2001 Rx Transmission Problems

[George rx 300]

I, have a 2001 rx 300 fwd with a manufactures date of 10/2000. I have 110000 miles on it, had the 50k done on time, tranny serviced at that time. I did the timming belt, drive belts, spark plugs, brakes, tires, power flush on the tranny at 90k . I am very good at not going over 3500 miles on an oil change. I have enjoyed this car as much as anything I've ever owned and understood that I would get 250k - 300k trouble free miles out of it. I have been much better than what lexus schedule is for oil changes and maintance. So when I have to rent a car to go out of state over the memorial day weekend because I'm scared that the transmission may drop out at anytime, I think that lexus needs to honor the ads about quality and reliability, step up to the pump and take care of this issue.

So here is my concern, I read about the total transmission failures with these cars. I experiance the getting stuck between gears after a donw shift, such as makeing a turn into a side street and then accelerating to go back to driving speed.I think I read that this is a computer issue causing to car to always be looking for the highest gear. I think I know enough about the mechanical side of things too know that when you have RPMS going up while the transmission is searching for a gear, clutches are burning, and get a little closer to a total break down each time this happens!

Does anyone know if there is a replacement chip for the computer to correct this problem? And at this point is it to late to try this, even if there is one. Also would like to know if anyone has what the failure rate per vehicles sold for this model car is.

Any information would be greatly appreciated

[lenore]

Hopefully west will try to answer your question, He seems to think into the problems...

[bluestu]

I have 2 AWD RX300s with aprox. the same mileage. I was having a shifting problem with one of them and it turned out to be a faluty speed sensor. I wouldn't worry too much about taking the car on trips. The RX performs great on the open road at 70mph, and I always enjoy taking mine on trips. It's pointless to worry about what might happen in the future. All cars are going to have mechanical issues along the way, especially as the mileage increases. Except for the annoying sensors, I've found the RX to be much more reliable than any car I've previously owned.

[wwest]

I, have a 2001 rx 300 fwd with a manufactures date of 10/2000. I have 110000 miles on it, had the 50k done on time, tranny serviced at that time. I did the timming belt, drive belts, spark plugs, brakes, tires, power flush on the tranny at 90k . I am very good at not going over 3500 miles on an oil change. I have enjoyed this car as much as anything I've ever owned and understood that I would get 250k - 300k trouble free miles out of it. I have been much better than what lexus schedule is for oil changes and maintance. So when I have to rent a car to go out of state over the memorial day weekend because I'm scared that the transmission may drop out at anytime, I think that lexus needs to honor the ads about quality and reliability, step up to the pump and take care of this issue.

So here is my concern, I read about the total transmission failures with these cars. I experiance the getting stuck between gears after a donw shift, such as makeing a turn into a side street and then accelerating to go back to driving speed.I think I read that this is a computer issue causing to car to always be looking for the highest gear. I think I know enough about the mechanical side of things too know that when you have RPMS going up while the transmission is searching for a gear, clutches are burning, and get a little closer to a total break down each time this happens!

Does anyone know if there is a replacement chip for the computer to correct this problem? And at this point is it to late to try this, even if there is one. Also would like to know if anyone has what the failure rate per vehicles sold for this model car is.

Any information would be greatly appreciated

Mine is also a 2001, but AWD. While I fully expect the transaxle to fail due to the design flaw prior to reaching ~100k miles it will get no "slack" from me in the meantime. I will however monitor the condition of the ATF diligently and if it again starts looking and smelling burnt it will get a drain and refill, if not two.

[George rx 300]

I have 2 AWD RX300s with aprox. the same mileage. I was having a shifting problem with one of them and it turned out to be a faluty speed sensor. I wouldn't worry too much about taking the car on trips. The RX performs great on the open road at 70mph, and I always enjoy taking mine on trips. It's pointless to worry about what might happen in the future. All cars are going to have mechanical issues along the way, especially as the mileage increases. Except for the annoying sensors, I've found the RX to be much more reliable than any car I've previously owned.

