Rx300 Overdrive Not Engaging Following Deer Collision

[vr4henry]

It all started when the 8 point buck dropped "from the sky" onto the front end of my wifes' 2000 RX300 AWD. Hood, radiator, bumper, headlamps - but no engine or mechanical damage. Or so they said. We got the car back and the bodywork was beautiful. I will add here that this vehicle was in cherry condition - garaged at both ends of the daily long commute and well maintained. People often commented that it looked new (even though it had 110K miles). The problem is the overdrive will not engage. At 60 MPH she is taching at 4,000 RPMs - not good. The Lexus dealer tells us the timing belt had slipped (it was replaced about 10K miles back).

My questions are, can an impact with a 160 lb deer at 55 MPH (cruise control was engaged) cause the timing belt to jump a sprocket? And what does the timing belt have to do with the overdrive? This seems a bit strange to me. Naturally, the insurance adjuster thinks this was a pre-existing condition, which I am just trying to exploit. The fact that this was a wonderful driving machine - up to the moment the deer fell from the sky - is lost on the insurance company. Any help is appreciated.

[RXHound]

Presume you have checked the obvious and the O/D light in the instrument panel is out, button is on the shifter on mine to turn it on/off.

(I wish this car had more O/D, at 65mph it turns nearly 2800rpm, a 5-speed I have runs about 2100rpm at 65mph.)

[gp1200x]

how do they know it jumped a tooth? Is it running a little rough? I don't see how that happened unless you have deer parts stuffed up under the car.

Verify the engine temperature is operating in the correct range..on your model the car needs to reach a temp range before the OD engages.