RX in NC

Thanks for your reply. I did not suspect the starter, but that's another possibility. I'll keep your situation in mind as I investigate our problem a little further. Did you source your new starter from a Lexus parts department, a Toyota parts department, or an independent parts provider and what did you pay for it? Also, was it new or rebuilt? I appreciate your feedback as I attempt to get to the bottom of this issue. It sure sounded like worn bearings to me, but being an intermittent problem I really don't know at this point. I want to nail it down before I start sourcing parts, though.

One of my neighbors who is an avowed "car and truck guy" has two Kias in his stable of vehicles. One of them is the little Kia Sportage SUV which his wife drives as her everyday vehicle, and the other one is a small Kia sedan which he drives as his everyday vehicle (I'm not sure what the sedan model is named). They've owned both of these vehicles for a couple of years and he claims that he's never had a problem with either one of them. He obtained them as inexpensive and fuel-thrifty transportation for going back and forth to work and running errands around town. Like me, he does his own routine maintenance and they both utilize proper driving habits so these vehicles are well-maintained, much better than what I would expect the typical Kia owner does for the typical Kia vehicle out there in the real world. Given today's skyrocketing gas prices, if you choose to own multiple vehicles for multiple purposes (I did for more than twenty years but I ceased that practice three years ago because I found it much too costly for the few benefits I received with a driveway full of vehicles), employing a Kia as your everyday vehicle might be worth investigating.

I happened to be outside with our dogs this morning when my wife started her RX to leave for her office. Immediately upon ignition there was a significant metallic-sounding squealing coming from the engine compartment. This lasted approximately 5 to 10 seconds, then the normal sound of the engine running was all you could hear. By the time I hustled over to the vehicle and motioned for her to pop the hood, everything was back to normal. This was not worn-out belt noise; in fact, I changed the AC/Alternator belt (using the OEM Toyota part) back in late May and the belts have been whisper-quiet again ever since. This sounded more like bearings squealing, and I'm guessing that perhaps it could be the bearings in the crankshaft pulley. Of course there's also an alternator, an A/C compressor, and a power steering pump that are driven by the two belts on this vehicle and all the pulleys associated with those devices would have bearings as well. But just judging from the loud, deep, and lengthy duration of the squealing I heard this morning, my best guess is the crankshaft pulley. Anyone else out there been through this issue? If so, did you attempt the fix yourself or elect to pay someone else to do it? And how much did it cost you for the repair? My biggest concern in attempting to find and fix the problem myself is the fact that there is simply no working room down in this area of the engine compartment. It was difficult enough for my buddy and me to remove and replace the AC/Alternator belt back in May due to the limited room. I think that trying to remove both belts along with the crankcase pulley in order to get to any failing bearings will be extremely difficult. Any responses from those of you who've dealt with a similar issue will be very much appreciated. If my problem is in fact a set of dying bearings, this issue must be addressed as soon as possible before any serious damage is done.

Thanks for keeping us updated, Danigirl. This is critical information for all RX300 owners. Let's hope that your extended warranty comes through for you. Along with your sensors, I believe that it should cover your new exhaust manifold if Lexus doesn't. Let us know your final out-of-pocket tally once your warranty coverages are settled. Ah, the trials and tribulations of RX300 ownership. After experiencing no real issues other than routine maintenance during 2005, my wife's RX decided to rear its ugly head again this morning. But that's another post, so look for it here on the board shortly....

All RX300 owners on this forum should be paying careful attention to this particular thread. It is a critical one because most of you will be dealing with these various sensor failures by 60,000 to 70,000 miles. If you choose to let Lexus diagnose and replace your failed sensors, you will pay two to three times more for this service than if you learn where to go for free trouble code diagnosis and then take the time and energy to source the part and do the replacement yourself. On our particular vehicle, the mass air flow sensor failed at 46,000 miles so it was replaced by Lexus under warranty. The bank 1 air/fuel ratio sensor failed at 69,000 miles and our Lexus service manager agreed to replace it under their goodwill warranty program based upon my complaints concerning the many serious problems we experienced with this vehicle during 2003 and 2004. I still have yet to pay them a penny for service and Lexus has had to absorb over $9,000 in repair costs on this thing as a result. Danigirl's recent sensor failure experiences are certainly the most unfortunate I've encountered on this forum. But her situation was compounded by her cracked manifold, which is another common problem on the RX300. At the same time our mass air flow sensor had to be replaced, I became aware of the common cracked manifold problem and told the Lexus service manager to check ours carefully when replacing the sensor. She acknowledged that it was cracked so our exhaust manifold was replaced under warranty at 46,000 miles - very low mileage indeed. Stay on top of these sensor issues. The bottom line is that they are going to fail and the more you know about the situation when it happens, the less likely it will be that you'll have your pocket picked in getting your problem(s) resolved. By the way Danigirl, I've yet to run across trouble codes on this vehicle that didn't point to the problem that was then solved using the codes, but I'm not surprised that your mechanic was told by Toyota that some of them are misprinted or misleading. Unfortunately there's nothing worse than incorrect documentation from the manufacturer when you're trying to solve a tough maintenance issue, is there? I know your mechanic must be almost as frustrated as you are.

