Over 4000 Rpm At 60mph?

[newuserlexus]

I have a 2001 RX300, all wheel drive, 6,351 miles.

For the past few weeks i have been noticing that while driving, even on residential roads (99% of my driving), the engine seems to be a little more loud than usual. This morning i was driving on the highway for maybe the 2nd time ever, and when i hit about 60mph, about 10mins into the trip, the noise was so loud my ears were starting to ring. Then i looked down at my RPM and it was over 4000rpm!!! I immedietly stopped on the side of the road and turned it off. I called AAA and they came to pick it up. The only thing is that it still works so i have it in my driveway now, thinking there may be an EZ-Fix??

What's wrong with it do i need to go to the dealer? Thank you

[monarch]

I have a 2001 RX300, all wheel drive, 6,351 miles.

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Is 6,351 miles a typo? How many times has the transmission fluid been changed since your RX was new and what kind of fluid was used? Sounds like you have a slipping transmission and total failure may be iminent.

[newuserlexus]

I have a 2001 RX300, all wheel drive, 6,351 miles.

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Is 6,351 miles a typo? How many times has the transmission fluid been changed since your RX was new and what kind of fluid was used? Sounds like you have a slipping transmission and total failure may be iminent.

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Nope, that's not a typo. That's the real mileage. I only drive about 5 minutes a day if that. And not even everyday. Actually while i was away last winter it didn't move for 4 months. It was in my driveway.

Nothing has been done with it since i got it, except for its 5,000 mile service 2 years ago. Today was the second time it went over maybe 50mph in a few years.

The car is also out of the warranty. I bought the rx300 September of 2000. 4 years went up last year.

[monarch]

Nope, that's not a typo. That's the real mileage. I only drive about 5 minutes a day if that. And not even everyday. Actually while i was away last winter it didn't move for 4 months. It was in my driveway. Nothing has been done with it since i got it, except for its 5,000 mile service 2 years ago. Today was the second time it went over maybe 50mph in a few years. The car is also out of the warranty. I bought the rx300 September of 2000. 4 years went up last year.

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Well now I'm really confused about your mileage because in May you wrote:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...topic=20742&hl=

"Hello everybody i have a 2001 rx300 and the blue information screen sometimes has water underneath it when it's really cold not like a pool but like drops like on glass when you take a shower etc.. it started happening the month i bought it and it didnt go away. Im not under warrany becuase i didnt get a extended one and i have 118,000 miles on it because i have to travel alot."

[LexKid630]

not his only? I know how it is to have a lot of cars. You don't get many miles on each one.

[newuserlexus]

That Rx300 was my ex wife's. We used to use that for most of our driving. The rx300 i'm talking about is mine.

The main reason i posted that was because the water colected and didn't go away that long time it was outside in winter. It's still there to the day i'm sure. lol

That is confusing lol

[monarch]

The internally lubricated parts of all Lexus engines and transmissions are covered for 6 years or 70,000 miles so you are covered if the transmission needs replacing.

[newuserlexus]

The internally lubricated parts of all Lexus engines and transmissions are covered for 6 years or 70,000 miles so you are covered if the transmission needs replacing.

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Thank you I didnt know that! I thought it was only the 4 years. Tomorrow i will take the es to work. I'll call my dealer then to have them check it out.

I hope this isn't serious

[jgr7]

The overdrive button wasn't pushed was it?

Jeff

[newuserlexus]

Since i do 99% city driving my dealer told me it was best to have O/D off. I just kept it off it worked fine before (so the O/D OFF light is on). I have it at the dealer now they are looking at it. They gave me a loaner Rx330 (which i like very much) so i'm not worrying about the time it takes to fix it. Still no word about what's wrong with it.

[Booyah]

Thats a load of CRAP! Keep the OD button on at ALL times for better fuel economy. The tranny is smart enough to downshift when needed---your dealer is clueless--

[monarch]

I agree with the dealer it's better for the transmission and brakes to keep OD OFF in strictly city driving when speeds are consistently below 40 MPH. Also better for the engine and exhaust system because newuserlexus says he drives "only drive about 5 minutes a day" so locking out the overdrive would help the engine warm up quicker and thereby reduce the amount of water that would be in the exhaust pipe and engine oil pan when he parks the car.

[bored7one4]

hey i have the same problem with my used 00RX300 i just pick up two weeks ago, im returning it to the dealer that i got it from (which is a small use car dealership) cuz it is still under warranty with them. Hopefully they can fix the problem, or have lexus deal with it cuz it still under warranty. I do most of my drivein on the freeway in california and sometime to keep up with traffic you have to go around 70-80 mph and at 80mph the RMP is at 5000.

Please keep us posted on this issue, i would like to know if lexus could fix the problem for you and if it was covered under the powertrain warranty.

thanks

[bronzemaxell]

I think if you have the OD off, it is perfectly normally to see 4000 rpm at 60 mph,

it is ok to have OD off at city street driving,

but i never see any city street speed limit at 60 MPH yet though.

[bored7one4]

I think if you have the OD off, it is perfectly normally to see 4000 rpm at 60 mph,

it is ok to have OD off at city street driving,

but i never see any city street speed limit at 60 MPH yet though.

