jk00.rx300

Hi folks,
My wife's 2009 RX350 needs help. A few weeks ago, she noticed that it would die when she shifted out of P or N (either one) into gear. It started immediately and idled smoothly, but when she put it in gear it died. It doesn't lurch or jerk, it just dies, like you shut it off on purpose. After a few tries, it would start and then go into gear with no problem. Once in D, it drove smoothly, shifted perfectly, and showed no sign of a problem. I wanted to take it in, but she had a full calendar that first week, so we let it go.
In week 2, it finally stalled after it was underway, just as she was pulling out of the driveway, and for the first time, it threw a code- P0335, crankshaft position sensor. I read that replacing this is a bear of a job, so I took it in to Lexus. Well today they called, and they'd replaced the sensor and tested the wiring all the way back to the ECU, and I owned them $1001.00.

But sorry to say it didn't fix the problem! So now they want a second blank check to try and determine what the real problem is and maybe fix it this time!

Another new symptom, strangely: when you shift it into N, the instrument cluster lights go out! What the heck! I asked about the neutral safety switch, but they said they had tested it and it was OK and adjusted correctly.

Any suggestions? Anyone ever see this (doubtful!)?

jk00.rx300

Just to close this out.... It turned out to be the shift position sensor (they called it the "quadrant"), which is on the bottom of the transmission somewhere. Another bear of a job, bringing the total to $2300. In fairness, the code definitely pointed to the crank position sensor. If I'd brought it in before the code appeared, I suspect they would have fixed it on the first try, because the shift position sensor was more logical, given the symptom. Oh well, it's been running find since....