Well, despite my best efforts, my transmission is shot at 149,000 miles. I got the vehicle in 2005 with about 50,000 miles on it. I feared this day may come so I dropped the transmission pan yearly, changed the filter and refilled with Royal Purple ATF.

About a month ago, I noticed an odd sound coming from the drivers side of the engine. It sounded like a high pitched hum that mirrored the engine RPMs. At first I thought it was a starter still engaged but quickly ruled that out. The sound went away when the engine warmed up. Over the course, the noise became more pronounced all the time. While I had it in for a state inspection, I had Toyota look into it. They suspected it was coming from the transmission. I dropped the pan, changed/inspected the filter and refilled with RP ATF. The metal in the magnets was normal. Last week, the transmission took a serious turn for the wore. The sound was fluctuating and the vibrations, slipping, and hard shifting began.

We took my wife's Camry to a local dealer that had a steal on a 4Runner. The dealer said if we could drive the RX to them they would give us 5K for it. If it was towed in it would be significantly less. Given the circumstances, we opted to trade it in and I limped her in for one last drive. The circumstances are: Shot transmission, wife knowing how much money and time I've put into the RX, the radio/nav being bricked for the last year, price to install new transmission vs value of vehicle.

Just wanted to thank everyone here for their valuable! I honestly would never have the information and DIY knowledge without this side.

 

Hey you will love your 4runner, join the Toyota Nation site and learn there too......

 

Love it so far. Been on Toyota Nation for a while with for our Camry. Nice place!

 

TN is a good place. I've learned a lot from reading their Camry forums.

 

So sorry to lose you, blueridge. It sounds like you made a good decision, and just in the nick of time! I agree with you about how much help this forum has been. Good luck to you!

 

It's been a pleasure, blueridge!
The 4Runner is a beast of a machine, enjoy!

 

Enjoy your new ride blueridge! And best wishes to you.

 

Thanks guys. Hope to still hang around and offer up some opinions, advice, etc. I haven't been on here in the last year as much as I had hoped though.

Funny, we got the big V-8 in the 4Runner and it gets the same mileage as the RX!

 

I used to get 15 in the 4Runner when we bought it and now get a about 17, but the RX gets about 19 with my commute now.

 

I'm seeing 18 on both. Hadn't seen 19 in a while on the RX. You use the GC 0-30 in the 4Runner too? Thinking of using that. I've used it all the time since seeing you mentioned it here. Also put it in our Camry.

 

Yes, using the GC 0-30 now.

 

This is not the first time I heard that even with yearly changing ATF, the failure is still unavoidable.

I am wondering which type of fluid you filled into your transmission? Is it conventional or synthetic ATF?

 

He said Royal Purple.....

 

I have been of the opinion that frequent (before 30k) transmission fluid change does not hurt the transmission, but there is no guarantee that it helps in extending the life.

Salim

 

You would like to think you are avoiding a catastrophic failure by changing the fluid out once a year but yes I agree there is no guarantee.

For the life of me I cannot understand while the "official line" (meaning the maintenance supplement you get with the Lexus vehicles) is that for the most part, if you don't tow anything, you don't ever need to change the transmission fluid. That never made any sense to me...oil breaks down over time and use.

But if I read my '05 RX330 manual supplement, it says to replace the transmission fluid at 60 and 120k miles, only if you tow, use in the desert, or drive primarily on dirt roads. Basically I need never to replace my fluid if I go by the manual.