Rx300 Transmission Oil Cooler

[rx300leo]

Guys,

I am new on this board and read today your comments on the transmission issues with RX300 AWD. I bought this car 3 month ago from my friend for my wife to drive to work and for us to go skiing as a substitution of Camry Wagon, V6. For the first time we went to the mountains (Tahoe area) after Christmas and I wanted to share how dissapointed I am with its performance in the mountains. It is so much underpowered. No wonder (what should I expect) the same as Camry engine and nearly 1.5 times heavier.

But I got really shocked today when I read about all transmission issues. When my wife came home from work I immediately went and check the status of the transmission fluid and was looking for a transmission oil cooler as well. I could not find it under the hood and decided to look for it later ( I have a fever and am taking easy now) under the car. I still have the original list of car features and it says it has the touring preparation package w/Tranmission Oil Cooler.

Would you please advise where to look for it.

Thank you.

[TunedRX300]

Tranny cooler is in front of the passenger side front wheel, look for ridges on the plastic wheel well cover, stick your finger into one of them and you will feel the cooler. Take off the wheel well cover if you want to use return line to the tranny cooler to flush ATF out.

[rx300leo]

Tranny cooler is in front of the passenger side front wheel, look for ridges on the plastic wheel well plastic, stick your finger and you will feel it. Take off the wheel well cover if you want to use return line to the tranny cooler to flush ATF out.

Thank you. I was thinking to use the drain and fill strategy each 15K. My friend did it at a dealer at 15 and 30K and I have 50K now. I will do it for 2/3 consercutive times during a week some time next week. I am kind of afraid of flashing to introduce something else into this tranny. Besides, I have to find somebody to do it and I hate when I can't do it myself (my wife uses all bad words for this idi...tic habit, but I actually like it).

What do you think about this approach?

Thanks.

[TunedRX300]

Tranny cooler is in front of the passenger side front wheel, look for ridges on the plastic wheel well plastic, stick your finger and you will feel it. Take off the wheel well cover if you want to use return line to the tranny cooler to flush ATF out.

Thank you. I was thinking to use the drain and fill strategy each 15K. My friend did it at a dealer at 15 and 30K and I have 50K now. I will do it for 2/3 consercutive times during a week some time next week. I am kind of afraid of flashing to introduce something else into this tranny. Besides, I have to find somebody to do it and I hate when I can't do it myself (my wife uses all bad words for this idi...tic habit, but I actually like it).

What do you think about this approach?

Thanks.

Drain and fill is the proven method, but you can drain only about 4.3 quarts. If you think about it, doing 2-3 drain and fill in a row will drain out some of the fresh ATF you just poured into the tranny. Also it does not replace all old fluid.

Open return line from the tranny cooler to drain and fill fresh fluid through the fill hole is using RX300's own ATF circulating mechanism, not using some machine to force flush in and vacuum fluid out. You can get most of the tranny fluid out in the first shot. If this method hurts the tranny, why would Toyota design the tranny cooler, which is by design circulating ATF in and out?

Some will swear drain and fill is the only way, some will say flush with machine. Think and decide, it is your car. Just my $0.02

[monarch]

I was thinking to use the drain and fill strategy each 15K. My friend did it at a dealer at 15 and 30K and I have 50K now. I will do it for 2/3 consercutive times during a week some time next week. I am kind of afraid of flashing to introduce something else into this tranny. What do you think about this approach?

Great approach. Drain and fill is the proven method and the only one recommended in the Toyota Factory Service Manual. None of your mechanical component fluids (coolant, transmission oil, power steering fluid, brake fluid) needs to be "flushed", "power flushed" or needs additives. Just periodic partial changes will keep these components well lubricated for long life. But commercial interests will try to make you feel guilty if you havn't got every last drop of the "old" fluid out because they make much more money when they sell a complicated "flush" job vs a simple drain and refill. Likewise commercial interests are likely to steer you away from using factory fluid and will likely suggest using additives (= more profit centers for them). For long component life it's more important to be meticulous about using factory fluid (Toyota Type T-IV trans fluid you can buy from Toyota dealer parts depts), never under or overfilling and never getting dirt / lint in the fluid via dirty funnels, sloppiness, etc. Drain and refill is also idiotproof in the sense that you can measure the amount drained and pour back and identical amount, hence eliminating the guesswork about how much new fluid to add.

