ATTN: 5 Speed Owners:

Well boys, I've contacted Corporate Lexus.

Scoop is, they want all of you to individually call them. Here's the # w/ the extension of the bitch I was working with (Veronica). Depending on how far some of u want to go with this, I'm willing.

The guy who drove my car at the dealer was having a hella time putting it in second and couldnt drive stick for his life. you should have seen it! He concluded nothing was wrong, so now I'm going to have a B.F.! :lol:

I exploded on the scene and then again to the woman @ Lexus. Call 1800 25 Lexus ask to speak to Veronica and file your complaint!

So here's my course of action as of now. I would like input from others as to how far they want to go (my anger is based on principal).

1) I'm buying the Amsoil synthetic. I am going to pay my dealership to do the switch ($100)

2) IF, and only, IF, this fixes the problem, I am going to submit a bill to Corporate Lexus.

3) If they do not pay for it, I am going to take them to small claims court since I am not the only one having a problem that they will not fix. (and they have a moron telling them there is nothing wrong w/ my car)

4) I'm already looking into selling my IS. As of now there's a 50% I'm saying good bye and yes, most of the reason is over this. If the problem is not fixed, this is the route I'm going. Its based on principal, like I said. I already have the car I want/price set up so the ball is now w/ Lexus

5) My dad, being a lawyer, has instructed me to leave the keys at Lexus if the problem is not fixed and leave them my car, then we will sue them for value of the car MSRP!

We are checking the lemon law also. There are too many people having this problem for it to be overlooked.


Let me know what you all want to do. I'm not going to let this rest (not in my nature)

Yeah the lemon law is difficult in this case. I saw difficult because it doesnt affect the driveability of the car. A ticking noise is a nuisance, but not a major problem. Its like if your car radio keeps breaking...they will replace it as much as you want, but it wont be declared a lemon.

Lemon laws in Florida work by having it break three (3) times within the first two years. After three times in the initial two years, you submit (in writting) to the dealer and corporate that they have one more chance to render the problem. If they do not render the problem, your car will be bought back at MSRP minus the wear and tear (mileage, wear on seats, etc) which is roughly the same as the Kelly Blue Book value.

It sucks, I wish there was something more I could do, but its just such a headache for me right now and I've got to concentrate on my last semester of college before law school, applying to law schools, my girlfriend, and everything else going on in my life this month.

I'm still all about this and helping in anyway that I can, however pursuing this till my death is just about out of the question.

I've called Lexus and have opened an "investigation" into all of the shit that has gone wrong with my car, and the way I have been treated by their service department. I'm supposedly going to get something like free service for the rest of the car. I told them I had a really bitter taste in my mouth and after buying (not leasing, financing) three Lexus cars in the last 3 years, this has definitely been the worst for my family.

If you drop the BMW & MB names on them, they get very nervous. Say you expected this from the Germans, but certainly not Lexus. Just remember it is the consumer who determines the value of the cars and their prestige, if you persist and make sure that Lexus knows you arent going to quiet down...they'll eventually listen. Its just a question of how long your voice can last before it gets sore and you lose interest in the whole damn thing.

My advice (after all of this) is maybe to contact the local news channel. They always love to go put out some dirt on a good name.

magoo said:

My advice (after all of this) is maybe to contact the local news channel. They always love to go put out some dirt on a good name.

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Thats funny b/c youre not the first person that has told me to do this. I have heard of it working very well. When making your complaint did you happen to mention the shifting? According to them, I am the only one who has ever called about that, which I seriously doubt.

I have been treated like shit from each Lexus dealer I've gone to. I can't figure out if its just because I'm much younger than the avg. Lexus driver (18) and seeing kids who can afford such cars really pisses them off, or maybe they've looked up my record and see that the car has been brought in for like 100 minor little things to be fixed

Can't figure it out but I've decided leasing the Germans will be the best way in the future. Fun cars, don't have to worry about reliability and if you get jerked around, you're outta the car in 3 yrs. Plus, the dealer knows in 3 yrs you're going to need a new car so I've noticed they treat leasees somewhat better (surprisingly).


GOD! This is starting to sound like my problems with Corporate Honda/Honda dealerships all over again!

wow!

this is awesome! not the fact that you have this problem, but the fact that the EXACT same thing just recently happened to me (for 4 months straight) and this whole time, I was thinking that it was my fault!!!

