Yea, 168k on AWD, makes me mad, because I always maintained mine, and I know my neighbors was not. He is the type that fixes it only when it breaks. Oil changes are about it besides brakes. He just watched when my tranny failed at 100k and that was how it was. they still have the car and it has 190k miles now....

 

I assumed I had a screen filter being that most RXs seem to have that type but others have reported finding paper in theirs. I wish I dropped the pan and checked before having the trans rebuilt. Changing that filter, whatever type it was, may have added a little more life to the trans.
15K drain and fill was not started at day 1. It was about 40K when I noticed trans fluid looked dirtier than it should. Drain and fill schedule started shortly after that.
Transmission techs rebuilt transmissions. They rarely discuss or even know "root cause". What they do know is the trans is pretty much all tore up. This usually includes all the wear parts which come in the rebuilt kit plus the planatary gears. I did try to pursue the root cause from 4 different sources. First and second was the Toyota and Lexus dealers which I thought about using for a trans replacement. They knew nothing other than they change a lot of RX transmissions. Next was IPT performance transmissions. They have been discussed on the forum before. They build high performance Toyota transmissions and ship worldwide. The only info from them was that they rebuilt the trans using beefier than stock parts. Last was the local trans shop I used to rebuild the trans. He did a lot of RX transmissions. But as far as root cause all he knew was "it's always all tore up in there and plantary gears are shot". Is there one small item that fails and clogs the filter and pump causing all the other failures or is it just multiple failures. It's sort of a what came first the chicken or the egg? What the trans shop did claim was that he used a rebuild kit with improved parts plus he uses a felt filter and Mobil 1 trans fluid. He claims he has had no returns. I only have 10K on the rebuild, but so far so good.

 

It could be just the fact that with highway miles your trans pretty much reaches overdrive and stays there for many miles. With the country road type of commute the trans does a lot more shifting. But it still looks like all these transmissions fail no matter what your style. It just takes longer with highway use.

 

^^ ALL? Eventually yes.

If you mean prematurely, please provide data.

Unfortunately it is a major cash outlay if the transmission breaks but we must deal with it in an impersonal manner.

Salim

PS:
This is getting off topic so please feel free to start a new thread.

 

Wow, i may have a better chance if i just change the fluid every 25,000 miles and totally remove the filter and let it free flow. It looks like i better start saving up my cash! Was this vehicle org. built on a Camry frame, engine and trans.? With the extra weight and wind resistance the trans. gets more of a workout. Just guessing?

 

Yes, they will all eventually fail as you said. Many other transmissions never reach failure but end up as scrap due to the car reaching end of life for other reasons.