Good News...bad News....

[wwest]

Today I opened the fill plug for the PTO on my 2001 AWD RX300 (56,589 miles). The transfer case lubricant is pristine, absolutely no indication of overheating, no burned odor, no contamination, etc.

So the VC is NOT, indirectly or otherwise, the source of the burned and contaminated ATF in the nearby diff'l case.

[lenore]

Hey west, what started you on this thread. Are you talking about the pto with 75-90 w gear lube on the front of the vehicle? When I changed mine it was clean at that mileage also, however the second time I changed it at 120k miles it had some discoloration and contamination. I switched to Full synthetic but still with the required GL5 requirements. Please note: I have had the transmission changed twice since the orginal change of the PTO fluid at around 60k miles. I don't know if this is helpful in your quest. Oh by the way my LExus is a 1999 and does not have VSC. It does have limited slip on the rear axle.

[wwest]

Hey west, what started you on this thread. Are you talking about the pto with 75-90 w gear lube on the front of the vehicle? When I changed mine it was clean at that mileage also, however the second time I changed it at 120k miles it had some discoloration and contamination. I switched to Full synthetic but still with the required GL5 requirements. Please note: I have had the transmission changed twice since the orginal change of the PTO fluid at around 60k miles. I don't know if this is helpful in your quest. Oh by the way my LExus is a 1999 and does not have VSC. It does have limited slip on the rear axle.

The QUEST...

Determine why these transaxles are failing prematurely at ~70,000 miles or so.

Since the viscous fluid within the viscous clutch/coupling must self-heat in order to become functional, begin "locking" the center diff'l, I was suspicious that this heat might be at least one of the causative factors.

Apparently not.