RX in NC

No bluestu, the failing transmissions in the early RX300 models are NOT all caused by owners failing to either flush or drain-and-fill their Type T-IV transmission fluid at regular intervals. Some Lexus techs and service managers have acknowledged a higher rate of transmission failures in these vehicles that is NOT due to maintenance practices (or lack thereof) by the owners. Lexus Corporate continues to keep their heads in the sand on this issue (probably due to liability fears) while hoping that the early RX models are now beginning to head to the junkyards so the problem will eventually go away. Many of us who do maintain our transmissions have been through this, and you can rest assured that we did not cause these problems. The early-model transmissions are flawed, probably because they are essentially Camry transmissions that were not robustly re-engineered for the heavier, higher-center-of-gravity RX300.... Anyone who chooses to flush a transmission needs to be aware of the problems that may occur as a result of dragging debris that has settled in the bottom of the transmission pan up through the transmission assembly and torque converter. Flushing a transmission can lead to even greater problems with your transmission. I highly recommend that anyone who decides to have their transmission flushed take the time to complete the necessary due diligence first. Personally, I would never have any of my transmissions flushed, foreign or domestic. Routine drain-and-fills have been considered proper transmission maintenance by ALL vehicle manufacturers for decades, and the drain-and-fill procedure remains the recommended one at both Lexus service departments that I utilize. To ensure that it is done properly and with the correct fluid (Toyota Type T-IV only), I always do it myself. My chosen interval on the RX series is 30,000 miles....

This problem is not just a TSB - it is actually a full-blown RECALL due to a defective radiator design on the 2004 RX330. Be aware that Lexus refers to recalls as "campaigns". I guess the word "campaign" makes it sound a little less like a mistake by the Lexus design engineers. Kind of like calling a toilet a "water closet".... This recall goes by the name "4LF - Radiator Campaign". It applies to all Canadian-built 2004 RX330 vehicles. If you own one and you still have the original radiator, simply call your Lexus service manager with your VIN number, ensure that they order a new radiator for you, and then schedule your radiator replacement appointment once your new radiator arrives at the service department. There is no charge to you since this is indeed a recall. Again, this is ONLY for the 2004 RX330....

Thanks - I'll check it out. I found stratusphere.net yesterday, and that forum seems to be pretty active....

Last Saturday, my daughter and her husband struck a deal for a 2007 Chrysler Sebring sedan with about 20,000 miles on it. First time she's ever purchased a vehicle without seeking my advice and guidance beforehand, so it was quite a surprise to me. But the two of them want to develop more independence from us parents and I think that's a good thing. Fortunately, the Kelley Blue Book reviews are relatively good, most recent Sebring owners believe their cars provide a lot of value for what they cost, and it will be relatively simple to maintain (which is where my daughter expects me to get involved, as usual). I've seen the car for all of 30 minutes, spent some time with the owners manual to capture the fluids and filters data I need in order to create a maintenance file on the vehicle, and then she took off and I haven't seen the car since.... My problem is that I can't seem to find a decently active Chrysler forum to help with questions and maintenance issues. The Jeep and Dodge forums I utilize from time to time are always buzzing with plenty of folks who always respond to questions for assistance, but the two or three Chrysler forums I've found through Google are surprisingly dead with very little activity. Anybody know of an active forum that can help with this Sebring?

My wife leaves her RX on A/C auto mode all the time as well. I've found that both of the Lexus vehicles we've owned seem to produce more dashboard outgasses than any other vehicles we've had in our stable. As long as I do a good interior glass cleaning on her windshield every couple of weeks, interior glass fogging hasn't been a problem. But if I fail to do that, then she will complain of fogging upon engine start-up. I just use an old cotton diaper (clean and dry of course) and whatever glass cleaner we have on the laundry room shelf at the time. The key is to use more elbow grease than you do glass cleaner and therefore remove as much residue on the interior glass as is possible. I spend 5 to 6 minutes on the interior windshield whereas most people probably spend no more than a minute or two making a couple of passes with their rag. Then they wonder why their windshield is still fogging up after they've "cleaned" it. They've actually done nothing more than spread the dirt and grime around....

