Transmission Problems/failures with RX300 awd/fwd

[lenore]

Wow wonder what the story behind that replacement dip stick was?  Previous owner loose it and was given incorrect one?

[RX PHD]

thats my guess

  he did have some services done according to some receipts i found

  so maybe it happened at some shop

 

I have personally seen jiffy lube leave a dipstick laying on the engine  when done with a service  so  who knows   

but i would have rather whoever did that just  put a piece of tinfoil over the fill tube   than  install the wrong dipstick

[Colette]

Hello all, I have never joined a forum before and know very little about cars, but this forum just saved me thousands of dollars. About 3 years ago I bought a 2003 RX3000 with 141K miles. It now has 177K. A few days ago the car broke down on the road with little warning. As others have described, the car wouldn't go forward or in reverse although the engine was running like it was in neutral. Having stumbled upon this forum while doing research on the problem I saw the posts where people had tried draining the transmission fluid and cleaning the filter. My mechanic was highly skeptical and said he seriously doubted it would work but he'd do it if I wanted him to. Guess what?? I'm back on the road. If you experience these symptoms, this procedure is worth a try before shelling out thousands for a new transmission. Thanks to all for such great advice. 

[deadbolt]

2 hours ago, Colette said:

Hello all, I have never joined a forum before and know very little about cars, but this forum just saved me thousands of dollars. About 3 years ago I bought a 2003 RX3000 with 141K miles. It now has 177K. A few days ago the car broke down on the road with little warning. As others have described, the car wouldn't go forward or in reverse although the engine was running like it was in neutral. Having stumbled upon this forum while doing research on the problem I saw the posts where people had tried draining the transmission fluid and cleaning the filter. My mechanic was highly skeptical and said he seriously doubted it would work but he'd do it if I wanted him to. Guess what?? I'm back on the road. If you experience these symptoms, this procedure is worth a try before shelling out thousands for a new transmission. Thanks to all for such great advice. 

Man you really dodged a bullet there.  One thousand is optimistic for a transmission repair these days.

[lenore]

Very fortunate, I would suggest doing another drain and fill on the next engine oil change to further clean the fluid on the transmission.  Welcome aboard by the way.

[Colette]

Will do and thank you. Based on all the issues with the car I'm likely to be on here often,

[renphilia]

Hello all. I am a new member here. Just finished registering, and hope to get useful advice/information, as well as to provide useful feedback/suggestion to all first gen RX300 owners here. Actually I feel like I am taking a gamble, as I have decided to get a used RX300 (well it's Toyota Harrier here) even after seeing so many negative comments, and especially issues about the transmission failing. 16+ years old vehicle to be precise. I believe although the one I am getting isn't exactly a Lexus, but it shares the same spareparts, especially engine and transmission same as the ones in RX300, though mine doesn't have the heated seat and cruise control. and to be honest, I wanted this beast to last until my marriage and my first child in the future. So, hope to get along with everyone here. And yeah, the one I am buying is 3.0 V6 engine.

[deadbolt]

On 3/9/2017 at 11:15 PM, renphilia said:

Hello all. I am a new member here. Just finished registering, and hope to get useful advice/information, as well as to provide useful feedback/suggestion to all first gen RX300 owners here. Actually I feel like I am taking a gamble, as I have decided to get a used RX300 (well it's Toyota Harrier here) even after seeing so many negative comments, and especially issues about the transmission failing. 16+ years old vehicle to be precise. I believe although the one I am getting isn't exactly a Lexus, but it shares the same spareparts, especially engine and transmission same as the ones in RX300, though mine doesn't have the heated seat and cruise control. and to be honest, I wanted this beast to last until my marriage and my first child in the future. So, hope to get along with everyone here. And yeah, the one I am buying is 3.0 V6 engine.

Welcome aboard.