Bluestu made some good points about clearing trouble codes after faulty parts are replaced. Sometimes just disconnecting and immediately reconnecting the battery cables won't do it as he mentioned. In a situation last summer, I had to leave the battery cables disconnected for 45 minutes to an hour to ensure that the trouble code finally cleared and the "check engine" light went off once the sensor was replaced. It did, and it hasn't returned.

What most of us who own an all-wheel-drive RX300 CAN agree on is that you are probably much better off if you change your transmission fluid at some interval of your choice rather than placing your faith in your owners manual which says that your factory fill of transmission fluid is good for the life of the vehicle under most driving conditions. I also believe that you should stay with Toyota Type T-IV fluid through your warranty period and until you are absolutely convinced that you are no longer interested in pursuing a claim with Lexus in the event that your transmission fails. I don't believe that Type T-IV fluid is any better than Dexron, Amsoil, generic equivalents mixed at transmission repair shops, or even extra-virgin olive oil for that matter. I just think that financially it's the smart thing to stay with in case you happen to be one of the unlucky owners whose transmission decides to check out early. If this happens and you're running something other than Type T-IV, I guarantee you that Lexus will turn you down before you even get a chance to argue your case.

After our original transmission was replaced under warranty at about 48,000 miles, I researched the issue for several weeks and decided upon 30,000 mile transmission fluid drain-and-fill intervals. I also wouldn't recommend flushing because after researching this option I came to the conclusion that the procedure involves far too much risk. Dredging up settled gunk and pulling it through the system in an effort to extract it can create havoc with any automatic transmission. Do drain-and-fills at 30,000 miles regardless of how clean your existing fluid appears and you just might have a fighting chance of keeping the transmission alive a lot longer. All in all, it's relatively cheap transmission insurance and a snap to do yourself right there in your driveway.

Flush if you wish but the flushing procedure entails much greater risk. There's always the possibility that you'll dredge up debris that is safely lodged on or near the magnet which is part of the tip of the front differential drain plug. A routine drain-and-fill every 15,000 to 30,000 miles with Toyota Type T-IV fluid should be sufficient to give these transmissions a fighting chance of staying alive for a greater duration than we've witnessed when one chooses to follow the owners manual recommendation and not change their transmission fluid for the life of the vehicle. I agree with wwest - these flushing shops acknowledge that they use 14 to 18 quarts of fluid to clean out the lines and components, but there's no way that an RX is going to hold that much fluid within its closed system. And how do you know the shop is flushing your vehicle with T-IV instead of Dexron or some generic cleaning fluid? And if they happen to be re-using this fluid for multiple transmission jobs before they flush and clean their own flushing machine, then you're really asking for trouble. You're paying a lot of money to take a calculated risk. I think that's a mistake when I can do my own drain-and-fill for less than twenty dollars. I wouldn't trust anyone else !Removed! around with these fragile, flaky RX all-wheel-drive transmissions. I'll stick to my careful drain-and-fill plan using T-IV fluid and pulling both drain plugs and cleaning them thoroughly with a clean rag. Our original transmission failed at about 48,000 miles and was replaced under warranty by Lexus. Since that time I've been following my drain-and-fill plan and the fluid has remained clean (although this vehicle has never shifted nearly as smoothly as I believe a $40,000-plus SUV should). My wife is approaching 93,000 miles on the thing now so my plan appears to be working. But we still look forward to unloading this albatross which will probably occur between 125,000 and 130,000 miles.

The RX300 has many rather serious flaws as you'll come to learn. An easily-cracked exhaust manifold is one of them. Ours had to be replaced under warranty at about 46,000 miles.

Most states' lemon laws require at least three or four repair attempts for the same problem before the customer has a case, but check with your Attorney General's office for the exact details. They probably have a Consumer Affairs toll-free number that links to a department in Sacramento. When your vehicle gets back to the dealer, insist that the alternator is thoroughly checked out before settling for just another new battery. Your alternator may not be delivering sufficient charge to keep the battery up to specs. Have you noticed your voltmeter gauge on your dashboard? What has it been reading under your normal driving conditions? Most vehicles read between 12 and 14 volts when they are in operation. You could also have loose cables or corroded connections, although corrosion probably isn't your problem if the vehicle is new. Have your alternator and your cables checked as a next step. Good luck and let us know how this turns out.

