Ok, so here's the deal...
I went ahead and got a price from Lexus to replace the Tbelt/water pump, belts, thermostat and flush and replace coolant...$997 + tax, and they have a 20% of coupon. Not too shaby.

So my dilemma continues...as some of you know I'm a bit concerned about not only the "potential" trans issues, but "potential" sludge issues as well.
So I removed the oil cap from the engine..and noticed quite a bit of caked up oil directly beneath the cap..to the point where you can actually scrape it off with your finger. Took pics if anyone wants to see..

Is this a potential sign of sludge?
When you remove your oil cap, what does it look like in there.

I'm a little concerned

 

All I see is the dark brown fabric splash baffle. I would think you would need to remove the valve cover to get a realistic view of what's happening.

 

Well mine is pretty gunky under the oil cap, however I have pulled the front valve cover and do not see any signs of sludge. I think it is the nature of our engine. Oil is slung under the cap and just bakes or something under the cap. Removing the front cover is easy enough....if you are really worried yank it and look.

 

Did you re-use your valve cover gasket? It`s rubber isn`t it?

 

Hi Lex- The valve cover gasket could be reused but I wouldn't advise it unless it had been recently replaced. I pulled the front cover on my DIL's recently to check for sludge,etc and the inner part showed fine cracking as the result of internal engine heat. I decided to replace it and the gaskets came as a pair with 6 spark plug hole seals- Fel Pro at a price that escapes me now but was quite reasonable. I also replaced the spark plug seals because they also showed signs of deterioration. If you do replace at least the front one (should you take the cover off) be sure that you take the build date if you have a 99 because they show 2 for 99- an early and a late and they are quite different. Also, hers showed quite a bit of the crud where you pour the oil in but there was no sign of gelling or sludge. There were deposits in other random spots in the engine that had the same "cinder like" deposits with no ryme or reason as to why they formed where they did. I believe just a result of the oil and crankcase running hotter than on other cars.

 

CODE58 is correct on this. You can re-use the valve cover gasket, however this gets into my theory of having "wear" items loose and not replacing them. If you have something like that off the car, just go ahead and put a new one on, I never understood using the same used part when it comes to maint. parts, lol. I went to the dealer and got the front gasket and 3 plug seals, wasn't much like 19.00 or something and put it back on the car.

 

I agree with you,but their definitely seems to be some heat issues going on with these motor`s.

 

Has anyone had a chance to look under the cap?
Curious if there's a bunch of gook(dried oil) just trying to make sure it's not excessive.

 

Mine had some varnish looking stuff on it,I just kinda wiped it off.And it looked better after I ran Seafoam through the motor.I don`t really think it is something to be too concerned about,it is not an area that has good flow,or anything going on.So you get what ever blows on their/comes into contact,and just bakes their.

 

As one who has traveled the oil gel path, here are the main symptons: sudden oil loss, sludge and smoke from the tail pipe. The smoke may not be that apparent and where the oil goes is still a mystery. Now the sludge will be obvious and can be easily seen by removing the front valve cover. Some failures occur with minimum sludge others have occured with the head totally gunked up. It's a strange and unpredicable issue. I beleive very few engines are impacted, but it can and does happen. Get the new valve covers to help ease the worries and change that oil every 3K miles. By the way, my new engine warranty was for 1 year, unlimited mileage and ran out 04/14/08. Sold my RX on 04/01/08.

 

You think 3,000 mile oil changes even with synthetic oil?

 

As long as you use synthetic, you should be able to go at least 5K miles between oil changes. Mobil 1 is the best, in my opinion, and has now developed an even better synthetic that can take you far beyond that. I've been using Mobil 1 with SuperSyn (and recently the improved version) and changing my oil every 7,500 miles per the owner's manual for the "regular" type of driving I do (5,000 is recommended for "severe" conditions) and never had a problem.

 

Thanx I think 5,000 is about right,on synthetic.

 

As a non-user of synthetic oil I can't really comment on how often it should be changed under the heat conditions generated by the 3.0 V6 engine. I would make the oil change a couple of thousand miles sooner than the synthetics manufacturer's recomendation though. If Mobil says you can go 7500 change it at 5500. Better safe than sorry, especially considering the settlement warranty timeframe from the lawsuit is running out quickly for many of the early 3.0 engines.