I started off with a so called "chirping" noise initially...but my tranny was working fine...no problems whatsoever...no grinding...no stickness...no nothing...

to relieve the chirping noise, initially they replaced the master slave cylinder. They couldn't resolve the problem, so they replaced the throwout bearing...still NO resolution! Finally, they got tired of me coming back over and over again...so they just replace the whole tranny! Initially, I was impressed with the service, but two minutes after leaving the dealership...my check engine light came on! So I quickly returned to the dealership bitc#ing about my car! The engineers broke the O2 sensor!!!! Furthermore, they broke my shift knob! I was pissed! So they replaced my shift knob as well as the O2 sensor! Well...the whole ordeal was over with, I noticed that the gears were kinda hard to put in... Well...I thought that since it was a new tranny, that I needed to let the tranny settle in... 4 months after that, it was still hard to put in gear (especially in 2nd and 3rd gear), so that's when I questioned myself in regards to the tranny...was it a brand new tranny or a POS tranny that they had lying around in the dumpster that they had installed...

Nonetheless, I called the dealership informing them of the situation... they "supposedly" looked at my vehicle, but they said it was PERFECTLY fine! That's when I got pissed off! To make the long story short........I STILL HAVE THIS FREAKIN' PROBLEM!!! AFTER READING THIS POST! I FEEL ALITTLE RELIEVED JUST TO KNOW THAT THERE IS A SOLUTION OUT THERE!!! THANK YOU FOR THE VITAL INFORMATION GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!1

Well...I realize that this POST have been up for a year now...and I was just wondering what the outcome of the whole ordeal was in regards to this problem??? If you still need names, VINs, numbers...I will definitely "BACK" you guys up!

Once again! THANK YOU for the solution!

TypeRJun said:

this is awesome! not the fact that you have this problem, but the fact that the EXACT same thing just recently happened to me (for 4 months straight) and this whole time, I was thinking that it was my fault!!!

I started off with a so called "chirping" noise initially...but my tranny was working fine...no problems whatsoever...no grinding...no stickness...no nothing...

to relieve the chirping noise, initially they replaced the master slave cylinder. They couldn't resolve the problem, so they replaced the throwout bearing...still NO resolution! Finally, they got tired of me coming back over and over again...so they just replace the whole tranny! Initially, I was impressed with the service, but two minutes after leaving the dealership...my check engine light came on! So I quickly returned to the dealership bitc#ing about my car! The engineers broke the O2 sensor!!!! Furthermore, they broke my shift knob! I was pissed! So they replaced my shift knob as well as the O2 sensor! Well...the whole ordeal was over with, I noticed that the gears were kinda hard to put in... Well...I thought that since it was a new tranny, that I needed to let the tranny settle in... 4 months after that, it was still hard to put in gear (especially in 2nd and 3rd gear), so that's when I questioned myself in regards to the tranny...was it a brand new tranny or a POS tranny that they had lying around in the dumpster that they had installed...

Nonetheless, I called the dealership informing them of the situation... they "supposedly" looked at my vehicle, but they said it was PERFECTLY fine! That's when I got pissed off! To make the long story short........I STILL HAVE THIS FREAKIN' PROBLEM!!! AFTER READING THIS POST! I FEEL ALITTLE RELIEVED JUST TO KNOW THAT THERE IS A SOLUTION OUT THERE!!! THANK YOU FOR THE VITAL INFORMATION GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!1

Well...I realize that this POST have been up for a year now...and I was just wondering what the outcome of the whole ordeal was in regards to this problem??? If you still need names, VINs, numbers...I will definitely "BACK" you guys up!

Once again! THANK YOU for the solution!

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Hey. This post has NOT been up for a year. Its from the end of 2004 (1 month ago).

I am still getting the run around. I had many ppl send me their VIN # but Lexus insists that each individual must make a report. So fa,r I dont think many have.

Type R, Please make a report. Youre experience MIRRORs mine except for the broken 02 sensor/shift knob. I am working with a woman named "veronica" who has been quite uphelpful.

I am supposed to take my car to the dealership (again) on the 20th. The regional rep will be there and will decide what to do. The number to call is 1800 25 Lexus (then when the announcement comes on, press 4--customer satisfaction)

Wow. Yeah. Make the report cuz this is an identicle situation. I am going to take this as far as it goes BTW.

Keep in touch with me over this thread or PM.

~NICK~

magoo said:

Its because they are rebuilt, refurbished transmissions...that have already had problems. It is possible that there is an issue with the fluid, but to limit it just to that is a little risky to say.

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I was told that too but when I contacted corporate Lexus they looked up my particular transmission and they said for sure, it was not rebuilt nor refurbished, but BRAND NEW. They said if it was an ES, LS, auto IS, etc... it would have a re-built transmission but because the 5 speeds are so rare, they don't do many re-builts.

Either way, I dont think its the 'fluid level' at all. I replaced my fluid and differential fluid and everything is running a lot more smoothly. Ive beenr really busy lately and sort of let this whole ordeal pass over since no one else seems to be nearly as upset as I was (and am). So, if I'm not going to have a lot of support, then going further will be a problem. There needs to be enough people that are willing to do something rather than just 1 or 2.

