How To Make Tranmission Last Longer?

[OCNLVR]

Given the early generations of RX300 transmission problems, what do you all think about ways to make the transmission last longer?

So far I have:

Change the ATF fluid with Toyota Type-4 fluid every 15K miles

Slow the acceleration

Any transmission additives??

Drive in Snow Mode? (I read this somewhere but could not understand it too well)

Any other suggestions and ideas?

[dcfish]

Add a tranny cooler and a inline filter.

[RX in NC]

Never use an RX as a tow vehicle....

[TunedRX300]

Change the tranny filter, do an Used Oil Analysis to reveal current condition of the tranny instead of guessing what is the proper change interval.

[lsrxlex]

Change the tranny filter, do an Used Oil Analysis to reveal current condition of the tranny instead of guessing what is the proper change interval.

I have a 1999 RX300 with 123k miles and I think I should change the tranny filter now, before it's too late, even though it still runs OK.

Please let us know the part numbers for the filter and its gasket.

Any directions how to do it will be of great help.

How one can have an Used Oil Analysis done? I've never done this before.

I just change ATF every ~10k miles.

One time I had an Indie did a ATF flush, and it made the tranny even worse and the fluid became so dark, much much darker than before he did it!!!

After that, I had to change ATF 6 times in a row at an interval of ~100 miles to get back to the original feeling of performance like before.

So, to me, no more ATF flush; just more frequent change intervals. The fluid color is now almost like of the new one.

Thanks.

[lenore]

change fluid, change fluid, change fluid, how sad, by the way just in the last two days I have been contacted by 3 more elated customers after they have experienced the dreaded failure. two of them were 2001 RX's .....not good, I have now over thirty registered failures since I have been accepting Emails. Lexus, I do not cry wolf, I just cry that your reliability is not what it should be and your lack of support in fixing the problem sucks....so there be it, wish me luck I am taking off to yonder states in my Lexus where my failure occured....... Hope it doesnt happen again. Good god I changed the fluid 7 times in the last 38k miles. Is that enough for you folks that dont think it was maintained? Happy Fourth of July and the failure of the illegal immigration Bill....Yea, Americans have spoken....

[OCNLVR]

change fluid, change fluid, change fluid, how sad, by the way just in the last two days I have been contacted by 3 more elated customers after they have experienced the dreaded failure. two of them were 2001 RX's .....not good, I have now over thirty registered failures since I have been accepting Emails. Lexus, I do not cry wolf, I just cry that your reliability is not what it should be and your lack of support in fixing the problem sucks....so there be it, wish me luck I am taking off to yonder states in my Lexus where my failure occured....... Hope it doesnt happen again. Good god I changed the fluid 7 times in the last 38k miles. Is that enough for you folks that dont think it was maintained? Happy Fourth of July and the failure of the illegal immigration Bill....Yea, Americans have spoken....

My transmission failed at 96K without warning on the highway last fall. Luckily no one got hurt and the car was fixed at a transmission shop. Cost of rebuilt and labor was $3800. The car was purchased used at 35K miles. It had drain and fill at 35K, 60K and 89K. Of course Lexus wouldn't help.

After doing some research I realize that 15K drain and refill may not be sufficient since only at most 4 quarts out of 9 quarts of transmission fluid can be exchanged. Rather than flushing or drop the pan, I think I might go with 5K drain and refill to keep the fluid fresh.

I am also going to install transmission in line filter.

Has anyone used Lubegard Red for rebuilt transmission additive? There is a lot of discussion on BITOG and seems to work well.

[lenore]

change fluid, change fluid, change fluid, how sad, by the way just in the last two days I have been contacted by 3 more elated customers after they have experienced the dreaded failure. two of them were 2001 RX's .....not good, I have now over thirty registered failures since I have been accepting Emails. Lexus, I do not cry wolf, I just cry that your reliability is not what it should be and your lack of support in fixing the problem sucks....so there be it, wish me luck I am taking off to yonder states in my Lexus where my failure occured....... Hope it doesnt happen again. Good god I changed the fluid 7 times in the last 38k miles. Is that enough for you folks that dont think it was maintained? Happy Fourth of July and the failure of the illegal immigration Bill....Yea, Americans have spoken....

