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Stuck in 2nd gear

11423 Views 34 Replies 20 Participants Last post by  bigredaggie
Has happened twice in last few days. In Drive (D), pull out of parking space and notice that the automatic is not shifting up past 2nd. First time, I flipped from D to M and back and problem was gone. Thought I had just not placed it properly in gear. Same thing today. In D, I was stuck in 2nd all the way up to 4000rpm when I again flipped to M then back to D. Problem gone again. The first time the engine was cold. The second it was warm and in 24 deg F weather. Has anyone else had this issue? Only happens when I start after an hour or so being parked.
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i am not too worried about my transmission problem. i don't think it will damage the car, but it's a nuisance.
The VA/DC area received a good amount of snow last night and I drove today in snow mode. I noticed that before the engine temperature reached 3 bars, the car would not get into 1st gear. When I was stopped at a light, it idled in 2nd gear. Does this seem reasonable? First time I've ever seen that.

Also, driving on regular tires is very difficult in the F. But I don't believe we get enough snow here to warrant me purchasing a set of snow tires. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
came back from dealer today. my service manager told me it's normal; the transmission needs time to warm up before it will shift correctly. well, we will see if enough owners complain and eventually a technical service bulletin will be issued.
The VA/DC area received a good amount of snow last night and I drove today in snow mode. I noticed that before the engine temperature reached 3 bars, the car would not get into 1st gear. When I was stopped at a light, it idled in 2nd gear. Does this seem reasonable? First time I've ever seen that.

Also, driving on regular tires is very difficult in the F. But I don't believe we get enough snow here to warrant me purchasing a set of snow tires. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
i believe it's normal to start in 2nd gear to avoid wheel spin in SNOW mode.
I've not had a repetition of the issue I had twice before. This is my daily driver so I've had plenty of chances to see it happenin the cold weather. Crossing my fingers.
Correct. It just happened to me today. The car had been sitting for a few days, and within 3 or 4 minutes after taking it out, I got on the gas in M mode, and it hung in 2ng gear, bouncing off of the governor for a few seconds before shifting. I think it was due to the car being cold. Once warmed up, it shifted fast and furious, and on the mark.
i just got caught up on this post today, and i too have had strange shifting experiences when the engine is cold. i noticed that if you are hard on gas when cold the car seems to hold the gear (usually 2nd...sometimes 3rd) even if you get off the pedal. this does not seem to happen if i gradually accelerate to the same rpms. hope i am making sense. i also had a time or two when cold (engine & outside) i would punch it and would only rev, this i have seen mentioned in a previous post, seems to have happened to a few on this board.

anyway, i agree with the consensus. all this stuff always happens when the engine is cold or warming up, and i have never had a shifting problem after the oil bar gets up to two pings. sucks when you are pulling on the highway cold out of the garage and see that lotus elise.....last week, not sure if is was a sc or not.
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Correct. It just happened to me today. The car had been sitting for a few days, and within 3 or 4 minutes after taking it out, I got on the gas in M mode, and it hung in 2ng gear, bouncing off of the governor for a few seconds before shifting. I think it was due to the car being cold. Once warmed up, it shifted fast and furious, and on the mark.
it doesnt shift gear in M unless u tell it to bud
We know it doesn't auto shift in M. But like the previous posts have said, I've also experienced that even if you shift in M with a cold engine, it still hesitates when you tell it to.
I've had this happen to me but I was in sport mode and driving it pretty hard. It wouldn't shift gears and I was cruising above 4k RPM's down the freeway for quite a bit of time until it finally shifted up. I didn't think anything of it other then it just wanted to keep me in the right gear so it didn't have to downshift when I pressed on the gas even harder. I agree with Fig in that I don't think it's anything to worry about.
This is what I have noticed as well.
sounds like it's not an uncommon problem. anyone has any luck to get lexus to admit the problem? i imagine a TSB will be issue is a year or two after enough people complain to lexus.
Oh really......(Sarcastic). Please make certain basic assumptions before making such a response "bud".
I have also had this intermittent problem of reluctant shifting when the car is warming up. On the other hand though, there have been several times where it has happened when the car is fully warmed up. It happened this morning after 30 miles of driving. It is like the ECU gets tricked into driving like it is in sport mode, when it is not. I remedy this by popping in into M mode and upshifting, which always fixes it. My car has 11,000 miles on it.
Add me to the list as well. Cold soaked overnight for 10 hours, started up and drove for about 5 minutes, accelerated from a standstill and didn't shift past 2nd at 3500 rpms. Remedied by moving from D to M back to D.

Located in southern CA and was around 70F outdoors.

Weird....
Add me to the list as well, er, add my wife. Drove the car to her parents, let it sit for about two hours, then let her drive it home, she got up to about 20 mph (in auto), and it wouldnt shift out of 2nd. I just figured she had accidently hit one of the paddles while in auto (which will downshift and hold). Ended up just tellin her to switch to M and then back to auto. Like everybody else, that fixed it, and we were off. It was probably 50 degrees out when it happened.

Its been 20-40 degrees here in Texas for the past couple weeks, the F is definately sluggish in shifting when she gets up in the morning. I usually try and let the car warm up for 5 minutes before pulling out, but it doesnt really feel "right" till you get two ticks on the temp display.
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