yuyangbit

Hi Everyone,

I would like to share my story about transmission burned issue and temporary fix.
2002 LEXUS RX300 with about 197000 km, always keep all the maintains up to date.I will record the whole story in timeline that easy to catch up. All the time is based on day 1 is when the issue happens.

One week ago
When we start the car, we heard a extra sound exclude engine running. In fact it is the transmission whining, but the sound is not annoying that sound like tiny metal regular friction. At that time, I thought it was only because the weather was cold 4 degreeC in the morning. We assume the sound will go away when the engine is hot. Actually the sound did disappear at the first one or two days.

Two days ago
The sound became a bit resistant, but it did not catch my attention as the when the engine rate is up. The sound became a bit high pitching that very similar to a high performance engine that I heard in the cyber game "NEED for Speed"

One day ago
I drive it to field about 100 km round trip without any problem but the sound did not disappear all the way.

Day one
In the morning, I turned on the engine and find that the sound was away. I assumed that the car fixed itself. Stupid judgement.
Then I drove the car as normal and find out that the transmission began slipping when I try to accelerate. I pulled over at emergency lane, turn off the engine and turn on again. This time, the car began normal again, so I drive it to the my boy's daycare.
When I got out from daycare and drove to work, the transmission malfunction again, it has difficulty to shift to 3 gear and speed limited to about 60 km. But I still able to drive the car about 20 km to work.
After sit on my table and thought over the whole cases, I realize something was seriously wrong and I have made very bad decisions. So I decide to try my luck and see if I could made it to dealer. This time my luck went out, the slipping become very server that the car lost mobility on the road quite a few times. I turned off the engine and turn on the engine many times to stop in a parking lot that safe to stay longer.
I called CAA and they towed my car to a transmission shop for checking. They checked about 30 seconds and told me that I need a new transmission.......and the lowest cost is about 5000 CAD cash. I believe many of you had the similar feeling before, the transmission is the pain for everyone. Very lucky that I have read some stories in my office before going out. The link is this
http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...-rx300-awdfwd/
According to roanokebarry's opinion If your symptoms are neutralizing, it is in drive or reverse yet acts like it is in neutral..... most likely the screen filter is clogged
So even they refuse to replace the transmission filter and thought my opinion is ridiculous, I strongly asked them to do so and offered a few hundred bucks. They showed me the black metal powder on transmission panel magnet and said the transmission was burned. Luckily I have seen worse on youtube and car still runs OK. I could smell the burnt from the transmission fluid
During my whole life, I always try to be a nice people and offer my best help to who needed.. It always paid back, I got my lost wallet and keys back, I got a professional pastime job during Master of engineering program when I need extra money to raise my baby better, the job became full time right after my graduation.
This time the miracle happened again, my car start running normally after the filter exchange. I test drive the car about 15 km, occasionally I can feel a bit gear 2 to gear 3 and gear 3 to gear 4. Although, it is not perfect, in general I am quite happy with the result.

Day 2
Test drive about 10 km with similar stiff shifting

Day 3
Test drive about 15 km with similar stiff shifting, add one bottle Lucas transmission fix 941ml without drain anything out (the manual said no need to drain).

Day 4
Test drive 40 km, the result is similar to day 3

Day 5
Test drive ~100 km,no problem as long as the speed is over 70km. But the occasionally uncomfortable shifting still exited when the speed was about ~40km/h and 60km/h.
Drain the transmission fluid to correct level, no improvement.
Add a second bottle of Lucas transmission fix, the transmission became quieter and shift more smoothly at high engine rotation rate.

Day 6
Regular commute, the transmission shifting was not perfect but good enough for me.

Day 7
Regular commute, the transmission shifting was better if I press the gas a bit harder than gentle press. So far I am all right with this temporary fix that hope it could last more than 30 thousand km.

Quick summary;

1. Obviously I made quite a few bad calls, that I should stop driving the car right after the slipping happened
2. Due to stupid decision, I have done much more damage to my transmission than necessary
3. It is lucky that I keep all maintains up to date, that my transmission fluid is always cherry pink without metal particles
4. Exchange the transmission filter if you have not done it yet, it is very very important to your RX300
5. Do not completely listen to someone that exam your 30 seconds and start giving opinions
6. Lucas transmission fix 16 CAD per bottle is worthy trying if you want to do something to avoid 5000 bill.
7. Be sensitive to the new sound that your car start making
8. Be a good people

No time to check the typo and hope my story could help you a bit. Hope our RX300 runs till the end of the world

salimshah

Couple of things stood out in your post.

1. 4C ... here we are 90F
2. 30 sec diagnosis without any investigation is a gut call and not based on evidence. One should drop the pan and see if there is floating metal, clogged filter etc.
3. I do feel for any one who has car trouble.

Most significant is
Be good people.

This should be the motto of all. And be good for goodness sake ... no expectation of reward/karma.. and we will transform the world.

Thank you for sharing.

Salim

yuyangbit

Hi Salim,

I am in Alberta of Canada, now in the morning the lowest temperature is around 5 degreeC or lower. Which is also the reason I did not meet the burnt transmission earlier due to cold temperature.
I am a realist that received great help from a stranger when I played in park at the age about 5. I can still remember the scene vividly after over 25 years. I may not have the chance to pay back the gentleman, but for sure will try my best to make the world a little better.

maxSteel

When I worked in a shop there were multiple occasions where a car had to be towed or pushed in and after dropping the tranny pan and changing the filter they drove out. Glad it worked out for you too.

yuyangbit

Thanks man, I am just lucky

yuyangbit

More update:

About three/four days ago, I realized the transmission fluid level might be a problem for me. So I drained a few transmission fluid out and checking the level without running the engine......
So I drained quite a bit transmission fluid (~2 liter) before I realized that too much fluid is out.

So I put another bottle lucas transmission fix in the car and one more liter toyota T-IV transmission fluid. At this time the car runs even better than before but I know the fluid is still low than standard level

After fully warm up the car, I re-fill the transmission fluid to correct level. However, this time the car acceleration was a little compromised and sometimes experienced a bit shaking at 40km/h if the throttle is low.

Today we drove 300 km for vocation without any problem, hope it will last forever.