded along not knowing to take a rattle seriously which turns out is something metalic loose in back glass area.

When I first arrived here I was concerned over engine knocking and wind noise, later other things developed, but there are plenty on here who just hang out here for what this is, a club of Lexus ES350 owners sharing mutual interests. In the majority of cases, some of the most thoughtful, considerate people you could run into and administrators and moderators the same. I get a kick out of looking at that IS Second Generation forum, it's a free-for-all of info sharing on all kinds of things from wheels to paint, to problems, to humor, you name it, you see it all there and see it here too even though this is a new model.

Kaius88

Bizzaro bro are you getting a whole new tranny or just a piece of the tranny replaced? I thought the TSIB indicated a replacement of a plastic ring or something, or is that an entirely different issue?

twister

Just got the whole new tranny replaced. Car will be kept over the weekend to make sure no issues exist and everything is perfect, and I can pick it up on Monday. They decided not to bother with just a valve fix since they are not too confident it will solve the problem. When they were able to recreate my cold start RPM spike, the diagnostics computer showed up a different failure code from TSIB. That was a reason why a Lexus engineer from CA flew all the way to NJ to check it out. They were curious themselve. I'm happy they decided not to guinea pig my car with their fixing experiments, and just replace the whole tranny.

amf1932

Good luck twister!

twister

Thanks Alan!!!

BTW, I wish we could consolidate all the tranny related threads in one sticky place. Right now, we have at least half of dozen active threads going at the same time

coolcow

Best luck, twister! Keep us posted how the new tranny perform.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

I don't know....that's a logical assumption but it's not holding true for Benzo's. They have been crappy for years and years but people keep buying them. It's the most bizarro thing. Well, I'm not that crazy. If Lexus continues it's downward trend, I'm outta here.

wanderer99

I know what you mean. I'm trying to work out an answer to the following question and can't easily find it, so I'll just ask everyone.

Q: Is there anyone here at CL who has had only the trans TSIB performed on their vehicle, and finds that their trans now functions normally?

I'm seeing US dealers bypassing the TSIB now, as reported by members. I'm seeing TSIB fixed cars having trans replacements. I'm reading about buy backs, new vehicle swaps and extended warranties. But has anyone just gotten the TSIB done and is now actually fine?

nyardich

My car is now in shop for diagnosis. Cold Start noise and Tran flare.
Master tech says they know of these problems.
No fix for Engine noise, but TSIB has not fixed tran and made some worse according to SM. Total trans replacement fixed all.