Your willingness to put other people in grave danger simply to save yourself a few minutes of time during your daily commute is sheer lunacy. You shouldn't be driving, period. How would you react if your daughters were killed in a head-on collision caused by some moron barreling down the road at more than 100 mph? Two innocent sisters (one 18 and the other 9) were killed over the weekend in our local area by a guy driving more than 90 mph who hit them head-on. The girls were in a Kia and never had a chance. The guy was driving a Pontiac Grand Am and was also killed. LexKid, you leave me no choice and I have to say it - you're an idiot. You really need to think through this matter and come to understand the danger you are exposing others to. And at those speeds, all it takes is a split-second distraction or mistake on your part or a deer running across the highway or a tire blowing out to turn your vehicle into a deadly projectile that snuffs out an innocent person's life just because they happen to be on the same stretch of road that you are. It's understandable (but unfortunate) to drive like this when you are 17. It is totally irresponsible and inexcusable to drive like this when you are 47. Grow the *BLEEP* up and quit putting other peoples' lives in danger....

LexKid, If I remember correctly, you're a former surgeon who is now a pharmacist.... All I can say is that I would never let you cut on me or fill any of our household's prescriptions. Oh, and you can ride with me anytime you need to, but you can never drive....

Sorry about my typo mistake above on the tire size application. I should have typed 235, not 255. I'm not sure if the Alenza is available in a 255 application. If that's what you're looking for, then go to the Bridgestone website and check. I think that the 235/55/18 tires fill up the wheel wells of the RX330 quite nicely. Knowing how limited the wheel well room is in the RX series from owning both a 2000 model and a 2004 model, you have to be very careful about plus-sizing tires on these vehicles otherwise your front tires will rub in tight turns and you'll drastically shorten their lifespan as a result. Also be aware that the strut springs always limit your tire diameters on both rear wheels for all RX models....

Stick with your current ES for as long as you can, Steve. The housing market will continue to worsen before it eventually gets better perhaps a year to 18 months from now and as long as your ES is well-maintained and can comfortably haul your clients around, there is absolutely no business reason to replace it. You may have to fight your internal demons that periodically nag you to spring for a new ride, but it's the fiscally smart and prudent thing to do at the current time.... When you finally do decide to get an LS (which all things being equal is what I believe you'll eventually do), take the time to locate a like-new, low-mileage one that is at least two model years old. Your wallet, your budget, your depreciation schedule, and your IRAs and other retirement instruments will thank you many times over in the years to come....

Glad to know that my input on the Alenzas helped you in making your decision. I'm still very impressed with the set of Alenzas that I put on my wife's RX back in mid-February. They now have over 20,000 miles on them and still look and handle as if they were only a month old. I believe the key is to keep them pumped up to about 36 or 37 psi at all times - I check all of our tire pressures every weekend and adjust accordingly. This tire refuses to hydroplane on her vehicle which is great to know even though we're still in an extended drought. During a two-day period a month ago when we received between 5 and 6 inches of rain, the Alenzas continued to stick to the road like glue. Their wet-weather performance puts them head-and-shoulders above everything else, and if they will truly go the distance on their 65,000-mile warranty, that will really be an accomplishment for Bridgestone. The Alenza is probably the only Bridgestone tire that I would purchase. As many RX owners know, the OEM Bridgestone Duelers that came new with many RX300s were very mediocre tires from both a performance perspective and a long-treadwear perspective.... There's no question in my mind that the Alenzas are the best overall tire choice for a 235/55/18 application on this vehicle. But I continue to recommend the Firestone Destination LE tire for 16-inch or 17-inch RX rims because it uses the same technology and is nearly as good as the Alenza at just over half the price of the Alenza when ordered from Tire Rack. If the Destination LE tire becomes available in the 235/55/18 application by the next time my wife's RX needs tires, I'll jump on a set in a heartbeat. If not, I suppose I'll have to pony up for another set of Alenzas unless something better comes along at an equivalent price (which I really don't expect)....

If you need 255/55/18s, then get a set of Bridgestone Alenzas. You won't regret it. Best treadwear warranty (65,000 miles), best wet weather and snow handling, and they really track and ride well, too. My wife's set has about 20,000 miles on them and they still look like new. I've found they do best on her 2004 RX330 AWD when kept at about 36 psi.

I don't want a BMW X5 in my garage any more than I want my wife's RX. I'd be much happier with her back in a Grand Cherokee. More power, more room, true all-wheel-drive, and far less costly to maintain and insure. Plus, I can comfortably drive it for hundreds of miles whenever I need to. At 6-foot-7, I can't drive her crackerbox RX for more than an hour without my legs and lower back begging for some relief. I'd say that 165,000 miles with no transmission maintenance at all (not even checking the fluid level or condition) is pretty damn good, especially when compared to an early-model RX AWD. And no, there was no company-required maintenance schedule that she had to follow. She and her husband own the company, so they can maintain their vehicles as well or as poorly as they choose. Knowing my sister, she basically drove the hell out of the vehicle and thought she was maintaining it every time she filled up at the pumps....

