TunedRX300

You should not have a failure at 45K, when I changed mine @ 54K, a liter came out and fine metal debris has made oil close to the drain plug black but there should be enough oil to keep gears cool. Keep us posted on what Lexus told you.

shardita

Well I just got word from the Lexus dealer. He's what they mentioned. He tells me that it seems to be the Transfer Case...something about the rear wells...very large problem... It's going to cost over $5,000.00 to fix? What really makes me upset is that I just got a major tune up from this dealer in March of this year. It was the 40,000 mile service. I paid almost 600 for it. What do you guys think?

TunedRX300

You mean rear main seal? If it is, try negotiate with Lexus since your powertrain warranty just expired, this is a common failure for RX300 and Lexus knows about it. I have it replace under warranty this summer. Depends on your skill, you may get Lexus to pick up part or all of it under goodwill. Good luck

shardita

The guy mentioned transfer case.....

shardita

Well the Lexus dealer keeps telling me it the transfer case along with the transmission. They told me it will cost around 9k to fix that's without labor according to this guy. Does anyone here know how much these parts cost?

03RX300

I am guesing but if the Transfer Case is the "differential" then the parts inside would cost @ $500 for an american car. From what I know about a US car tranny, it costs @ $1500 for the clutch parts etc that go inside a regualr style of tranny. BTW, I have put new diff-gears and a new tranny in my Corvette myslef so I know a little about the america stuff, but not much about the foregin car part costs.

I am major sorry to hear that you are having this problem, but if they did the maintenace then I would think that you should have been OK.

Larry
INDY
(formerly Clearwater & Melbourne for 15 years)

ericok

The transfer case is what splits the engine power between the front and rear wheels. The bad news is that on the Lexus the transfer case and the transmission are one unit so if one goes you have to replace both. A Lexus transmission by itself, from the dealer, is about $4000 so an AWD unit would be a lot more (although I did see an AWD unit on the internet for $2400). Presumably the dealer's, and the internet's, units are rebuilt.

DDLexus

You might try and purchase a used one from Grahamsauto.com. I think that is the website. This wrecking yard has all kinds of Lexus cars and trucks. They're in Alabama near Birmingham. You might be supprised on the cost of a used one too...