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over forty years and this is the first transmission that went out. We drove our
RX 300 like a baby. The transmission went out at 107,000 miles.
I bought the very first LS 400 in 1990 and it was a GREAT car. I drove it
for over 300,000 miles and it was greatest care I ever owned. Lexus
has gone down hill and their slogan "THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF PERFECTION" is a lie and toal fraud on the buying public.
I JUST bought an '02 RX 300 (AS-IS) from a luxury car dealer, and am wondering/worrying about the transmission on my 4wd car w/95K miles and towing pkg. Service history is not available; the car was transported by truck from the east coast to Denver, where I live.
Symptoms include 3 episodes so far (in 2 weeks of ownership) of what I would call a "hard miss" in the engine(?)-which I thought might be a clogged injector-leading to the immediate flashing of the check engine light (actually pulsated on/off every 1-2 seconds, and after about 2 minutes stayed on)-along with the VSC light in the upper left corner of the instrument panel. Fuel injector cleaner seemed to help initially, but this has recurred twice since then. The condition led immediately to weak/hesitant acceleration (I didn't push it, and was very easy on the gas) for a couple of minutes after the occurrence of this. Feels like an engine miss more than anything else, but I've never had an automatic transmission problem before (I usually drive a stick).
There is also a sense of mild hesitation when proceeding forward in drive (D) from a standstill, but nothing in reverse. I have not yet checked the transmission fluid, nor had the tranny inspected/serviced by a pro. I would also add that I have the extended warranty purchased from the dealer, which should pay for major repairs if needed (minus deductible, of course).
Vehicle still has the original-size 225/70 R16 tires, but there is a good bit of tread wear for the front tires, and they will need replacement soon.
A few questions I need some help with:
Has anyone experienced these symptoms prior to tranny failure?
The significance of the VSC light, and if illuminated, does that prevent the car from entering OD?
Does parking on an incline withOUT the parking brake fully engaged have any bearing on tranny failure in this-or any other-vehicle?
Is there any merit to the statement I've heard from 2 tire dealers, to the effect that a mere 3/32nd" difference in tire height (front to rear) due either to different tire manufacturer's specs, or tread wear differential)-frequently leads to tranny failure in this-or any other 4WD-vehicle? Could this be the reason so many of these trannies have failed?
One person has apparently had some success with Lucas tranny additive-anyone else tried this, with what kinds of results?
This has been a very informative site, I've learned a lot, (and will follow the various recommendations of the contributors)-and hope to avoid the travails of those who've been stuck with these repairs (of course, I wish I hadn't bought the car in the first place, after reading all this).....thanks!
As of the '01 model year the VC fluid was reformulated to always remain "flaccid", no significant level of drive coupling to the rear wheels. Instead of the VC these later models us TC braking and engine dethrottling to prevent loss of directional control due to loss of traction at the primary driving, front, wheels.
So, no worry about drive line component failure due to disparate F/R tire circumference.
Be that as it may I would rotate the rear wheels to the front and buy new tires to put on the rear. The better tires should ALWAYS be at the rear.
TC/VSC is always disabled with a CE, Check Engine.
"..Service history is not available.."
Most Lexus dealers will publish the service history given the VIN.
"...(AS-IS)....purchased an extended warranty..."
An oxymoron...?
"....w/95K....(AS-IS)...purschased an extended warranty..."
seems odd, VERY.
Don't ever tell the extended warranty company that you purchased the vehicle AS-IS.
I've checked the tranny fluid; it is a brownish pink and thus, from what I've read here, needs replacement. As to its level, I have yet to determine that, since the car was cold when I checked its condition.
Any knowledge as to the additive question, or parking on an incline without the parking brake being engaged? I automatically do this every time; my wife can't seem to remember to do so at all....
I never use an additive.
Selling a vehicle as-is and/but with a warranty puts the dealers ethical nature into question IMMHO.
anyway, another question- is it OK to mix brands of struts on the same RX 300 vehicle? I am purchasing a set of Gabriels for the rear, but don't know if I can find the same brand for the front-opinions out there on this?
I had the transmission rebuilt at another, local shop. They took it out for a test drive and it broke again. They rebuilt it again and took it out for another drive. And, it broke again. The 3rd time, they then had it trucked to the Lexus dealer so they could reset the computer before it was driven. Runs just fine now. I have over 12,000 miles on the rebuilt transmission and it's still running like a dream. I would trust a local, good, shop over Lexus. And, they gave me a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty with free annual checkups and fluid changes.
With this in mind, and having seen the condition of the car after the accident, the tranny issue pales in importance-we will get another one.
