Rx300 Oil Seal

[Gbar]

The rear oil seal on my 2000 RX failed last week at 48,000 miles. It was replaced under CPO warranty. I've had regular oil changes at the Lexus dealer since purchased over two years ago. Does a seal just go out or does this indicate there may be something else? Thanks-

[RX in NC]

There's no question that this is premature failure of your real oil seal. But you may or may not experience additional problems as a result. The good news for you is that the failure occured under warranty. Continue your regular oil and filter changes and hope for the best. But by having them performed at your Lexus dealership, be aware that you are paying an extreme price for what is typically very routine maintenance.

[Jonathan]

My old '99 RX300 had a rear main seal at 55K and was also covered under CPO. Kind of weird, these are not the only RX300's losing their rear main seals that I have heard of....

Jonathan

[mywifeslexus]

My RX had a main seal go out at 80,000 miles but it took two auto shops to diagnose it. I have yet to fix it... it produces one drop per day and I check the oil level weekly. My mechanic says as long as I am vigilant about checking the leak and oil that I can wait until it gets worse to fix it. Since it will run about $1000, I'll stay vigilant

[sgriffith]

I too had my rear main seal replaced around 70,000 miles. Took it to a dealer to have them change the spark plugs and they found it. I let it be for a few months but it was replaced under my extended warranty (3rd party company...well worth the money). What I am about to type some will not agree with, and I was leery at first, but I did a search on "Rear main seal leaks" online and found all types of additives to your oil to help fix the problem. I wanted to stay away from stuff like Slick 50 and all of the other synthetic oil based products since they have been reported to increase sludge. However, I found stuff called auto-rx. You can read all about it on their web site at www.auto-rx.com. I was very leery of the product, but after much reading on their discussion board, I decided to give it a shot. It is a three stage process. It cleans the seals and then reconditions them to help them not leak anymore. It also cleans engine sludge. I am not saying that it is a miracle liquid, but my mpg jumped through the roof and my seal stopped leaking. I had it replaced anyways, just for good measure, but this stuff worked for me. Others will warn you not to do things like this, and I would have been one of them.....but this stuff worked for me. To see what sludge it cleaned out, I cut my oil filter open and checked it out...man it did some serious cleaning. I never snapped any photos, but it worked for me. Again, I am not saying this stuff is perfect, but it did the trick for me and I have a much more fuel efficient car now than before. Check it out on their web site and see how it works before you trash it. No, not a dealer, and wouldn't be, but it did work for me. Just my experience.

[mailrail]

Oil jelling/sludging and rear oil seal leaks...I'll bet the poor guy that designed this 3.0 liter engine committed hari-kari recently. :D

[Arizona]

SGriffith --- I would like to purchase an extended warranty for my 2001 RX 300, which has 48,000 miles…

May I ask the name of the company you got yours at, cost, duration, etc…

Thanks

[Gbar]

Thanks for the input. I hope the seal failure was just a one time thing. I just thought it was odd that it went out with no real reason. I've read about DIY oil changes. Seems like the filter is tough to deal with though. Does the qwick lube shops perform ok and can they get the right filter?

[sgriffith]

I will see what I can find out about my extended warranty.....purchased through a dealer and paid around 1300 for it. The RX had 32K on it when we got it and the warranty goes for 5 years or 100K. We had the rear main seal replaced (approx 1100) and the front passenger strut mount replaced (approx 300) all for $50.00 (which is my deductable). Even minus the deductable the warranty was still worth it. When I reach 100K, I will either trade or buy another one. I just don't like surprises. If you will e-mail me at skip@sunsetpass.com then I will reply with the name....pending that I can find it ;-).

[Tylermng]

The rear main seal is covered by the Lexus secret warranty up to 70K miles. I just had my 200 rx300 with 68K done for free and they even gave me loaner rx330 with 48 miles on it for 5 days.

You dont need an extended warranty or CPO to cover this if the car has less that 70K. Ive had mine 7-weeks and have no idea what the service history was. The service manager even checked out the engine for the notorious sludge issue by pulling off the valve cover. The engine is clean as a whistle. Id have to say I was very satisfied by Lexus service.