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I always have the OD on at all time and what do you mean 4000rpm at 60mph is normal? that crazy !!! I spend most of my time on the freeways anyways so 60-80 mph @ 4000-5000 RMP is not good especialy when it stucking up all my gas at those high RMP.

[newuserlexus]

This morning my dealer called and told me it was all fixed, and for me to come and pick it up (about an hours drive). when i got there they told me that they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They took it out on the highway, and at 60mph it was at around 2700rpm w/ the a/c on, and 2500rpm w/o the a/c on. They said they checked everything and nothing seemed wrong, although they said my brake fluid was low. They filled it for me for no fee. Actually this whole thing was at no fee to me so i'm not that mad. The only thing they said could have been the reason, like suggested on here, was that the overdrive was off. They said that since the overdrive was off at high speeds, the transmission couldn't go into the last gears, causing the engine to work too hard. They aslo said that it was a good thing i caught it soon or i would have worn it out. The only thing i don't understand is how they tested it only putting 3 miles on the car. Oh well, everything is working now.

The person i talked to said that my rx300 was in the best shape he's ever seen a 2001 rx300.

The only thing i didn't like about this whole situation was the loaner car. It was a 2005 Rx330 with 805 miles on it. It was one of the cheep models too. At first i liked it because it was new, but i don't like it!! It was this light silver/puke color called pearl, with the tan interior.

The transmission was so jumpy i was bouncing in my seat. Even if i just touched the pedal, it would leap foward. The frame around the windshield was too big; it created a HUGE blind spot. The frame around the tailgate window was way too big as well, again creating a blind spot. The headlights were too dim. The windows were too small. The nose is a bit big. for the whole trip home i had it in 4 instead of Drive. I got lost on the way back because im so dependant on the navigation, which it didn't have. I couldn't figure out how to work the stupid air conditioning with all this dual climate crap. I kept touching the LCD screen forgetting its not my rx300 with the nav. The seats were uncomfortable. The sides are too high, therefore less windows to see around. The speedometer was too bright and it took me a few minutes to find out how to lower it. The guy at the dealer was mad because i brought it back with no gas in it. Everytime i turned on the directionals for some reason my lights turned off (i must have been rotating the switch by accident). Took me about 10 minutes through the owners manual to figure out what thay orange light saying AFS OFF was. Then another 5 minutes to find out how to turn it on. The interior seemed to cheep to me. The interior smelled like a new computer. I didn't like how the steering wheel moved up when i turned the car off and took a while to get back to my position when i started it up again. The steering wheel seemd to small. I kept hitting the buttons on the steering wheel by accident for the radio thing. The outside door handles didn't seem very strong. The back seats don't have as much room as i would have liked.

..all just a few things i don't like about the Rx330.

I've got to tell you i'd rather have my 4, almost 5 year old Rx300 than the 330.

[bored7one4]

ok, let say you left your OD button off and drove on the freeway at 80mph. So the car is not smart enough to kick into a higher gear by itself? I dont know how the Overdrive thing work cuz my overdrive doesn't work. Can anyone tell me what happen if you go 80mph with the OD button off?

thanks

[wwest]

Missing facts....

There is absolutely NO mechanical connection between the shift lever and the transaxle, nor the O/D button.

You may have had an intermittent electrical connection within the shift lever that was telling the tranny to be in....

2nd?

[bored7one4]

i thook the car to lexus dealer and they said that the reving is cause by a bad knock sensor which keep the tranny from kicking into the higher gear (like a safe mode thing) so i took the car back to the independent dealer and they replace the two knock sensor for me. So far so good, it seem that the over drive is working and it kicking into the higher gear which there is no reving at all, 80mph is at 3100 RPM. I had two Mechanic told me that the knock sensor had nothing to do with the tranny but the guy at the lexus dealer said that if the knock sensor is broken than it would keep the car from going into the highger gear, that which would cause the reving.

Well hopefully the knock sensor was it and everything works good from now on.

ill keep you posted

[LexKid630]

A lot of times i would be going WAY over 5500 revs during accelerating to pass a car on the highway etc. I don't think it's bad as long as it's only for a short time.

Is there really a reason for even having an OD off button? Since the tranny knows when to downshift/upshift anyway? Why do we NOT need overdrive? I thought overdrive just prevents the tranny from going into the highest gears? If you keep it in overdrive, it can go into whatever gears it wants to, right? So let the tranny decide!!!! Why do we want to prohibit it from going into higher gears?? It knows what it's doing.

[RX300 Steven]

Is there really a reason for even having an OD off button? Since the tranny knows when to downshift/upshift anyway? Why do we NOT need overdrive?

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From what I've heard and know, OD off is really if you are towing something, or if you were in some real up/down hills where the tranny would just keep up/down shifting. Sometimes it's better just to say out of overdrive, then continously shift in and out of it.

I guess its really just help prevent excessive wear on the tranny.

Under normal driving you should never need OD off.

[JETPILOT]

2001 RX300 At 73MPH my tach reads 3000RPM.

[New user]

It's the bank 1 and 2 variable valve timing solenoids and both knock sensors my rx300 doing same thing