The most important thing to keep on top of is the oil changes. Do not miss one. The car has a known problem having undersized oil galleries. If you run dirty oil and it gels, you will probably seize the engine. Change every 5000km and use a quality oil. I use Toyota filters only. You don't need synthetic, but if you keep up with the changes the engine should last a long time, provided the previous owners have kept up with the oil changes.

If you have a 4WD keep an eye out for gear oil seeping out of the transfer case where the driveshaft goes into the case  .

Love to see some pics of your nice new Harrier. 

 

 

 

[renphilia]

On 3/12/2017 at 11:01 AM, deadbolt said:

Welcome aboard.

The most important thing to keep on top of is the oil changes. Do not miss one. The car has a known problem having undersized oil galleries. If you run dirty oil and it gels, you will probably seize the engine. Change every 5000km and use a quality oil. I use Toyota filters only. You don't need synthetic, but if you keep up with the changes the engine should last a long time, provided the previous owners have kept up with the oil changes.

 

If you have a 4WD keep an eye out for gear oil seeping out of the transfer case where the driveshaft goes into the case  .

Love to see some pics of your nice new Harrier. 

 

 

 

 

 

pardon the birds though, they loved the RX too much i guess.

2001 RX300. she shows 138K miles. but I am guessing it had been reset. and should  be around 240K miles by now. everything's stock except she was already installed aftermarket single din unit below the center compartment. 'P' and 'D' light were already gone. overall, a very nice ride. just that I need to get  her cleaned. oh yeah, temperature control does not change although it is adjustable. transmission..hmm..there's a slight less than 2 seconds delay when trying to get her run everytime in the morning. the moment I put 'D' from 'R', maybe.. a sec I am guessing. not that it bothers me as long as the transmission is in great condition. mine is AWD. and it is running CNG. well at times I have to check the transmission fluid level and top up if necessary. there shouldn't be anything wrong yet, right ?

about the gear oil seeping out..how do I look for it ? I am a complete amateur and noob at this DIY stuff.. but probably some informative and beginner links about Howto would be helping. I am used to checking fluid level, changing wiper blade, disconnecting battery terminal (as well replacing it), replacing relays in the fuse box, engine oil and coolant before travelling(add more should it were insufficient). just some minor check and preparation, and simple maintenance.

[deadbolt]

Renphilia,

Sorry for the late reply.

Thanks for the pictures. I should have mentioned to place them in a different thread.  This thread is really about "Transmission Failures".

Your car looks very good.

On 4/6/2017 at 9:28 AM, renphilia said:

I like that Taxi style side view mirror you have. I recall when I visited Japan that many of the cars had those mirrors, and almost every taxi had them.  The RX300 has such a bad blind spot on the right rear of the car that these type mirrors would be very good. On your car that would be the Left Rear side because yours is Right Hand Drive so that mirror would fix that.

You might invest in a headlight polishing kits to make those headlamps look new. Plastic polish work very well.

So you mentioned CNG.  I know that as Compressed Natural Gas.  Does your car really use CNG and if it does, do you think it was factory equipped with it from Lexus or a conversion? What sort of fuel economy do you see?  I am located in Canada which uses the metric system so our cars are calibrated to use Liter/100kM. I typically see 14.4L/100kM as the average on the Info display and I run on unleaded gasoline.  Do many cars in Malaysia (guessing) run on CNG?

My car is 4WD, not AWD. There is a difference. Your car may differ from the North American version if it is a AWD.

So you will know if the oil is leaking by looking at the the front driveshaft and see if it is a bit wet.  Also if you notice a smell of burning oil when you stop after a long drive and roll down your window you may smell it. The oil leaks out and sprays onto the exhaust pipe and burns off. I never had a drip under the car. I do now because I top up the transfer case with gear oil once a month. Also if you look under the car there would be evidence of spray on the driveshaft tunnel, which is the hump down the center of the car. The drive shaft or propeller shaft is a black tube that transfers the power to the back wheels.