The RX 300 transmission was not designed for AWD.
Sue Lexus for their fraud motto, "Relentless Pursuit of Excellence."
I think the key word is "Pursuit". They are apparently still pursuing perfection, like the Borg.
Anyway, I thought it was "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection". When my '99 RX was newly introduced in 1998, it was "Something Wicked This Way Comes", also referring to the re-designed GS.
The earliest to have problems acknowledged by Lexus were 2WD models. Mine was one of them. So there goes the theory of AWD being the problem. The AWD transmission was similar, but different.
2WD's had problems right out of the gate. Valve body defects, debris in the fluid, burning fluid, and really bad shift problems when cold (it had to be colder than usual in So Cal for the 1-2 shift to slam back and forth).
They did finally fix it, but not on until the fourth time I brought it in to a different dealer. They ultimately fixed it with a brand new transmission ordered from Kyushu under warrantee, which has been fine ever since. Nothing unusual in the fluid now, but change it very often like any car. The dealer will not include transmission service in maintanence packages, and will not advise you until it needs to be rebuilt.
I would look for something in better condition. Good luck.
It happened to me again the same day in drive also. I went and got my trans fluid changed
hopeing that would solve the problem. In Feb. 11' I was driving on the GSP in NJ, and the engine was pulling and not moving right. I got home OK, next day the car would not engage in gear. I had it towed to our local trans shop and I got the bad news. The trans was shot.
cost $3300 with 1 year guarantee. The car has 117000 mi.
I had two front tires replaced in June. Does anyone know if this affected the car. Mine is a AWD
I'm now at 80,000 and don't expect to reach 100,000.
It happened to me again the same day in drive also. I went and got my trans fluid changed
hopeing that would solve the problem. In Feb. 11' I was driving on the GSP in NJ, and the engine was pulling and not moving right. I got home OK, next day the car would not engage in gear. I had it towed to our local trans shop and I got the bad news. The trans was shot.
cost $3300 with 1 year guarantee. The car has 117000 mi."
Sounds like the fluid change was too little too late on one of these after those clues, but maybe bought you a few more miles. The Lexus dealer doesn't include tranny service as part of maint. packages. Tranny fluid in these light-duty units needs to be changed pretty often. Once it's contaminated with worn parts and heat beating up the fluid it's usually a sign.
On the plus side, you did get 117,000 out of it. Hopefully the rebuild will give you updated parts that will last at least as long or more. You can have the rebuilt unit's fluid changed at least every year or at most two by your independent shop. Make sure they use only type IV fluid, not Dextron universal stuff and a separate additive to "simulate" type IV like they usually do.
Let us know how it goes.
There was no recommended ATF service schedule for my '01 RX300 when it was shipped from the factory. Once Lexus discovered the design flaw that was revised to a need for an ATF drain/flush/refill every 15,000 miles. Then that schedule was later revised to "check the ATF condition at each oil change but do not exceed 30,000 miles with ATF service".
IMMHO the '01 and up RX300 series pre-mature transaxle failures are the result of "fudging" the control firmware so that the real-time ATF line pressure is kept slightly elevated at all times. That has resulted in localized ATF heating, localized to/at the gear type ATF pump. Additional ATF heating that was not planned for with the abolition of the old ATF line pressure control system.
That's also why you are not likely to find a F/awd '01 or after RX300 without a factory tow package that includes the external ATF cooler.
With the RX330 DBW was used to delay the onset of engine torque until the "real-time" ATF line pressure control system could catch up with the fluid flow demand if a second, sequentual, gear shift/change was required almost immediately after the previous one.
Which is why, even to this day, Toyota and Lexus drivers encounter a 1-2 second re-acceleration downshift delay/hesitation from time to time.
i HAVE BEEN DRIVING 45 YEARS AND NEVER HAD A TRANSMISSION GO OUT LET ALONE TWO FROM THE SAME COMPANY.
SHAME ON LEXUS FOR A POOR PRODUCT.
Toyota quality is a joke!
No, the design "flaw" was introduced with the very first RX300 and has now propagated throughout the industry, not just Toyota/lexus/Scion.
DBW is now being used to "hide" the design flaw from the public's "eye".
Design Flaw: Serious FE improvement via abolition of the old ATF line pressure control technique.
Think hydraulic power stearing pump that doesn't "pump" except as a REACTION, after-the-fact reaction, to actual flow demand. Result: Power stearing boost has a noticeable delay.
Often as much as 1-2 seconds in the case of the new ATF line pressure control system.
I am willing to join any group that proceeds a law action.