Financially, there's no question that you made the correct decision. From a depreciation perspective alone, that vehicle is way overpriced at $45,000. Stay in touch with your buddy and let us know how much he actually gets for it when he finally unloads it to someone else.

LexKid630, You missed my point. The Bridgestone Duelers DON'T work. They are known to be lousy tires from both short treadwear life and very poor wet grip perspectives. Stay away from them whenever possible.

If you have the owners manual, you'll find it there. If not, call Lexus Customer Service at 800-255-3987 and initiate a discussion concerning this matter with them. But be aware that they are notorious for attempting to avoid responsibility even for covered issues whenever possible. Your cracked exhaust manifold may very well be covered through your vehicle's emission system warranty. Don't pay any out-of-pocket costs until you do the research and find out for sure.

Bridgestone Dueler tires are woefully substandard as many of us RX owners whose vehicles came equipped with those tires will readily attest. I have no ownership experience with Kelly Safari tires but I doubt if they're much better. Your best bet would be to negotiate with the dealer for him to give you (either in cash or deduct from the price you'll pay for the vehicle) the amount of what it will cost him for the new tires he'll owe you. Then apply that money towards a new, thoroughly-researched set of rubber of your choosing. In your case that might be Michelin CrossTerrains although I think there are better tires available for less money than the relatively expensive CrossTerrains will set you back for.

I have experienced multiple successes in requiring our local Lexus dealership to fully cover what I consider to be major problems after the various warranties expired. This type of concession is called "customer goodwill warranty" by Lexus service managers. I've done this by educating myself with as much information about the issue as I could gather (much of it here on this very site), meeting in person with the service manager and in one case the general manager, always conducting myself in a professional and level-headed manner, and sticking to my guns by refusing to accept no for an answer. Your professional conduct along with prolifically educating yourself about the issue (transmission failure in this case) are probably your best bets going in. But you must also dig in your heels and refuse to cave. Good luck and keep us posted. There's plenty of ammunition about transmission failures in the RX300 threads on this site, most of which involve all-wheel-drive models. Search using "transmission failure" as your key words and you'll find yourself with plenty of homework to do before you take on the Lexus folks.

First things first - Recapture your own CDs as soon as the vehicle returns to your garage. You can't process information properly in your head if you're listening to crap you don't like.... Good luck with your dilemma. Sounds as if you're going to take a financial bath regardless of the decision you have to make.

Keep your transmission fluid clean and use only Toyota Type T-IV fluid to protect your warranty. I change ours every 30,000 miles, but some on this forum do so every 15,000 miles. The AWD transmission is the biggest flaw in this vehicle (ours failed at about 48,000 miles), so check your fluid often, drive the vehicle intelligently, and don't tow anything with it. Good luck to you.

As I said back on June 23rd in response to this question when regular 87 octane was $2.06 to $2.08 in my area, "hang onto your wallets". I paid $2.50 yesterday at our local BJ's Club. The average price here is about $2.56 or so. We'll continue to climb the gas ladder through well after Labor Day, then we might just get a little relief. But don't bet the ranch on it....

The factory-installed RX300 timing belt is of outstanding quality and with proper driving habits will go 120,000 to 150,000 miles with no problems. However, the factory-installed RX300 AC/Alternator belt and Power Steering Pump belt are of only average quality and should be changed at four-year intervals regardless of mileage. Driving, heat, cold, and moisture all combine to harden and crack these two belts pretty heavily by the time they are four years old.

I don't know how much plainer I can say it - your belts are long past their lifespan (typically three to four years regardless of mileage), so change them. You can dress your belts from now until doomsday but you are simply postponing belt breakdown which will strand you wherever it happens. Change your belts and go back to getting some peace of mind.

That might make sense if the RX300 had an automatic belt tensioner device. However, it doesn't. Again - change your original belts and your noise problem should be resolved.

Take my word for it, as a Jeep guy you'll be miserable with the RX transmission. I'm a Jeep guy too and both my wife and I despise the transmission in her RX. It's been by far the most problematic vehicle we've ever owned.

If your belts are the original factory-installed ones, you have a 95% chance that your belts are your problem. Particularly since you only hear the sounds occasionally. Change your belts and I'm willing to bet that you will have fixed your problem. I changed our AC/Alternator belt a couple of months ago and the vehicle is quiet again now. Your belts may only squeal in the morning because they are still wet with condensation if you park your vehicle outside.

Stock Lexus lug nuts are actually better than many others out there. The worst I've ever owned were the factory lug nuts on our former Grand Cherokees, my former Durango, and my current Ram. They were the two-piece acorn style and would come apart if you just looked at them funny. Total garbage. I replaced them with solid chrome lug nuts from McGard, the best lug nut company that I know of. I believe you can check them out at www.mcgard.com.