It is difficult to check the oil level. If I recall correctly it is a 24mm plug so you need a socket and an extension.  It is under the vehicle so it might be good to have a mechanic check it, it there is signs of leakage. The location of the fill and drain plugs would be forward of where your foot pedals would be on the right hand side of the car.

Enjoy your drives.

[deadbolt]

One other thing to note is that bird droppings will penetrate the car's clearcoat.  Personally, I keep baby wipes in the car to clean stuff like that up. A spray bottle filled with a dilute solution of gentle dish soap and water would also work.   You may notice an ammonia smell from the crap, not sure exactly what it is but it is very corrosive and best to remove it as soon as you notice it.

[Big D Hurts]

Hey, new guy here. I'm the unfortunate owner of a new/used rx300 and had it go haywire on me on the return part of a vacation. When I got off the freeway after about an hour and a half of driving around 80mph and braked the vehicle began lunging forward and I had to stand with both feet on the brakes to stop it nearly hitting the car in front of me, no warning lights came on, and when I finally found somewhere to pull over and got it in park the engine began to rev up really high (foot not on gas), turned it off obviously, but it still does that when I start it up. Any ideas what might be causing this?

[lenore]

Quote

sounds like the throttle bottle is stuck...maybe a dose of carb cleaner is needed.   This car is not drive by wire, still has a throttle cable and you need to have it checked out.

 

[renphilia]

On 4/17/2017 at 6:56 AM, deadbolt said:

Renphilia,

Sorry for the late reply.

Thanks for the pictures. I should have mentioned to place them in a different thread.  This thread is really about "Transmission Failures".

 

Yeah. here it is then:

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/90568-my-01-rx300-treatment/

Let's keep this clean as transmission problem/symptoms related forum :)

[Kirk RX3002001]

Dear members,

It has been a while since I have posted and since my last posting I have tried a method to address the "neutral condition" while in drive or reverse"  that began to randomly happen for me about 113000 miles. The procedure one owner listed here that work for him, was to get to the dealer and have them drain the trans, pull the pan, clean the pan and all the sensors in the pan area (which can only be accessed when the pan is pulled. Then fill with trans fluid, run engine/trans and flush the system. Add new fluid and hope for the best.

Well for me, it worked for over 10,000+ ,miles, not a slip in all that while. Then one day I put the car in reverse and it acted like neutral, pushed the accelerator, it lunged and engaged. I have an engineering background, and built buses and firetruck for many years. I gave some thought to why all of a sudden this would happen again after all this time.

Please let me add my RX300 2001 AWD has had misc electrical problems which began about the same time my first "neutral" transmission experience happened. i.e. dash lights, window switches acting weird etc... So I had an idea that the problem could be related to the overdrive operation, that my car starts in by default. You have to switch it off to not drive in overdrive mode. I have cautiously driven over 6,000 more miles with no overdrive (hard on gas mileage) but no (neutral condition) happened until one day I was leaving a parking lot and forgot to disengage the overdrive button, and the care slipped again. I stopped push the button in the transmission worked fine. Since that last slip, not one (neutral condition).

I do plan to take my car for another transmission flushing to see how much metal debris have been created since I last had the trans serviced, which was the first time the pan had ever been pulled. i.e. I always serviced the transmission earlier than recommended but never did the full flush before. I went into the shop and saw the pan with the metal shavings in the bottom attached to the three magnets that the pan has in the bottom. For 14 years of driving it seemed like a smaller amount than I would have suspected from a faulty gear set. The shop foreman said, looks like you need a new transmission, I said not in my opinion, it looks quite normal for all that time. So far at 15,000 plus later I will see what he has to say when I take my car in for next flush.

A last thought, the notion that this transmission used from 1999 - 2003 may have had a faulty gear that caused the "neutral" problem because of the type of material it was made of may be true. But in my theory, because "Overdrive" is a condition whereby you engage another gear set. I suggest the problem may be connected to the overdrive gear set, and because of the randomness of the condition that me and others have reported, it may also be an electrical problem with the "Overdrive" system.