I feel for persons who find they need to drop a few thousand bucks on what they thought was a vehicle with anvil-like durability but come to find it's not. Regardless of low mileage, these cars are 11-13 years old and the prescriptive maintenance did not recommend nor include any idea that they would not wear out.
Cars with unusually low mileage may not have had the benefit of being covered under a warrantee claim even though the original warrantee was unusually long 7 years / 70,000 miles. Those who had higher mileage during that period and who had transmission problems (many did not have any problems) were covered under warrantee.
I think the best you can do is learn to check your fluid yourself (a one-minute exercise, change your fluid (not power flush) as often as you might on any car you want to keep a long time right from the beginning, use the correct type 4 fluid (not Dex + additive) when you have it changed.
If you notice fluid beginning to get contaminated long after your warrantee expired, shop around for a good, trustworthy trans shop and get an estimate long before waiting for it to start exhibiting problems, at which time it's days are numbered and you won't be in a good position to shop. The negative energy on a class-action suit at this point is likely only to help attorneys rather than pay to fix your car. Good luck.
The left sidebar shows File a Complaint. We are on our third transmission in the 2000 RX300. The second transmission failed to last one year on the warranty, so Lexus paid for everything.
On day #1 of the third transmission, we pulled a sample of transmission fluid from the dipstick well, using silicone tubing and a 10 cc syringe obtained from the local farm animal store. A sample taken four months later showed an increase in aluminum from the time = 0 value. The 12 month sample showed the increase approaching exponential. We took a fourth sample last week and expect the erosion of the transmission to be very evident.
AOA in Arizona is the analytical lab that sends us the report on the metals suspended in the transmission fluid. Their main business is failure prediction of aircraft engines. Once we have the final sample plotted on the graph, 20 months of data should show that the observed 4 month sample was an early indication of the transmission again heading towards failure. The Lexus dealer was very surprised to learn we were working with the licensed analytical lab in assessing the transmission problem.
AOA is also known as Phoenix Tribology Lab
csr.phoenix@alstribology.com
alstribology.com
I ordered my fluid sampling kits from Chief Aircraft:
http://www.chiefaircraft.com/airsec/Aircraft/OilSystem/OilAnalysis.html
Below is the non-HTML report format:
Sample Summary Report from Auto-Email
Date: Sep 28, 2010
Time: 09:00:42 AM CST
Last Auto-Email Date: Apr 02, 2010
Sample Id
(Fluid Category) Cond. Submitted by Unit ID Component
Description Date
Taken
Tested Recommendation
44020152136
Oil A MARK TUTTLE(20507916)
BEND OR)
Contact: TUTTLE, MARK JT6HF10U3Y01534 TRANSMISSION
09/14/10
09/24/10 Torque converter/pump wear indicated. All other wear rates normal. Abrasive and other contaminant levels are acceptable. Action: Resample next service interval to further monitor.
"..Lexus dealer was very surprised..."
Me too.
Might your sample testing have the exact same outcome with a perfectly good, well designed, transaxle..??
It was only with the adoption of DBW with the RX330 series that the design flaw was more properly addressed. Traded one problem, design flaw, for another.
The transmission cannot handle AWD especially if you do a lot of around town driving.
SHAME ON LEXUS FOR BUILDING SUCH A PIECE OF CRAP!
CLASS ACTION SHOULD BE STARTED
A whole LOT like the debris that gets deposited on my front wheels due to brake use, brake pad wear.
No metallic "fines" on any of the 3(?) magnets.
You COULD say it that way.
With the advent of the initial introduction of the RX series Lexus adopted a new ATF line pressure control system/technique, a "real-time" line pressure control technique wherein ATF line pressure is "relaxed" unless a shifting procedure is in process. FE gains resulted.
That new technique, now put behind the curtain, out of the public eye, via adoption of DBW, has now been adopted THROUGHOUT the industry.
So the instantaneous clutch coupling for some downshift sequences was not firm enough initially. That "flaw" is now being "masked" via DBW, the engine torque will not rise in accordance with gas pedal position until the downshift clutches are fully and firmly seated.
With the third transmission, we began sampling the transmission fluid over time and the data now shows an exponential increase in aluminum at 20 months since the replacement. Earlier samples confirmed this trend, even at 1-month of the replacement event.
View the data at this link:
http://www.powergridtech.com/RX300//May2011.JPG
Aluminum is the only metal observed to be increasing in this manner, of 10 metals assayed. We have solid data supporting the pending failure of this third transmission. ">
Glad to hear you got some help with the costs. Who did the replacement work? Who did you call to get Lexus to reimburse you?