[wwest]

I did a drain and fill, 4 qts, at ~40,000 miles and about a week later the ATF was again looking and smelling burned. The second time, 5 qts, I also drained the diff'l via the separate drian plug, dropped the sump pan and cleaned about 1/8 inch of what appeared like ground up pencil lead from the bottom of the pan.

Now at 50,000 the ATF is still looking very serviceable.

But I really don't think any ATF maintainance program will alleviate the instances of premature failure in these transaxles, just delay them due to ATF being more capable of doing its part.

[mikey00]

I did a drain and fill, 4 qts, at ~40,000 miles and about a week later the ATF was again looking and smelling burned. The second time, 5 qts, I also drained the diff'l via the separate drian plug, dropped the sump pan and cleaned about 1/8 inch of what appeared like ground up pencil lead from the bottom of the pan.

Now at 50,000 the ATF is still looking very serviceable.

But I really don't think any ATF maintainance program will alleviate the instances of premature failure in these transaxles, just delay them due to ATF being more capable of doing its part.

I agree on this one. I think there is some component failing in this trans causing the fluid comtamination and not the other way around, contaminated fluid causing failure. I am on a 15k drain and fill schedule, but even if I upped it to a weeklly drain and fill, I think this trans, in time, will fail.

[rx300leo]

Tranny cooler is in front of the passenger side front wheel, look for ridges on the plastic wheel well plastic, stick your finger and you will feel it. Take off the wheel well cover if you want to use return line to the tranny cooler to flush ATF out.

Thank you. I was thinking to use the drain and fill strategy each 15K. My friend did it at a dealer at 15 and 30K and I have 50K now. I will do it for 2/3 consercutive times during a week some time next week. I am kind of afraid of flashing to introduce something else into this tranny. Besides, I have to find somebody to do it and I hate when I can't do it myself (my wife uses all bad words for this idi...tic habit, but I actually like it).

What do you think about this approach?

Thanks.

Drain and fill is the proven method, but you can drain only about 4.3 quarts. If you think about it, doing 2-3 drain and fill in a row will drain out some of the fresh ATF you just poured into the tranny. Also it does not replace all old fluid.

Open return line from the tranny cooler to drain and fill fresh fluid through the fill hole is using RX300's own ATF circulating mechanism, not using some machine to force flush in and vacuum fluid out. You can get most of the tranny fluid out in the first shot. If this method hurts the tranny, why would Toyota design the tranny cooler, which is by design circulating ATF in and out?

Some will swear drain and fill is the only way, some will say flush with machine. Think and decide, it is your car. Just my $0.02

Thank you everyone for your input and your time to write a respond. I really appreciate it.

TunedRX300, I like your approach to open the return like from the cooler and drain it as well. However, I have couple of questions on this method. When your recconect the return line back to the coller and start the ATF filling (from the check plug, I assume) can you introduce some air pockets to the ATF system? They probably have a recirculating pump at the lowest point which creates some minimum pressure to push the liquid through the cooler. This pump is probably lubricated with the same ATF. Do you think there may be some condition that this pump will run dry (it will just push all the new ATF to the cooler). Because you don't want to overfill the pan with 6-7 quarts, I guess, to kind of prevent this. Please let me know what do you think on this subject.

Also, I checked the car records from my friend, the previous owner and found that when he was twice doing this procedure at the dealer (Fremont, Bay Area), they charged him only for 4 quarts of ATF. That obviously means they have not done the drain this way. Were they lazy (which is possible) or they followed the procedure and there is a reason for that.

Thank you again.

[RX in NC]

Those of us who have experienced transmission failures in our RX300 all-wheel-drive models are convinced that there are design flaws and engineering weaknesses in play here.