That's my opinion and experience of the random "Neutral Condition" that has plagued many owners of this model. Please let me know if I have not been clear or if you have additional opinions that help us all.

Regards, Kirk

[lenore]

Frankly flushes on high mileage transmission is kiss of death.  If a fluid exchange is done (transmission pump is used for the exchange) than it is ok, but a flush machine drives the metal debris thru tranny and probably into the valve body assembly which is death to the transmission.  With Loss of overdrive you should be experiencing a check engine light with pending codes.  Either that or your check engine light is burned out.  Another note sometimes the shift linkage comes loose and the gears are not selected properly.  Couple of people over the years have found that.  I feel the biggest problem is that the original 1999 tranny had a aluminum planetary gear carrier which eventually wears and than causes the failure of the gears because they drift in the aluminum carrier causing failure.  All on this site and the other lexus site agree a flush is not good.  I know I tried it once on my RX300 when I loss overdrive and it only got worst.

[Kirk RX3002001]

Dear Lenore,

I don't think you read my post correctly. I have no problem with my overdrive. And the flush was done after the pans were drained cleaned etc. The idea I was referencing has to do with the electronic relationship of the gear engagement using the overdrive button, which in my case, when I drive without overdrive, seems to reduce or eliminate the "Neutral" condition that was experiencing before I flushed as described above. I don't mean to represent this as a cure, just another way that may extend the inevitable rebuild or replace.

I hope that helps. Kirk

[renphilia]

Hey everyone. I am beginning to experience random "thomp" with my 2001 AWD RX300. Currently it's still on 140k miles. It randomly happens whenever I release the accelerator pedal for few seconds, then depress it back in a hurry, the RX would lunge with "thomp" sound. I am not sure what might be the cause but nowadays I try to control my feet as whenever I release the pedal, I try to depress it back slowly until the RPM gauge "reads" my feet and I can depress it deeper normally as usual. Not sure whether that really solved it or just minimize the "thomp" till as if it doesn't occur.

Is there any thought on what could be the cause ?I thank you for everyone's idea here..

[lenore]

You may have a dirty Idle Air Control Valve.  Search cleaning the IACV valve and try that.  The throttle body may be sticking in unwanted positions.

[renphilia]

30 minutes ago, lenore said:

You may have a dirty Idle Air Control Valve.  Search cleaning the IACV valve and try that.  The throttle body may be sticking in unwanted positions.

So is it not transmission related ? Actually I cleaned the throttle body last week. But I didn't clean the IACV as it was a real challenge to remove those 2 pieces factory tighten screws. So I just sprayed some bits though the small hole underneath the right throttle (I thought that might help cleaning the IACV)

[renphilia]

Hi everyone. just some short updates.

my Rex is now on 160k miles. current situation/condition is as follow:

1) on cold start (when the temp meter is near first line of C), shifting to D is no problem ( i still have to hold the brake while shifting to D, and keep holding for additional 2-3secs), from 1st to 2nd gear, shifting feeling kind of slight "slingshot" effect. same goes for shifting to 3rd gear. 4th gear feels normal and ok. this only occurs once. when on running temp, all is well.

2) cruising on 65-70mph and higher speed feels normal. however,this is untrue when we are stucked on traffic jams. slowing on 10-15mph feels a little bit *push* from behind while depressing back the accelerator pedal after we let it free to cruise on low speed. still, when moving from complete stop, car feels normal.

3) on operatingtemp, when we shift immediately from P to D, would feel a slight *kick* within the car. that being said, letting it on N for 2-3secs then only shift to D feels like much better.

4) my ATF still has some slight drips. and it is coming from within driveshaft, where the expert mechanic advised to remove the complete transmission including the 4wd/AWD transfer case. the cost for this is an arm and a leg for us. furthermore, 1 week is not a guarantee the job could be done.