My transmission failed at 96K without warning on the highway last fall. Luckily no one got hurt and the car was fixed at a transmission shop. Cost of rebuilt and labor was $3800. The car was purchased used at 35K miles. It had drain and fill at 35K, 60K and 89K. Of course Lexus wouldn't help.

After doing some research I realize that 15K drain and refill may not be sufficient since only at most 4 quarts out of 9 quarts of transmission fluid can be exchanged. Rather than flushing or drop the pan, I think I might go with 5K drain and refill to keep the fluid fresh.

I am also going to install transmission in line filter.

Has anyone used Lubegard Red for rebuilt transmission additive? There is a lot of discussion on BITOG and seems to work well.

I still think the aux tranny cooler is in a poor location with minimal if any air flow. That is my next project. Sorry about your loss of tranny. I have not heard anything about lubegard Red, but keep us posted...

[TunedRX300]

Change the tranny filter, do an Used Oil Analysis to reveal current condition of the tranny instead of guessing what is the proper change interval.

I have a 1999 RX300 with 123k miles and I think I should change the tranny filter now, before too late, even though it still run OK.

Please let us know the part numbers for the filter and its gasket.

Any directions how to do it will be of great help.

How one can have an Used Oil Analysis done? I've never done this before.

I just change ATF every ~10k miles.

One time I had an Indie did a ATF flush, and it made the tranny even worse and the fluid became so dark, much much darker than before he did it!!!

After that, I had to change ATF 6 times in a row at an interval of ~100 miles to get back to the original feeling of performance like before.

So, to me, no more ATF flush; just more frequent change intervals. The fluid color is now almost like of the new one.

Thanks.

Here is a link for complete Photo DIY Instructions

You may send your used ATF sample to either Blackstone Labs or Oil Analyzer. For $20 a lab will give you spectrum analysis of wear metals and Total Acid Number, these scientific measurement tell you how much metal debris is in the ATF and Ph value. It is not hard to learn to read them and if you can save one unnecessary drain and fill, you break even. More importantly, you gain information for your driving style and your car. For example, if your drain interval is too long, the lab will tell you to shorten up to a recommendated mileage.

If you pick Blackstone, you will get something like this. This is a Toyota Highlander with 20K miles on factory filled Toyota T-IV. You would THINK 20K is too short on factory filled ATF with 60% of easy hwy miles...read on what the lab reported.

http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/sho...p;Number=915426

Blackstone says:

This is likely the original fill of ATF in this unit so we aren't surprised to find the excess

wear and silicon. Both should improve with subsequent oil changes. You didn't mention if this oil was

changed or not but we suggest doing so if you haven't. The wear metals make the oil abrasive, which causes more wear. No moisture was found and the trace of insolubles is okay. The viscosity read in the normal range for an ATF. The TAN read 1.0 showing some acidity in the oil. Universal averages

for this type of transmission are based on an oil run of ~13K miles.

2005 Highlander, 20,368 miles, 5-spd auto tranny, OEM fill, my results/universal averages:

Aluminum 26/16

Chromium 1/0

Iron 64/33

Copper 23/68

Lead 2/13

Tin 1/2

Moly 0/1

Nickel 0/0

Manganese 4/1

Silver 0/0

Titanium 0/0

Potassium 2/1

Boron 37/53

Silicon 30/20

Sodium 7/4

Calcium 109/132

Magnesium 2/26

Phosphorus 258/282

Zinc 3/78

Barium 8/3

SUS viscosity at 210 F = 44.0 (should be 43-51)

Flashpoint = 355 (should be >330)

Water is zero

Insolubles was listed as "trace"

This vehicle is mostly driven by my wife and has seen 60/40 highway/city driving.