Driving in very hot weather, stopped at light,

Check wiring harness to temp sensor. Conduct a voltage test on sensor using a DVOM.

you could have a slow coolant leak. the coolant fan may not be functioning. Does it run hot if you are driving or when you come to a stop like at a red light? AutoZone, has a loaner tool program they have a pressure tester. its like a bike air pump. you pump up and it has a guage and it builds air pressure in coolant system...if there is a leak the guage will drop down, and the pressure will temporarily cause a slow leak to leak fairly heavy and makes it easy to locate. if you don't have a leak.. I would like to help you solve the problem but need the info I asked about earlier.

is the cooling fan cutting in ? run the engine whilst stationary with the hood up , give it a little gas 2000revs and wait for the temp gauge to rise ,the cooling fan should be heard cutting in , and off again once cooled the engine temp down ,this may take 10-15 mins but you have to be sure the fan is cutting in or you may cook the engine

My Lexus es 300 most often when engine is warm will not shift in to last gear. Stop engine start it will shift ok when engine is cool. engine pings kock senores. When in gear at high speed the car runs like new?? Car run bad in hot weather. VSC light on. Red light looks a circle with red line through it comes on not always..

dose it run hot with ac on or open hiway?

well, driving it 30 minutes after it over heated might have cause serious engine damage, warped head, and other bad engine wear, let the engine cool down park it in a level place and check the fluids, if the water has a milky substance in it then you have a bad problem, if the oil is low then check for leaks, check the transmission fluid for proper fluid level and that could stop the hard shifting.

the smoking could be coming from the fluids that leaked out and when they get hot will start smoking, antifreeze residue will smoke for a short time, it might just need to burn off

u need to take somewhere and have codes scanned (most parts store do this for free) my best guess is it probably a bad coolant temp sensor (u have 2 of them one for gauge and one for computer) one that probably bad is one for computer (should be one with two wires)(one with one wire is for gauge) if temp sensor is reading that the motor hot it will adjust air/fuel ratio for a hot motor but if motor is actually cold it run bad
But to know for sure u need to at least get codes scanned

jtg

Sounds like your coil pack is going bad. When they start to go bad, they will fail when they get hot but when they eventually cool down the car will run as normal. I would replace your coil and that should take care of your problem. Thanks for using FixYa!

change the thermostat and the temp gauge in the radiator