But keeping your fluid clean is a small price to pay if it MIGHT extend the life of your transmission by a significant margin. I have my wife's 2000 RX300 on a 30,000-mile drain-and-fill schedule. The original transmission failed under warranty at about 48,000 miles. The vehicle now has about 101,500 miles on the odometer and the fluid in the replacement transmission has remained quite clean during its 30,000-mile lifespans. I've stayed with Toyota Type T-IV fluid simply because it provides me with a far greater shot at 100% success if I have to battle Lexus over another transmission failure. Don't put anything else into your transmission case as long as you are convinced you'll go after Lexus for replacement or repair if you suffer a transmission failure. I believe that there are far better transmission lubricants available, but Lexus will immediately void your warranty and refuse assistance if you switch from Type T-IV fluid and then suffer a transmission failure down the road. It's just not worth it unless you're willing to completely bear the financial burden that transmission failure always brings. No way am I willing to do so.

I believe that power flushes are too risky and in some cases will make your transmission issues worse by dredging up previously trapped and settled debris and dragging it through your system. Drain-and-fills are far cheaper and safer overall.

[rx300leo]

Those of us who have experienced transmission failures in our RX300 all-wheel-drive models are convinced that there are design flaws and engineering weaknesses in play here.

But keeping your fluid clean is a small price to pay if it MIGHT extend the life of your transmission by a significant margin. I have my wife's 2000 RX300 on a 30,000-mile drain-and-fill schedule. The original transmission failed under warranty at about 48,000 miles. The vehicle now has about 101,500 miles on the odometer and the fluid in the replacement transmission has remained quite clean during its 30,000-mile lifespans. I've stayed with Toyota Type T-IV fluid simply because it provides me with a far greater shot at 100% success if I have to battle Lexus over another transmission failure. Don't put anything else into your transmission case as long as you are convinced you'll go after Lexus for replacement or repair if you suffer a transmission failure. I believe that there are far better transmission lubricants available, but Lexus will immediately void your warranty and refuse assistance if you switch from Type T-IV fluid and then suffer a transmission failure down the road. It's just not worth it unless you're willing to completely bear the financial burden that transmission failure always brings. No way am I willing to do so.

I believe that power flushes are too risky and in some cases will make your transmission issues worse by dredging up previously trapped and settled debris and dragging it through your system. Drain-and-fills are far cheaper and safer overall.

Thanks, although I am not sure I have warranty on this transmission any more. It is 99RX300AWD with only 50k mikes on it. They will not take repair until it fails (it is still running without any noticable problems) and it will happen after the 7 year warranty expires (law of luck).

Is it possible Toyota fixed the problem on the replacement transmission you got and only original have it? Although, I agree, it should be a shame for the company like Toyota to have transmission failure on that many cars (it feels like on all) and not acknowledge it to their customers.

[lenore]

I agree with RX, drain and fill both the pan and the differential. Takes about 4.3 quarts. buy the fluid at Toyota, it is cheaper and stay away from Lexus of Roseville. They are the worst mechanics ever. They will destroy your car. If you insist on Lexus, go to Sacramento Lexus, but I perfer Maita Toyota on Auburn Blvd. They have provided great service and a lot cheaper. (Timing belt and waterpump) I too do all my own maintenance otherwise. I am on my third transmission, and that is with changing the fluid every 30k. Now I change it every 15k.

[rx300leo]

I agree with RX, drain and fill both the pan and the differential. Takes about 4.3 quarts. buy the fluid at Toyota, it is cheaper and stay away from Lexus of Roseville. They are the worst mechanics ever. They will destroy your car. If you insist on Lexus, go to Sacramento Lexus, but I perfer Maita Toyota on Auburn Blvd. They have provided great service and a lot cheaper. (Timing belt and waterpump) I too do all my own maintenance otherwise. I am on my third transmission, and that is with changing the fluid every 30k. Now I change it every 15k.

At what mileage you did the timing belt? I honesly hope to do it myself. I have done it on Nissan Maxima V6 and Camry 4. Has anyone done it on RX300?

How is filling oil into differentials. Is it tricky to get it filled? I have pretty big hands.

