wifesrx300

new member here, been lurking on the board for quite a while. we have a 2002 RX300 4WD with 96000 mi. well, starting this past saturday, the car would not move when put in R. it's happened a couple times so far. after a couple of attempts, it did manage to back up, but after a lurch. talked to the dealer this morning and he says the tranny is dead. not sure what lexus is going to do for me, but all of my service was religiously done at the dealer. i've even had the tranny fluid drained and refilled every 15k. not a very happy lexus owner right now as you guys could imagine. i hope the dealer does right in this situation. thanks for hearing me rant and rave....

gsrthomas

iTrader: (1)

Do you have extended warranty?

Are these transmissions prone to failure? I have 110K on mine and it still runs like new. I change the tranny fluid frequently also.

wifesrx300

no, i did not purchase an extended warranty.
i had no previous tranny problems until saturday. the car has been bullet proof up until this point......

salimshah

Here is another post that says, the frequent change of transmission fluid does not provide additional safety.

Salim

lexus114

Well,lets face it people,these trannies were just not built strong enough for AWD.They seem fine for FWD,but when you add on the all wheel,Forget it.Kind of reminds me of what GM pulled with the turbo-hrdromatic 200 (Turbo 200) Wasnt built strong enough for half of the vehicles they used it in.

salimshah

I have not seen any solid data that says the awd types are only ones that are failing.

I am guessing that we have 40-60 reported fails out of a customer base of ?????

I would not venture to guess how representative the failure count is.

Salim

thomas1

Well I do, The failures have all been AWD. Please talk to the dealership and tell them in a firm but polite tone that you expect a good faith, good customer replacement of the transmission as you have had all the service done by them. 80% of the time they will step up and give you either 100% or some high degree of assistance financially. On the other lexus site and this one those whom have been loyal with the service have been getting a break. Good Luck. By the way file a complaint with the NHTSB online about the failure, you will need your vin # . Maybe someday Lexus of America will get off their butt and do a recall. Also call Lexus of AMerica customer service and see if they will assist.

trhs75

Our Lexus dealer (Des Moines, IA) has had good luck with transmissions so far. The advisor tells me they've only had to open one Lexus transmission since the franchise was started back in '89 or 90. Maybe we drive like wussies around here, or else maybe we're all careful with the maintenance AND a little bit lucky. I'm hoping for the luck. I have a '99 RX300 with 118K miles.

salimshah

thomas1, you have been keeping a tally: do you have year of production, drive type (awd/fwd) data breakdown.

The earlier models had viscous coupling for the rear and it would be nice to know when Lexus switched and if that change made a difference.

I recollect that FWD models also reported failure. Typically the failed units were well maintained and no one mentioned abuse.

Salim

thomas1

I believe that when VSC was introduced the vicous coupling was eliminated. I am sorry cant remember when, maybe 2001. The folks that contacted me were all AWD tranny failures. I have not heard from anyone with FWD. On the other site a gentleman called West really digs into the differences of the drive system. Advantages and disadvantages of both system. the 99 and 2000 definetley had the viscous coupling.

Lexmex

2001 was the likely changeover. You know, I still have that failed AWD RAV4 tranny lying around at my uncle's place, at some point we could take a peek inside. All I know is the guy who strengthened my tranny in December took that one apart really quick and said the pump was basically less than useful was the translation, but he said it had some issues below in the valve body.

thomas1

Yea the valve body gets so full of metal fragments that it has to be dissasembled and cleaned. Very time consumming because of all the little shuttle valves and ***** that are in there. I tried that to save my trannny but some of the surfaces had been scored by the metal fragments.

Lexmex

If anyone has a list of possible transmission part failure suspects as thomas1 is mentioning, we can certainly take a look in the near future at that tranny I have at my uncle's place.

wifesrx300

thanks everyone for the advice.
right now i am waiting to hear back from the dealer. at least they gave me a brand new RX hybrid for the wife to drive. i told them how disappointed i was about this and that i expect some sort of assistance with the cost. the dealer assured me that they will do everything they can to help. he mentioned that i have been a great customer over the years, had the tranny serviced every 15k and haven't missed a scheduled maintenance since i bought the car back in 2001. we'll see what happens....

MellonC00

Before this happened, did you ever hear any noise coming from the transmission when going from, let's say, D to R? Like a "click" or "clang."

Did you ever get hesitation going from 1st to 2nd? Not a long one but something like a split second? How about from 3rd to 4th?

Did you ever hear whining noise come from your transmission during low speed driving?

Did you like to use your "overdrive" button to disengage "overdrive" much when you wanted to slow down your car?

Did you ever tow your vehicle? If so, how much weight did you tow?