I will start off by saying, I'm completely new to the forums and this is my first Lexus (2008 ES 350 @ 55k miles)
Well taken care of by an old lady who couldn't drive anymore, had all the records from Lexus, and even got the water pump replaced and the brake master cylinder along with the brakes, most of the maintenance other then the ATF was done already, and I will be soon performing a transmission pan drop along with a full fluid exchange using the return hose because the car shifts and hesitate until the its warmed up, I do plan to use Maxlife ATF. I also own a 2014 Avalon with the same engine and transmission, and that car has 98K but it shifts flawlessly. I'm not so sure WS is a good ATF.
Back to the issue that just started 1.5 weeks ago.
I thought the battery that came along with the car was the issue when the first startup hesitation occurred its an Interstate MTP-24F with 1000 CA and 800 CCA, I fully charged that battery using a NOCO battery tender, and it took 3 days and the battery was back to full health, but I decided since this was my wife's car, I would put a new battery in it to be on the safe side, I installed a new EverStart Maxx 24F from Walmart because it's affordable and its the only store easily available for warranty purposes out here in Laramie, WY. The temperature dropped to 15F and when I went to start the car, the same hesitation that occurred with the old battery happened, I blamed the new battery and discussed my options with Walmart and they said they would have to test it before giving me a new battery. I went home and tested the car multiple times and the same 1-2 hesitation during start up continued, then I reinstalled the old Interstate battery and the startup hesitation continued, I charged both the batteries and they are both at full charge within 10-20 minutes, the same batteries I tested in my Avalon and the car starts right up without any issues, so battery doesn't seem to be the issues, I looked at the battery terminals, they look good to me (but I don't know how to verify that).
I decided to clean the MAF and it came out the cleanest looking MAF I have ever seen, and I have seen some very dirty ones, I cleaned it anyways, and the Start up hesitation issue continued, its only 1-2 seconds and the vehicle starts, once it actually took 4 different tries to get the car to start.
I thought it could be the Coolant temperature sensor, as I have had that issue before in an older Toyota vehicle, I did a WOT(wide open throttle) to see if the car would start sooner, I tried it twice but couldn't really tell as the vehicle maybe started slight faster but maybe not. I'm not so sure its the coolant temperature sensor, but I could be wrong.
There are no CEL and it drivers perfectly fine except the terrible cold performance of the transmission
Two things of note, the vehicle radio doesn't work(previous owner mentioned it) but I haven't checked it as I just play my own music, and after reinstalling the battery after 3-4 days the keyless entry was struggling to be recognized, so it wouldn't lock or unlock the doors but somehow the vehicle would start up, after a long drive, the keyless entry started to function as intended. I checked both the key fob batteries, and they both tested at 3.01 volts so they seem to be good.
I googled the issue and couldn't really find anything definitive, but this link (https://forums.edmunds.com/discussio...rting-problems) has various reason why people had these issues, but looking at everything from that link, it would cost too much to start fixing about everything, would anyone happen to know how I could possibly diagnose this issue other then taking it to a Lexus dealer as according to the posts, it seems they aren't very sure until they replace about everything.
Well taken care of by an old lady who couldn't drive anymore, had all the records from Lexus, and even got the water pump replaced and the brake master cylinder along with the brakes, most of the maintenance other then the ATF was done already, and I will be soon performing a transmission pan drop along with a full fluid exchange using the return hose because the car shifts and hesitate until the its warmed up, I do plan to use Maxlife ATF. I also own a 2014 Avalon with the same engine and transmission, and that car has 98K but it shifts flawlessly. I'm not so sure WS is a good ATF.
Back to the issue that just started 1.5 weeks ago.
I thought the battery that came along with the car was the issue when the first startup hesitation occurred its an Interstate MTP-24F with 1000 CA and 800 CCA, I fully charged that battery using a NOCO battery tender, and it took 3 days and the battery was back to full health, but I decided since this was my wife's car, I would put a new battery in it to be on the safe side, I installed a new EverStart Maxx 24F from Walmart because it's affordable and its the only store easily available for warranty purposes out here in Laramie, WY. The temperature dropped to 15F and when I went to start the car, the same hesitation that occurred with the old battery happened, I blamed the new battery and discussed my options with Walmart and they said they would have to test it before giving me a new battery. I went home and tested the car multiple times and the same 1-2 hesitation during start up continued, then I reinstalled the old Interstate battery and the startup hesitation continued, I charged both the batteries and they are both at full charge within 10-20 minutes, the same batteries I tested in my Avalon and the car starts right up without any issues, so battery doesn't seem to be the issues, I looked at the battery terminals, they look good to me (but I don't know how to verify that).
I decided to clean the MAF and it came out the cleanest looking MAF I have ever seen, and I have seen some very dirty ones, I cleaned it anyways, and the Start up hesitation issue continued, its only 1-2 seconds and the vehicle starts, once it actually took 4 different tries to get the car to start.
I thought it could be the Coolant temperature sensor, as I have had that issue before in an older Toyota vehicle, I did a WOT(wide open throttle) to see if the car would start sooner, I tried it twice but couldn't really tell as the vehicle maybe started slight faster but maybe not. I'm not so sure its the coolant temperature sensor, but I could be wrong.
There are no CEL and it drivers perfectly fine except the terrible cold performance of the transmission
Two things of note, the vehicle radio doesn't work(previous owner mentioned it) but I haven't checked it as I just play my own music, and after reinstalling the battery after 3-4 days the keyless entry was struggling to be recognized, so it wouldn't lock or unlock the doors but somehow the vehicle would start up, after a long drive, the keyless entry started to function as intended. I checked both the key fob batteries, and they both tested at 3.01 volts so they seem to be good.
I googled the issue and couldn't really find anything definitive, but this link (https://forums.edmunds.com/discussio...rting-problems) has various reason why people had these issues, but looking at everything from that link, it would cost too much to start fixing about everything, would anyone happen to know how I could possibly diagnose this issue other then taking it to a Lexus dealer as according to the posts, it seems they aren't very sure until they replace about everything.
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