[lenore]

Timing belt should be done at 100k, The waterpump is driven by the Timing belt so it is a good time to change it. The front and rear differential fluids are a pain to fill. you need a pump (hand) or squeeze bottle because access is terrible. Use a clear tube on pump and bottle to get into the access hole. Changed mine to synthetic fluid 75/90 weight. The toyota dealer did the pump and timing belt for $500. The parts would cost you about $170 if you do it yourself.

[TunedRX300]

Tranny cooler is in front of the passenger side front wheel, look for ridges on the plastic wheel well plastic, stick your finger and you will feel it. Take off the wheel well cover if you want to use return line to the tranny cooler to flush ATF out.

Thank you. I was thinking to use the drain and fill strategy each 15K. My friend did it at a dealer at 15 and 30K and I have 50K now. I will do it for 2/3 consercutive times during a week some time next week. I am kind of afraid of flashing to introduce something else into this tranny. Besides, I have to find somebody to do it and I hate when I can't do it myself (my wife uses all bad words for this idi...tic habit, but I actually like it).

What do you think about this approach?

Thanks.

Drain and fill is the proven method, but you can drain only about 4.3 quarts. If you think about it, doing 2-3 drain and fill in a row will drain out some of the fresh ATF you just poured into the tranny. Also it does not replace all old fluid.

Open return line from the tranny cooler to drain and fill fresh fluid through the fill hole is using RX300's own ATF circulating mechanism, not using some machine to force flush in and vacuum fluid out. You can get most of the tranny fluid out in the first shot. If this method hurts the tranny, why would Toyota design the tranny cooler, which is by design circulating ATF in and out?

Some will swear drain and fill is the only way, some will say flush with machine. Think and decide, it is your car. Just my $0.02

Thank you everyone for your input and your time to write a respond. I really appreciate it.

TunedRX300, I like your approach to open the return like from the cooler and drain it as well. However, I have couple of questions on this method. When your recconect the return line back to the coller and start the ATF filling (from the check plug, I assume) can you introduce some air pockets to the ATF system? They probably have a recirculating pump at the lowest point which creates some minimum pressure to push the liquid through the cooler. This pump is probably lubricated with the same ATF. Do you think there may be some condition that this pump will run dry (it will just push all the new ATF to the cooler). Because you don't want to overfill the pan with 6-7 quarts, I guess, to kind of prevent this. Please let me know what do you think on this subject.

Also, I checked the car records from my friend, the previous owner and found that when he was twice doing this procedure at the dealer (Fremont, Bay Area), they charged him only for 4 quarts of ATF. That obviously means they have not done the drain this way. Were they lazy (which is possible) or they followed the procedure and there is a reason for that.

Thank you again.

The pump won't run dry since you drain from the return line to the cooler and add from the tranny filler hole at about the same time: add one quart when one quart is drained. That is after you drained 4.3 quarts of old ATF from regular transfer case and tranny drain plugs and fill with fresh ATF. In another word, you got 4.3 quarts of fresh ATF in those pans to be drawn to the pump and use RX's own circulating mechanism to pump out the old ATF remains in Torque Convertor. Stop when you see ATF color change at the drain point.

Again nothing invasive and if you think about it, how can it stir up old sludges in the tranny?

The main goal of replacing the ATF is to replace old fluid with fresh fluid. Makes little sense to drain out fresh fluid (expensive T-IV!) and still not getting most of old fluid out. Just my $0.02 again.

[rx300leo]

Tranny cooler is in front of the passenger side front wheel, look for ridges on the plastic wheel well plastic, stick your finger and you will feel it. Take off the wheel well cover if you want to use return line to the tranny cooler to flush ATF out.

Thank you. I was thinking to use the drain and fill strategy each 15K. My friend did it at a dealer at 15 and 30K and I have 50K now. I will do it for 2/3 consercutive times during a week some time next week. I am kind of afraid of flashing to introduce something else into this tranny. Besides, I have to find somebody to do it and I hate when I can't do it myself (my wife uses all bad words for this idi...tic habit, but I actually like it).

What do you think about this approach?

Thanks.

Drain and fill is the proven method, but you can drain only about 4.3 quarts. If you think about it, doing 2-3 drain and fill in a row will drain out some of the fresh ATF you just poured into the tranny. Also it does not replace all old fluid.

