salimshah

You can do as many drain and fills as you like. The important hing being fill with the right amount of Toyota Type IV.

Would it gurantee that you will not have a failure? I am still wondering

Salim

skippy911

Yah I know it would be nice to have a definitive answer on to why the RX transmissions fail and why lexus themselves have not addressed the issues.

Philly RX

I dont know what to tell you guys...

I bought this car from a dealer auction almost 2 years ago with 37K as a lease return...

Right after that I changed all the fluids at a Lex Dealer.

My wife was driving this car to work (55miles) per day. She really loved the car and never abused it.

The tranny failed at 60,100 miles, why? I have no idea. When they changed the fluids the first time, I am sure they used the correct stuff but the tranny still failed.

Also when it failed, the color of the ATF oil was redish, without any burned smell...

I will try to get more info when I get the car back.

Thie is a great car and we planing to keep it for a long time...and just to be safe I will be changing the tranny fluid every 15K now

Some pictures of our car...

thomas1

Just join the ranks, on the other lexus site we discuss the probable reasons why the 99,2000, fail. Lexus does have a problem but will not admit it or back up their product like Honda/Accura did on their suv. They made drastic changes to the method of shifting in the 2004 RX to alleviate the problem, but then encountered the drive by wire problems. Lexus sucks when it comes to this problem. File a complaint with the NHTS board online, the list is growing. By the way the failure rate is only about 1 in 1000 according to some dealership on the east coast. Lexus of America treats us like dirt and continues to hope the problem will just go away. I am on my third transmission and changed the fluid every 30k, but now I change it every 15k or sooner. If it even hints at burnt, it is out of there. We have 134k on the car now, (34k) since the failure. Love the car, hate the tranny, and Lexus of America....corporate....I presently have a list of around 25 dissatisfied lexus owners with the RX300 tranny issue

vinster29

I have a 2000 RX300 AWD that has been jerking a lot lately. The vehicle only has 44K miles on it but I'm wondering whether I should trade it in or not. I have tried reseting the ECU and I am still getting a lot of jerking. Do you guys think that my transmission is going to go bad soon? I am planning on getting a drain and fill done soon and I am also going to ask my mechanic to take a look at my transmission. Is their anything in particular that I should tell him to look for when he inspects my transmission? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Lexmex

Tell him to pen up the transmission pan and check to see if he sees anything in the pan especially around the area where the magnets are...this should be instantaneous after taking off the pan and see if you have any big chunk of metal or what type of accumulation is there.

anulex

I can never understand how one person can be on third transmission and MOST others still on their original transmission and want to blame Lexus. You need to get a list of the hundreds thousands of satisfied customers that dont have any issues. I am not by any means saying that Lexus/Toyota is perfect. I bought an extended warranty b/c i knew they werent. I just did my 90K mile service. Changed timing belt and Waterpump. Tranny has no issues. I can tell you this. Most people only look up porblems on the internet. Most people dont come on the internet to brag how good their RX300 is. I bet you only started doing your forum searching since your tranny went bad the 1st, 2nd or 3rd time. If my transmission broke on my car 3xs. i would have to start looking at the way i a drive.

thomas1

the reason I am on my third is that the second replacement from Lexus was defective and doing such things as not shifting into drive after stopping and hitting gas peddle. Quite dangerous in stop and go traffic when the person behind you sees the lights go off and you dont move. Took me a month of 7visits to Lexus of Roseville to convince them to replace it again. They drove the darn thing for a week and half supposedly (yea right 3 miles change on the odometer) and said it was good. The replacement tranny fixed the problem something their techs couldnt do.... That is why I am on number 3....And their is definetly a problem on AWD 99 and 2000 RXs... Go to the other lexus forums and you will see the incredidble failure rates. And no I was on the site well before the failure of my first tranny. I used it for getting and giving helpful tips....The death of my tranny is that it cant take the slow communte on city streets in the Hot Sacramento summers. My wife communtes 15 miles every day one way in bumper to bumper traffic with no speed above 45 mph. That is death on this car when the tranny is constantly searching for overdrive ( since I have learned this I tell her to leave it out of overdrive unless she is on the freeway) I have added a tranny filter and do 15k fluid changes versus my previous 30k mile changes. I am considering adding a cooling fan to the aux cooler or moving the darn thing to a location where it will actually get some air...not buried in the wheel well with the windshield washer bottle blocking any air flow. Lexus of America sucks, plain and simple, At least Accura/Honda backed their trannies when they had issues. My wifes co-worker owns an MDX which did not fail, but Accura checked the gears, and gave a 100k warranty on the tranny, something lexus hasnt even considered. This in all probability will be the last Lexus in my household because of this lack of real customer satisfaction. Especially after Lexus of Roseville did such poor work on my car that parts were constantly not hooked up and missing during the tranny fiasco.... I had to have them put it on a rack toward the end so I could make sure the darn thing would make it home in one piece. Everything from torsion bar bolts missing to the tranny to engine bolts missing in three spots. And Lexus of America still giving me the sorry its past warranty song.....I will help others solve their problems and give input and solutions, but Lexus suckssssssss.