Thanks for the reply.....What type of shifting problem did you have ? When I talk to My local dealer they just keep telling me that they all do it, don't worry! they have never mentioned about checking the speed sensor. I too have enjoyed the rx more than any car I've owned! Many road trips, and allways felt that I would get back home safely. I think that I may have tried to do a little more research than I needed, Now I have worried myself half to death, (as you said) over something that may or may not happen. I think that I failed to mention that my CEL came on. I'm getting a p1135, replaced the air flow sensor, tried to reset the light but it comes right back on. I plan to get a new gas cap just for kicks and giggles to see if that helps. I just can't see putting a great deal of money out on the CEL and then drop a tranny! I did look into buying a warranty on it but they were $2000.00 and would only pay up to, I think $1900.00 on a trans repair. That seemed stupid to spend money on what might happen rather than spend money on something when it happens! With this said, I realy wish that I could find out about the failure rate on the transmissions on these cars. Maybe I could feel like the odds were with me then.Ihave been thinking about trading, previouly I had a subaru outback limited sedan, great car and I'm thinking I may get another. I just had planned on keeping this car, and getting some very high mileage out of it but I do have doubts at this point of the game.

Thanks so much for your help.........

[George rx 300]

I, have a 2001 rx 300 fwd with a manufactures date of 10/2000. I have 110000 miles on it, had the 50k done on time, tranny serviced at that time. I did the timming belt, drive belts, spark plugs, brakes, tires, power flush on the tranny at 90k . I am very good at not going over 3500 miles on an oil change. I have enjoyed this car as much as anything I've ever owned and understood that I would get 250k - 300k trouble free miles out of it. I have been much better than what lexus schedule is for oil changes and maintance. So when I have to rent a car to go out of state over the memorial day weekend because I'm scared that the transmission may drop out at anytime, I think that lexus needs to honor the ads about quality and reliability, step up to the pump and take care of this issue.

So here is my concern, I read about the total transmission failures with these cars. I experiance the getting stuck between gears after a donw shift, such as makeing a turn into a side street and then accelerating to go back to driving speed.I think I read that this is a computer issue causing to car to always be looking for the highest gear. I think I know enough about the mechanical side of things too know that when you have RPMS going up while the transmission is searching for a gear, clutches are burning, and get a little closer to a total break down each time this happens!

Does anyone know if there is a replacement chip for the computer to correct this problem? And at this point is it to late to try this, even if there is one. Also would like to know if anyone has what the failure rate per vehicles sold for this model car is.

Any information would be greatly appreciated

Mine is also a 2001, but AWD. While I fully expect the transaxle to fail due to the design flaw prior to reaching ~100k miles it will get no "slack" from me in the meantime. I will however monitor the condition of the ATF diligently and if it again starts looking and smelling burnt it will get a drain and refill, if not two.

[George rx 300]

Thanks for the reply.....I hope that you don't experiance the transaxle failure! But you are right about the servicing. When the 50k service was done I thought that the transmission was drained, and maybe had a filter replaced. When I had the 90k I found out that there isn't a filter to change,and they only replace 4qts of new fluid but the transmission holds approx 10 qts, go figure 6 qts old and burnt, 4qts new.The service advisor said that was the only type service they did! I did however take the car to a goodyear store and had a power flush done on it, this changed all of the fluid and back flushs the screen. I did seem to notice a differance for a while, but I think that I will take it in and have it done again real soon. I was told that there was a chance of trash getting loose and ending up in the valve body, but it turned out ok.

Are you experiancing the gear search when you turn into a side street, sometime I have to get off of the accelerator and let it coast for a second before it can find a gear, this is realy bad if I'm making a turn onto a street that is going down hill. The dealer says drive it, dont worry that's normal. I have a hard time believing that because it didn't start doing it until around 85-90k.

GOOD LUCK TO US ALL!