Open return line from the tranny cooler to drain and fill fresh fluid through the fill hole is using RX300's own ATF circulating mechanism, not using some machine to force flush in and vacuum fluid out. You can get most of the tranny fluid out in the first shot. If this method hurts the tranny, why would Toyota design the tranny cooler, which is by design circulating ATF in and out?

Some will swear drain and fill is the only way, some will say flush with machine. Think and decide, it is your car. Just my $0.02

Thank you everyone for your input and your time to write a respond. I really appreciate it.

TunedRX300, I like your approach to open the return like from the cooler and drain it as well. However, I have couple of questions on this method. When your recconect the return line back to the coller and start the ATF filling (from the check plug, I assume) can you introduce some air pockets to the ATF system? They probably have a recirculating pump at the lowest point which creates some minimum pressure to push the liquid through the cooler. This pump is probably lubricated with the same ATF. Do you think there may be some condition that this pump will run dry (it will just push all the new ATF to the cooler). Because you don't want to overfill the pan with 6-7 quarts, I guess, to kind of prevent this. Please let me know what do you think on this subject.

Also, I checked the car records from my friend, the previous owner and found that when he was twice doing this procedure at the dealer (Fremont, Bay Area), they charged him only for 4 quarts of ATF. That obviously means they have not done the drain this way. Were they lazy (which is possible) or they followed the procedure and there is a reason for that.

Thank you again.

The pump won't run dry since you drain from the return line to the cooler and add from the tranny filler hole at about the same time: add one quart when one quart is drained. That is after you drained 4.3 quarts of old ATF from regular transfer case and tranny drain plugs and fill with fresh ATF. In another word, you got 4.3 quarts of fresh ATF in those pans to be drawn to the pump and use RX's own circulating mechanism to pump out the old ATF remains in Torque Convertor. Stop when you see ATF color change at the drain point.

Again nothing invasive and if you think about it, how can it stir up old sludges in the tranny?

The main goal of replacing the ATF is to replace old fluid with fresh fluid. Makes little sense to drain out fresh fluid (expensive T-IV!) and still not getting most of old fluid out. Just my $0.02 again.

Thank you. I will consider it. I think the transfer case (front differential) has a hypoid oil, not ATF. They are coupled mechanically, not hydrolically.

[TunedRX300]

Yes, both differentials use GL-5 gear oil, weight 80w90 or 75w90. One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs. If one is confused with naming, just fill with whatever coming out.

[rx300leo]

Yes, both differentials use GL-5 gear oil, weight 80w90 or 75w90. One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs. If one is confused with naming, just fill with whatever coming out.

I guess, I am confused with holes "One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs". One hole to fill ATF and the same to fill gear oil???

[TunedRX300]

Yes, both differentials use GL-5 gear oil, weight 80w90 or 75w90. One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs. If one is confused with naming, just fill with whatever coming out.

I guess, I am confused with holes "One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs". One hole to fill ATF and the same to fill gear oil???

Tranny dip stick fill hole fills tranny and transfer case. Drain tranny with its drain plug, 6" behind there is another drain plug to drain transfer case. Both drain plugs are opened with 10mm allen wrench. If you put fresh ATF into the tranny dip stick hole, it will goes into both transfer case and tranny.

Similiar to rear differential , front differential uses gear oil, it has its own fill hole and drain plug, 15/16 six point plugs.

[rx300leo]

Yes, both differentials use GL-5 gear oil, weight 80w90 or 75w90. One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs. If one is confused with naming, just fill with whatever coming out.

I guess, I am confused with holes "One fill hole to fill transfer case and tranny even though there are two drain plugs". One hole to fill ATF and the same to fill gear oil???

Tranny dip stick fill hole fills tranny and transfer case. Drain tranny with its drain plug, 6" behind there is another drain plug to drain transfer case. Both drain plugs are opened with 10mm allen wrench. If you put fresh ATF into the tranny dip stick hole, it will goes into both transfer case and tranny.

Similiar to rear differential , front differential uses gear oil, it has its own fill hole and drain plug, 15/16 six point plugs.

Thank you.