Oh well. The only thing I can do is keep this in mind when I'm searching for a new car.

storm said:

Did you get it changed at the dealer or someplace else. What type of fluid did you use?

I just had my fluid changed at the dealer, and now have the problem you've had. I'm thinking of just gettng the fluid changed someplace else to a synthetic.

What did you use, and did it get rid of the problem afterward?

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Amsoil 2000 Synthetic Gear Oil. Works well. Dealer wont do the work after promising me. Instead Corporate Lexus offered me a free 35,000 mile service and the re-negged. I unfortunately, had the EZ Lube work on my car. Did a good job but thats the first and only time that trained Lexus technicians aren't doing the work.

They threaten to take the warranty away on the tranny since I'm using fluid that is not reccommended by Lexus. FUCK THEM. If something happens, they can chose between fixing it or getting their name publically tarnished. But then again, synthetic is better, and the Amsoil keeps the gear lubed a lot longer so there is, without a doubt, no hazard in using this.

I just wish there were more people out there that dont just complain but do something when they are getting the 'run around'

Its not acceptable.

This is definitely an issue. Every day on my way in and out of work, I have to go over numerous speed bumps to get into our parking garage. After the dealer changed the fluid I noticed it was definitely more difficult to go from 2 to 1 (i'm almost stopped before going over the bump so this isn't a problem). When the car's warm, everything's good.

I'm thinking that since the IS is pretty much the only manual car that they sell, and since only a small % of IS300s are manuals, maybe most places don't have the right stuff. Technically they could just put 80w90 differential oil and still be within spec (as long as it's GL-5). Just my theory. I think i'm not going to say anything to them, i'm going to get the fluid done someplace else, and if anything goes wrong later on, I don't think they'll be able to tell what fluid is in there just by looking.

PDawg have you changed your fluid yet? Based on everything i've read, I firmly believe it has to do more with the fluid used than anything else.

Here's my take on this. Our manual states that GL-4 or GL-5 fluid can be used for the transmission, but the differential requires GL-5. From everything i've read, GL-5 is more "slippery" and less "sticky" than GL-4, so it may product better under very heavy loads (towing, continuous racing, etc.) but the synchros inside the tranmission have a harder time operating with the less sticky fluid.

Consider that the IS300 is the only car Lexus sells with a manual tranny, and the old car they have sold with a manual for a long time (since the manual SC300s anyway). I'm willing to bet that most dealers just stock 90 weight GL-5 fluid, and use the same stuff in both the differential and in the transmission. Technically the fluid meets factory spec. What I suspect is happening is that the synchros are having a harder time, which explains why downshifting into 2nd is problematic, at least until things warm up anyway. Double-clutching "fixes" the problem since the synchros don't have to do anything.

As for "trained Lexus Technicians" they're probably half-decent, but aren't experts on manual trannies. If you look through other posts, whenever people have tranny problems, it seems like they just swap in a new transmission. It's probably cheaper to do that for the small % of manual Lexus' that get serviced at the dealership, than to train everyone to repair in-house. We're a small minority (manual drivers) at the Lexus dealerships, so considering that 95-98% of the cars they service everyday are automatics, how much time/effort do you think really goes into research/training for our cars?

I'm not sure what the synchros are made of, but some sychros don't like GL-5 fluid over the long term. The fluids many have been seeing improvements with (such as redline MT-90) are GL-4 rated, and don't have friction modifiers like the GL-5 oil.

I'm going to swap out to a GL-4 oil over the next few days and see if there's a difference. I'm also confident that these cars probably came from the factory with a GL-4 oil ... my tranny was perfect (slightly notchy but nothing like what it feels like now) until the dealer changed the fluid. Now I can definitely tell the Synchros on 1st and 2nd have trouble engaging with downshifts. Rev-matching instantly fixes the problem (so it's not the lockout on 1st gear) ... rev-matching/double-clutching elminates the synchros.

The w55 is an ancient transmission, it was probably designed to work with GL-4, and technically would work with GL-5 (hence the manual's statement) but i'm guessing GL-4 is the way to go. I'm probably going to get some Royal Purple or Redline MT-90 and see if my tranny goes back to the way it was.

$100 - $200 seems high, i'm not taking it back to lexus. Their records show I had a tranny fluid change at 30k, great, according to them another one isn't recommended until until 60k. All I really care about is the warranty, and their computer shows i'm up to spec for another 30k, so they can't hassle me if anything breaks. The synthetic fluid should run about $30, and another $20-30 to have it changed (shouldn't be more than an oil change).

I'm curious to know what the Tranny would feel like with a non-synthetic GL-4 (non GL-5) with no friction modifiers, i'm guessing it would be fine. I haven't been able to find a fluid like that, and i'd rather just put some stuff in that I know works.