DavidEW

I have a 99 AWD RX300 with about 120K on her. Yesterday I experienced what seems like the tranny freaking out. I put the car in reverse and it didn't move just seemed like it was in neutral - after a couple revs it slammed into gear and I backed up a few feet and it felt like I was driving over tree trunks. Put it in drive and again it didn't move until a couple revs later when it thunked into gear. Drove down the street and it thunked hard when upshifting. Got on the highway and it was fine. The rest of the day there was no problems at all or today. My wife then said she's experienced the same thing two other times before over the last couple months.
I checked the ATF and it was still pink and at the full level but there was bright sparkly tiny metal bits. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's probably a bad sign.
Then I took it to my local independent Lexus mechanic and he said the only thing they do is get a used certified one from Lexus and swap it out. He said they don't bother to rebuild it's just too much work and the cost is usually over what it cost to drop in a rebuilt/used one. Quoted me a rough estimate of $3600. I puked in my mouth. I don't have that kind of cash to drop into this old car it just doesn't make financial sense. My mechanic said I can check around with transmission specialists to see if they can rebuild it cheaper but warned me that it would not last like the Lexus one they would drop in.
I called a couple places and they said they didn't work on Lexus transmissions. Another place said they would rebuild it but the cost quote was a minimum $3500 depending on what they found after cracking everything open. And he said most likely the cost would be more than dropping in a used one.
Is my tranny on it's death throes and giving me the warnings? Do I have any less costlier options? $4000 is about what the entire car is worth so right now my only option is to light it on fire and roll it off a cliff. I'd love to keep it if it's possible to find a cheaper solution even if it only keeps the car going another year or two. I was told a complete flush would not help and it would probably actually hurt more since it would dislodge who knows what.
Advice?

Thanks-

David

fastnoypi

your description of sparkly tiny metal bits in the fluid and the slippage you have sound like at minimum the clutch pack is gone. A used transmission from a wreck yard is about 800-1500 including core. Add in your mechanics labor cost to remove and replace your old transmission so you can decide it is worthwhile to take the gamble . Other posts in this forum state 2600-3500 for a rebuilt transmission. What was the transmission fluid change frequency on your RX?

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...16k-miles.html

JAB

$3600 for a a certified rebuilt transmission from Lexus, installed, is actually not a bad price. Happened to my 99 AWD RX about 10 years ago, also at about 120K. I feel your pain.

bordenj66

The rule of thumb I've lived with on major car repairs is whether the cost of the repair will give me ten times more miles.

That is - for a transmission repair cost of $3,600, I'd have to expect to be able to get another 36,000 miles in order to pull the trigger.

By that rule I'm essentially expecting a maintenance cost of $0.10 per mile. These are great cars, and if yours is otherwise in good shape I'd make the fix.

Bill Dowd

I f you live anywhere near Tustin CA Tustin Transmission welds the planetary gears and does a great job rebuilding the trans say Bill sent you they will know my name. they will give you 12months warranty or 12 ,000 miles warranty.

kbiggs1999

What does he get to rebuild the trans?

aznlapin

This is a good rule of thumb. I had my tranny replaced for ~$3500 4 years ago at 210K. I'm just over 240K now, so I'm getting my money's worth out of it.
These cars are great if you do the necessary maintenance to keep them running. Hard to get something as good for the money you put into repairs, probably less than monthly lease payments.