anulex

I understand. I use to drive my RX alot hence the 90K miles on the odometer but never in such harsh conditions. Now understand your transmission failure. But i hope u do understand that a failure rate of less than a certain percentage is not catastrophic. When i was in the market for a SUV when i was buying my RX, i looked at ALL the SUVs avialable in the $30-45K. I looked at the Grand Cherokee. Now that has an alarming rate of transmission failure. The MDX has had some isssues but as you said Acura has stood behind their product. Hopefully Lexus would stand behind theirs.

vinster29

I recently had a transmission flush done on my RX300 b/c it was jerking a lot when shifting gears(especially from 2nd-3rd gear). Anyway the car is still jerking when shifting gears and my mechanic said that he found some metal around the magnets. I'm not sure what to do at this point other than trading the car in. What do you think I should do to fix this problem? I would hate to trade it in now b/c it only has 44K miles on it and it has been trouble fee until this transmission problem arose. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Lexmex

Would like to know more about the size of the metal pieces found on the magnet.

Would also like to know if your RX is an AWD or FWD. Mine is an AWD, I noticed hesitation between 2nd and 3rd for a long time on my RX300, until last year I switched out the rear differential and transfer case fluids (and I was already past 100K miles).

vinster29

Thanks for the prompt reply LexMex. My RX300 is an AWD with 44K miles on it. I just recently had the transmission fluid, the rear differential fluid and the transfer case fluid changed. I just spoke with my mechanic who test drove the vehicle and said that the hesitation and jerking is normal for all AWD vehicles as they age. He said that their is some give between the front differential and the rear differential in AWD that causes the hesitation. I think that, that is a load of BS. I don't think he knows what he is talking about. This is the same mechanic that says that the RX300 transmission fluid should be changed every 30K miles and not every 15K. I'm thinking about taking my vehicle to my local Toyota dealership and having them check out the transmission. I think that is the only other option I have left. What do you guys think?

Lexmex

I don't know that hesitation is normal for all vehicles as they age, but it will be normal if that differential/transfer fluid is not changed out. I know mechanics who say this down here, and then I ask when was the last time differential fluid was changed out, and then they say something like it does not need changing out (which is not true, though it can go for much longer than the other oils/liquids in the vehicle). Still that hesitation was less noticeable after I changed out the gear fluid. Without really driving your vehicle, I can't say much more. Toyota may not necessarily say anything is wrong. If I were able to see the metal accumulation in your tranny pan, I probably would have a much, much better idea.

thomas1

the jerking is not normal, I have 135k miles on mine and it does not do that.i repeat, unless you are under a LExus extended warranty do no take it to toyota or Lexus. A tranny shop will be a lot cheaper, but get some recommendations from friends or online in your area. I changed my fluid every 30 k and it still failed, now I change at least every 15k and sometimes sooner. I just changed the Left drive axle on the front and dumped the fluid at that time because I changed the Axle seal in the tranny. Yes Lexus has a problem, though small by the un-scientific date that I get from all the sites, but neverthe less still failing for such low mileages on a 40K vehicle. I love the car otherwise, but Lexus sucks, and continues to keep us in the dark hoping that it will go away. The failures keep rolling in. It is not a matter of maybe, but when. I paid $4300 for the tranny, but I suggested a friend on their failure to go to a tranny shop and it was done for $2200. Big difference and trust me the warrranty is no better. one year and that is it...... Good luck and file your complaints with the NHTS board online. Oh go ahead and complain to Lexus of America for general purpose, but dont expect a darn thing. Have a great day....Tom

Philly RX

After Lexus installed a new transmission they told me that the new tranny is under warranty untill the powetrain on my car expires, which is in 5 month...
I thought if its a new one it should have at least some warranty time, 1, 2 years

anyone knows something about this?

Thanks.