I learned last night that the transmission in my sister's BMW X5 SUV (I believe it's a 2003 model) failed earlier this week at about 165,000 miles. She drives the hell out of her vehicles and I would be very surprised if she ever bothered to change her transmission fluid. In fact, she probably never even took a dipstick reading. It's a company-owned car so I believe she'll just turn it in and not bother with any estimates or repairs. Many of us who own or have owned early RX models would be thrilled to get this kind of mileage out of our original transmissions, particularly if the fluid had never been changed....

We opted to get rid of my wife's previous 2000 RX300 AWD at about 130,000 miles, right on schedule with my depreciation calculations that I ran and planned for when we purchased the vehicle more than four years ago. It suffered through the well-known typical early-model RX failures (transmission replaced, cracked exhaust manifold replaced, leaking rear main oil seal replaced, strut mount rubber bushings replaced, most oxygen sensors replaced), but I was always successful in requiring our local Lexus dealership to fix these problems as they developed during the warranty period as well as after the warranty expired. None of the major failures ever cost us a dime, and my wife always had a loaner vehicle from the dealership for as long as her repairs required (more than a week during the transmission replacement episode). While I cursed corporate Lexus for building a real turkey with so many problems, I was always very thankful of our local dealership's service manager who took care of us as each unfortunate failure surfaced and had to be dealt with. That kind of local customer care will not be forgotten, and she has been just as attentive with my wife's current 2004 model during the minor problems we've had to deal with during its warranty period thus far in 2007. Had we kept the 2000 RX300, I was facing the timing belt/water pump replacement at about 150,000 miles and would probably have had to deal with failing motor mounts as well, especially the well-known dogbone mount failure (but that one is relatively inexpensive and easy to do for anyone with some tools and basic mechanical knowledge). The 1999 and 2000 RX models (especially AWD) are unquestionably weaker than the later RX models as Toyota began to address some of the issues and failures. Some of these issues were acknowledged by Toyota and subsequently addressed in TSBs (rear main oil seal, strut mount rubber bushings), but unfortunately for the consumer some of the major issues remain unacknowledged by Toyota even today (best example is the lousy transmission design and performance that the 1999 and 2000 RX AWD models are infamous for). Although I did not want another RX in our garage because of the many issues our 2000 model had, my wife found a well-cared for 2004 RX330 AWD that had just over 30,000 miles when she purchased it (it's her money and her vehicle so she gets to drive what she wants even though I'm expected to maintain it). We've had a few warranty issues with this 2004 model but nothing major compared to her old 2000 albatross. There's no question that her 2004 RX is a better vehicle (now at about 61,000 miles), and I remain convinced that we made the right decision to unload her old 2000 RX so it could no longer torment me by inventing additional ways to break down and cause problems. I'd rather have her driving another Jeep Grand Cherokee since we've had fantastic success with them over the years, but as I mentioned earlier, it's her money and her vehicle so she gets to make the final choice (within reason, of course - no Cayennes or Range Rovers in this household, thank you - I'm not into having to hire a tow truck to follow her around).... And by the way, I've planned for a 150,000-to-160,000 mile depreciation schedule for her 2004 RX. I hope to get it there with far, far fewer problems than her previous 2000 RX threw at us.... Good luck with your decision, whichever way you decide to go....

I thought about converting to upward-facing wingnuts but didn't have any on hand that were small enough to fit that tight area. And the bolt behind the housing assembly would be very difficult to reach if you converted it to a wingnut. I change the air filter only every 30,000 miles so as long as I remember to spread the hand towel underneath the housing in the future, I shouldn't have to deal with finding a disappearing nut base again....

The engine air filter in our 2004 RX330 AWD is accessed by using a socket wrench extension to unscrew two 10mm bolts that, once completely loosened, allow you to then swing open the top of the air filter housing on its two plastic hinges so you can then remove the old air filter and install the new one. Be aware that the two small square metal nut bases that accept these bolts (and therefore tighten the top part of the housing onto the lower part of the housing to hold the new filter in place) can and will easily pop out of the plastic brackets where they are snapped into place on the bottom side of the lower housing. If your luck is anything like mine, the metal nut bases then rattle down into the engine compartment and disappear from sight. It took me nearly an hour this afternoon to locate and retrieve them using a magnetic extension wand made especially for this purpose. What a pain in the !Removed!.... To prevent these small square metal nut bases from falling down into your engine compartment when you loosen the two 10mm bolts that hold the air filter housing together, simply spread an old hand towel out just underneath the entire length of the air filter housing before you loosen the two bolts. Then if the metal nut bases pop out when you loosen the two bolts, they will fall into the towel and you can easily retrieve them by removing the towel slowly and carefully.... I learned this trick the hard way today, not knowing that the metal nut bases would pop out once the bolts are loosened. Most air filter housings today use built-in clamps to open and close, but unfortunately not this RX330. It's a poor design and you really have to be careful every time you go to change your air filter. I don't know if this design applies to all RX330s, but I advise you to spread an old hand towel underneath your air filter housing just in case.... And finally, once you change your air filter and retighten the bolts to close up your housing again, be sure to check that all vacuum hoses running to and near the housing are attached to their fittings as they should be. It is very easy to pull these small hoses from their fittings in the process of opening the housing to change the filter....

