It is covered under warranty. Just a heads up on the history of this so others can keep a lookout for a similar happenings. About 9 months ago I posted here about my wife's 99 RX not going into reverse one day. It would go into drive so I pushed it out of the garage put it in drive and heard and felt a very loud CLUNK. After that it drove just fine. I contacted Lexus and they indicated that if a dash light wasn't on the computer would not indicate any kind of failure and for me to just drive on if all seemed ok.

Ok, went in for the 60,000 mile and$650 service last week. This week the wife reports no reverse again just as before. Once in gear it seemed ok but now she gets a clunking noise even when it does engage reverse. Wonder if the transmission fluid change caused the problem to surface? If anyone has a similar problem they may want to try changing fluid to facilitate an early failure so they can get warranty coverage. Anyway, went back to Lexus for rear brakes and another warrany issue and to check tranny. Get THE call. Internal transmission damage codes but due to 70,000 mile powertrain warranty this 6 1/2 year old RX with 60,000 gets a reman tranny. Thank goodness for the powertrain coverage. My question now is will a rebuilt tranny holdup ok or should I go on and think about trading near end of its warranty? Anyone elses experience here would be appreciated.

See main page for my experience with the infamous exhaust crack repair which my dealer fixed for free. I must be fortunate to have a great dealer in Chattanooga. The point here is to alert others that the failure to engatge reverse may be an early warning sign of what is coming. anyone else with a similar failure?

 

Todd, nice report: no problems up to 51k on the '99; I drive really conservatively from what I read on these threads.

 

Todd,

Congratulations on your repairs. It sounds like they're treating you well down in Chatanooga. I had a similar problem today with my transmission. About two minutes after pulling out of the driving I heard a loud clunk in the driver's side of the engine. Although the engine light came on right after I heard the nopise, all seemed well...until I got onto the highway. That is where I discoverd that the car would not shift out of 3rd gear. At around 40-45 the rpms are around 4000 and at 55 the rpms are at 5000. The car has only 35000 miles on it and is still under warranty. I took it to the dealer this afternoon and have not heard from them yet. Hopefully the dealer will take as good of my car as they did with yours. I'll post the results as soon as I find out.