5) due to this, on higher speed as 70mph+ , i could hear a *humming* sound.this sound is also quite noticeable on gaining momentum 40mph++..but 65mph above is getting worse.

having all these, i still love and enjoy my RX, and hope to get more miles from it. i expect it to run another 100k miles. hahaha. just wanted to share this. since now getting busy to finish my internship. well, should anyone have any advice also i would greatly appreciate. thanks guys!

[r_michael]

Hey folks, thanks for this informative topic.

After a transmission failure last week, I'm asking my mechanic to install a remanufactured transmission in my 2000 RX 300 (195K miles). I don't want to salvage the car. Used transmissions scare me. Overhauls are cheaper, but not enough to get my attention.

Anybody have experiences to share about these suppliers?

• ETE Reman
• Powertrain Products, Inc.
• Street Smart
• (Jasper is currently out of stock for my model.)

Other options to suggest?

Many thanks,

--Michael

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RX PHD]

I would try and source a local rebuilder if possible, it makes warranty and  labor   much easier to deal with if there is an issue 

[deadbolt]

On 11/1/2017 at 6:21 AM, renphilia said:

4) my ATF still has some slight drips. and it is coming from within driveshaft, where the expert mechanic advised to remove the complete transmission including the 4wd/AWD transfer case. the cost for this is an arm and a leg for us. furthermore, 1 week is not a guarantee the job could be done.

 

Regarding your point above:  As I recall from our earlier chats your car was an 4WD.  The driveshaft for the rear wheels does not come out of the transmission as some seem to think.  It comes out of the transfer case.  This will be gear oil and is filled from the side of the transfer case.  You can tell by the odor and color that it is gear oil. Tranny fluid is red but gear oil is yellow/brown. Tranny fluid doesn't smell good, but gear oil stinks.

I experienced this drip and the stink of the spray onto the exhaust and ignored it for a long time. My transfer case failed while driving at >80kmph and the rear wheels locked up. This was a frightening experience and could have been catastrophic.  I ended up buying a used transfer case but the driveshaft was also worn and after the repair the leak persisted.  The seal can be replaced, but if it is too late then the seal will eat a groove into the driveshaft which is expensive to replace.  I now live with this and have to check the transfer case gear oil regularly. Done underneath the car it is a !Removed! thing to have to do but I do it every couple months.

So I am sorry to say at least part of your problems may be in your transfer case.  Drain the transfer case and assess the fluid for metal.  You can see the groove in the driveshaft by removing the front shaft mount and pull the driveshaft back but not all the way out because if there is fluid remaining in the case it will leak out. Check it for the groove I mentioned.  If it is grooved you will need to repair or live with it. On the upside, the transfer case is much less expensive than the transmission and easier to swap.

This is a 24mm wrench that I made specifically to get at the fill port on the transfer case. I made it from a 24mm socket that I cut down and welded a handle onto.

Best of luck to you. It can really suck having a transmission problem.

 

[r_michael]

On 11/28/2017 at 7:12 PM, RX PHD said:

I would try and source a local rebuilder if possible, it makes warranty and  labor   much easier to deal with if there is an issue 

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked with a couple of local rebuilders who have overhauled this particular transmission. They offered me a 60-day P/L warranty, with longer periods available for extra $$. Two years would be $500.

Although I agree that warranty issues could be easier to resolve if everything was local, I was swayed by the possible advantages of getting a remanufactured unit. These shops would see these transmissions more frequently. The ones I checked say they have rigorous QA built into their processes.

My shop owner ended up ordering through Advance Auto Parts because he has an established relationship there. AAP sources RX300 transmissions from Moveras, a shop that that touts LEAN processes, etc. etc. I hope that's right.

Now here's my new question:

Moveras's catalog suggests replacing (or even bypassing) the transmission oil cooler. Why is this important? What are the risks of not replacing it? I checked the cost of the part at Advance. Ouch. Nearly $500 before discounts, which would make the total cost more than $5K.

Thanks!