faylow, While I truly appreciate your efforts to come up with a more robust solution if and when your transmission fails, each passing year on these 1999 and 2000 RX transmissions causes accelerated depreciation in the overall value of the vehicle (especially when your mileage is admittedly now at 120,000 and growing). If Lexus will not cover a transmission rebuild (and they certainly won't in your case) as they did for me when my wife's 2000 RX300 AWD transmission failed at 48,000 miles in November 2003, then the most prudent course of action for a 1999 or 2000 owner is to sell the vehicle and move on to a better platform. In our case my wife found a pristine 2004 RX330 AWD and although I was firmly against another RX ever rolling into our garage again, it was her money and her vehicle so I sucked it up and continued on with changing the Type T-IV transmission fluid every 30,000 miles just in case. She'll hit 60,000 miles this week and the transmission is performing as normally as these quirky, hesitant RX transmissions possibly can. I believe that the 2004-and-later RXs are better vehicles than the 1999 and 2000 versions were. They are nowhere near the top of my list for a small all-wheel-drive SUV since there are a number of far better choices for significantly less money, but they certainly seem to suffer from fewer inherent defects and design flaws than the 1999 and 2000 RX300 AWD versions. So if you truly want peace of mind once and for all, just unload your 1999 RX and move on to a better-engineered, less trouble-prone vehicle....

Shortly after acquiring my wife's current 2004 RX330 AWD in late January I had the latest firmware installed during a trip to the dealership service department for various fixes under the factory warranty. In our opinion the firmware upgrade improved the transmission shift, albeit only slightly. My 1999 Dodge Ram pickup shifts smooth as silk, and I realize that the RX series will never match my Ram's shifting capabilities (sad, isn't it?), but at least my wife isn't complaining anymore about the substandard shift quality in her RX.... So yes, go ahead with the firmware upgrade before your warranty runs its course....

There is no friggin' way that Clay Aiken is running for senator.... North Carolina is not California, regardless of what "American Idle" (yes, that's "idle", not "idol") may think....

Yes, transmissions can indeed fail in domestic trucks and SUVs prior to 100,000 miles, but it is extremely rare compared to the ratio of failures chalked up by the 1999/2000 RX300 AWD. Also, the Explorer is NOT a full-sized vehicle, and it is well-known that domestic full-sized trucks and SUVs are built with better-engineered and constructed parts than are their smaller-sized brethren like the Explorer... As a number of us have pointed out before (and wwest refers to in one of his posts above), it appears that adapting a Camry transmission to an AWD SUV configuration, even a relatively small one, puts too much weight and strain on the Camry components and causes a much higher incidence of failure than Toyota engineers expected. Has this been rectified in the later versions of the RX? It may be too early to tell, but my wife's 2004 RX330 AWD appears to be holding up as it approaches 60,000 miles. But 60,000 miles is nothing to the transmission in a Chevy, Ford, or Dodge full-size pick-up so the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. If her current RX330 can go 120,000 miles or more with no transmission problems, I'll consider the flaw finally taken care of. And yes, I continue to change the Type T-IV fluid in her RX330 every 30,000 miles just to give myself the benefit of the doubt. It's easy to do and still relatively inexpensive if you do it yourself, and everyone who owns an RX on this forum could learn to do it themselves as long as they have a 10 millimeter hex wrench, a catch bucket for the old fluid, and a small plastic funnel to add the fresh fluid.... Like wwest, I've put somewhere between one million and one-and-a-half million miles on our prior and current vehicles with automatic transmissions and until my wife's 2000 RX300 AWD, we never had a transmission failure....

