Hi all - I just bought a 2007 GS350 that had 45k miles and have noticed something strange with I believe the transmission. So far I have has 2 times when I have hit the brakes hard and had to accelerate again and either heard a clunk noise or even had the tires burp once after the clunk. Tonight I hit the brakes hard to avoid a red light and heard a clunk. Any ideas on what the problem might be? I'm going to get it checked out at the dealer but I bet they will tell me they can't reproduce the problem. I have 2 other Lexus's (IS300) and have had no problems so this is a first. Thanks for any ideas you may have.

 

When there are shift concerns, its best to drain and fill the transmission fluid twice (you really only get about 2 qts or so during a drain fill which is why you need to do it twice. Drive it around the block so new and old fluid mixes and then change it again. You can do all of that for well less than 30 bucks and about a hour and a half of your time. An independent would probably do it for less than 100. Strongly suggest again any flush, just drain/fill is sufficent.

My experience tells me that if its having trouble getting back to first from a fast stop is a bigger deal and hard shifts are less as much a big deal. Both could be solved with a transmission fluid refresh.

Best to start with the easy stuff though. If you do have a major problem, well, they show up very quickly and things degrade very fast.

Best of luck!

 

Out of curiosity, may I ask why you recommend against a flush? Any tranny shop with a BG machine should be able to do it properly.

 

If some metal has settled into its happy place in my transmission, I'd prefer not to disturb it with an external machine.

 

Update: went to the dealer today to have them take a look and got in with the tech for a drive. I was able to duplicated the issue of hard brake and hard acceleration and the tires burped again. So the tech took another look and told me there were no codes on the computer and he could not see anything wrong. They said it was just catching mid-shift and had no solution or fix for that. He reset the computer just the see if that helps. I think I'm going to flush like 2008gs460 suggested. I'll post again the results. Thanks again for the advice.

 

Sorry I misread. I'm will drain and refill not flush.

 

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