I, have a 2001 rx 300 fwd with a manufactures date of 10/2000. I have 110000 miles on it, had the 50k done on time, tranny serviced at that time. I did the timming belt, drive belts, spark plugs, brakes, tires, power flush on the tranny at 90k . I am very good at not going over 3500 miles on an oil change. I have enjoyed this car as much as anything I've ever owned and understood that I would get 250k - 300k trouble free miles out of it. I have been much better than what lexus schedule is for oil changes and maintance. So when I have to rent a car to go out of state over the memorial day weekend because I'm scared that the transmission may drop out at anytime, I think that lexus needs to honor the ads about quality and reliability, step up to the pump and take care of this issue.

So here is my concern, I read about the total transmission failures with these cars. I experiance the getting stuck between gears after a donw shift, such as makeing a turn into a side street and then accelerating to go back to driving speed.I think I read that this is a computer issue causing to car to always be looking for the highest gear. I think I know enough about the mechanical side of things too know that when you have RPMS going up while the transmission is searching for a gear, clutches are burning, and get a little closer to a total break down each time this happens!

Does anyone know if there is a replacement chip for the computer to correct this problem? And at this point is it to late to try this, even if there is one. Also would like to know if anyone has what the failure rate per vehicles sold for this model car is.

Any information would be greatly appreciated

Mine is also a 2001, but AWD. While I fully expect the transaxle to fail due to the design flaw prior to reaching ~100k miles it will get no "slack" from me in the meantime. I will however monitor the condition of the ATF diligently and if it again starts looking and smelling burnt it will get a drain and refill, if not two.

[bluestu]

If you have a bad speed sensor, the check engine light will come on and the code will read speed sensor. Sounds like you have a bad air/fuel sensor. I have had to replace both air fuel sensors and the mass air flow sensor on both of my RXs. What a waste of time and money. That's the only major headache I've had with these cars. I do have my transmissions flushed every 15k and they shift very smooth. The fluid is always a clean pink and has never appeared dark or burnt smelling. I also use synthetic motor oil so I won't have to worry about any engine sludge problem. Using the proper fluids and keeping them clean is the key to extending the life of any motor vehicle.

[bluestu]

I looked up the code P1135 on the code sheet and it reads "Pedal Position Sensor A Circuit Intermittent". I don't know exactly what that is, so you might want to call the Lexus dealer and find out before you waste any more money trying to troubleshoot your check engine.

[ggloversr]

I have a 2000 rx300 4wd and found that I had much better response from the transmission after having a total flush done. That was about 20,000 miles ago and now I notice some hesitation coming back, Time for another flush... It's a common problem with these cars.

[kimo]

I asked a dealer about the job they do when you ask for a tranny service. They do not remove the pan to clean the screen/filter unless you ask and pay an extra $150 or so for the extra time and pan gasket. I think it should be part of the service, but in the future I guess I will do it myself.

But you really need to have all the old fluid flushed out to make the service more effective to get as many miles as possible out of your tranny. I found a shop that flushed mine for around $185. Next time I will drop the pan and clean the mesh screen.

I will probably have the old fluid flushed around every 20K miles. Or sooner if it starts looking dirty again or shifts funny.

[wgwollet]

George and Co:

I too have a 2001 AWD RX just turned 100k miles. Its a OK car nothing special about these RX just alot of hipe on Toyota parts. The 3.0L is Toyota big deal........I have a 1993 Camry with 279k miles, bought new.......never any major problems,

I think whats going on here is the RX is a "dolled" up Toyota with all the bells and whisles and those things will break. Things like PW, PDL, AC are will proven, but this transmission with the fancy shift points, the VSC, etc is a bunch of stuff you must service and maintain.

People will tell you, that the more high priced the car the more it costs.......so we must baer the fruit.

As far as keeping the car to 200-300k, I now have reservations about that, I don't thing this RX will last like my Camry or be as cheap to operate.