I'm disgusted with all of them. They're all for sale, ESPECIALLY Giuliani.... If someone could talk Joe Walsh into running again (as he sarcastically did in the late 80s/early 90s), us Baby Boomers may very well get him elected this time. Of course, I remain amazed that he's managed to stay clean enough to remain alive.... If you're too young to know who Joe Walsh is, never mind. Just go listen to the album "Life's Been Good" from 1978.... Or better yet, google "The James Gang"....

Sorry bluestu, but most full-sized Chevy, Dodge, and Ford pick-up trucks go well beyond 100,000 miles without ever having (or needing) their transmission fluid to be changed. My 1999 Ram is nearing 49,000 miles and the original transmission fluid is still as clean and pristine as the day it rolled off the assembly line in February 1999. I may change it (that's a conventional fluid change, NOT a flush) at 60,000 miles just for *BLEEP*s and giggles, but I doubt very seriously if it will truly need to be changed at that time. Transmissions in domestic pick-up trucks and SUVs are properly engineered and constructed and therefore cause their owners little-to-no trouble for the first 100,000 miles as long as the fluid is checked routinely and topped off when necessary with the proper fluid, not just some cheap generic that some clown at the local Jiffy Lube wants to sell you. That has not been the case for the 1999/2000 RX300 AWD and a number of owners have suffered the consequences. In November 2003 at around 48,000 miles, my wife was unfortunately one of the victims even though her 2000 RX300's Type T-IV fluid had been changed by the original selling Lexus dealership as part of the 30,000-mile service. As long-time members of this site will recall, I required Lexus to replace the transmission under the factory warranty. From that point on, I continued to change the Type T-IV fluid myself every 30,000 miles until I sold the vehicle this past January at about 130,000 miles. I disclosed the issue to the buyer and recommended that he keep up the 30,000-mile fluid change in order to maximize his chances of protecting the transmission. I believe he has taken my advice and continues this routine....

If your RX300 has 16-inch wheels, I recommend the Firestone Destination LE tire. It is Firestone's less-expensive version of the Bridgestone Alenza tire and it is the best SUV tire for the money. I had a set on my wife's previous 2000 RX300 and my daughter has a set on her 2000 Grand Cherokee. It's a great all-around tire that delivers superb wet-weather and snow performance as well as long mileage - my wife put about 53,000 miles on those tires before I sold her vehicle back in late January and her tires were on track to go the full 60,000 miles and probably a bit more. The Destination LE carries a 60,000-mile warranty whereas the Michelin MXV4 S8 has NO mileage warranty and one-fourth less tread depth when new. I've found that best results are obtained when the Destination LE is kept at about 36 to 37 psi. My wife has a set of Alenzas on her 2004 RX330 now, due to the fact that the vehicle has 18-inch wheels and the Destination LE tire is not available in the 235/55/18 size her RX330 requires. If Firestone begins building the Destination LE in that size by the time her RX330 needs tires again, you can bet that I'll put a set of Destination LE tires on it. The Alenza is a superb tire, it carries a 65,000-mile warranty, it handles wet weather and snow beautifully, and her Alenzas have really held up since I installed the current set back in February (nearly 20,000 miles ago), but the Destination LE is almost as good for about half the price. It's the best bang-for-the-buck SUV tire on the market right now. As others have recommended, go to tirerack.com and check out all of these tires for yourself....

Since most aftermarket paint shops don't have multimillion-dollar hermetically-sealed paint rooms like the factories, the best time to paint a vehicle is when the humidity is lowest in your particular neck of the woods. Here in North Carolina, that is typically during mid-autumn (meaning late October through late November). Humidity is an enemy of applying paint. So check your historical weather conditions and go from there. Just be sure to allow the new paint the time it needs to cure a bit before you take it out on the road. Depending on the type of paint utilized, this amount of time can vary widely. Good luck to you. I always dreaded having to put paint on my vehicles until I found a highly-skilled but very expensive shop in my area that specializes in higher-end vehicles. Haven't had to paint in many years (other than a drop or two of touch-up paint every now and then to take care of stone chips on my wife's RX). Hope this doesn't jinx me now....

The Alenza wins hands down. It comes new with 12/32 of tread while the Michelin comes new with only 9/32 of tread. The Alenza comes with a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty while the Michelin has no treadwear warranty. The Alenza is a great wet weather tire while the Michelin is average at best. The Alenza is usually less expensive than the Michelin, especially if you can catch a sale. And finally, the Alenza is designed and built for SUVs and crossovers while the Michelin is designed and built for sedans.... The Alenza is the only Bridgestone tire to consider, though. The other Bridgestone tires in the Dueler series range from average to lousy.... Go to tirerack.com and check out what other owners have to say about the Alenzas as well as the Michelins....