lenore

I have a friend here in Roseville that owns a Mercedes independent garage, He has used Swepco for at least 20 years. I have used their transmission fluid in a Dodge and a mercedes, great product, made the Dodge Caravan tranny go till 156k miles with no failure when I sold it. Swepco is an wholesale only product here, so I would go to the independent to buy it. Havent used it since I sold the Mercedes. I believe it is a very good product.

Has anybody got any experience with Royal Purple synthetic gear lube? Seems very expensive, but is supposedly for LSD axles.

I have a drone sound on my RX300, but to isolate it I tried this,, I reached the speed of the drone (maybe 5 mph faster) put the car in nuetral, turn the engine off. this would eliminate the exhaust and engine itself as the cause. Please try this, but be careful. the car will start while in nuetral again to obtain speed and control. Remember you will loose power steering so go on a straight road. On the old RX300's they had sounds at different speeds and added weight dampners to the exhaust. Maybe you all have an exhaust related noise. Also check and make sure the front under panels are installed correctly, maybe they are loose causing the air flow to resonate them. Good luck, Sorry the Sorry arsed Lexus mechanics wont deal with it, and thankyou Lexus of America for responding as you always do, you worthless idiots.

Go on Ebay, but other solutions are fans from say a wrecked RX300 or a Ford Windstar. Great fan setup, but you will have to do some research. Ford windstar fan is like $35 at junk yard puts out a huge volume of air. On the Ford F150 sites they convert to E fans all the time. There is even a tuturol to do it.

Bosch bad, NGK good.......................................................................................

For that much money to fix it, dump it.... Get a Honda or Toyota for $3000 to $4000 and drive it while in college and then step back up to the LExus or car of your choice, I know when you are young we are passionate about our cars, but unfortunately we tend to not use good economical common sense (been there with my love of British sports cars) Dump it, go to school and then buy the passion of your dreams....

It is not whether, but when the AWD tranny will fail. Stick to the FWD and save yourself a lot of money both gas wise and pocket book wise. I love our Lexus, but the premature tranny failure will ruin your passion real fast. Make sure to have the tranny serviced at 15k intervals which ever one you get. I personally would have gone with the MDX if I had it to do again.

There is a Haynes manual for the RX300 and Highlander. found one at the toyota dealership. Kind of pricey, I think it was about $20 but It does cover the RX300 and is very helpful as most Haynes books are. Go to your local Toyota dealership, or call and ask. The book is a combination book for both cars.

Happy anniversary Josh, and please enjoy your RR. Hope you have a ripping good time. I will pray for you and your loved ones.

I put one in frequently, use the side seat. My trick is put your knee in the seat after buckling the seat and pull hard on the harness. This locks the belt with the car seat firmly pushed into the seat. there are clips you can put on the harness for safety reasons, but I dont use them. Warning though you will have the depression in your seat for a while after you remove the car seat. Part of the sacrifice for our babies.

Hey glad to see your post, yea, get the LS you might as well go the the gold, not the bronze. Plus the rear wheel drive will give you a lot less probable tranny problems.... Thank you for your service....And good luck in your venture for a LS,, you deserve it.

No I am sorry I have not put the sensor in yet...

How sad the dealer gave you that response. I am not surprised, but dissappointed.

Hey its a suv, not a sports car. But if you get one tell us how it works....

My wifes name, she bought and owns the RX300 AWD (1999) with its third transmission. Great car except for the tranny, which just *BLEEP*es me off everytime I think about it.

There is a 8 year warranty on sludged engines. Suggest you pursue this with Lexus.

the other method is to undo a tranny cooler line and flush it until clear after dropping the pan and refilling. You would probably get about 7 quarts out with this method. Seems to work on the Ls sedans. Hey dropping the pan and getting the bulk of metal filings out has to help. My External filter probably does the best job. By the way I am 34 k on my use of the external filter and so far good. Next a cooling fan for the summer time on the external aux cooler.

I had mine changed at a toyota dealership, they replaced the water pump and timing belt for $500. I could have doneit myself, but just didnt feel like it. The belt was about $40 and the pump was around $80. So the rest was labor. I changed mine at 98k miles and the belt looked great, no wear at all, the water pump was not leaking but the bearing was just starting to feel rough when I spun it. I wish I had changed the idler bearing also, but its done now. Many on this site feel the belt will go an easy 120k. I believe them. Do the water pump regardless because you are already in there and it would be a bummer to have it leak on the new timing belt which drives it.

Hey bluestu, I agree, but you did 15k flushed from new, I wish there had been a heads up from Lexus when I bought my car, but no, they didnt give me that courtesy, I changed mine every 30k and thought I was way ahead of the game, the book flat didnt require it. thank you

On a old tranny with very little maintenance I would be very careful about getting a flush, It might bring stuff into the valve body assembly that could cause a failure. I like the idea of the flush that some have done with running the car and removing a tranny line from the cooler. This would do essentially the same thing without power flushing stuff thru. I know they add additives during flushes, which on a new car would probably be fine, but on a old car I dont like the idea, seems to me on a old car it is kind of like breaking plac loose on the arteries of you heart and hoping none goes to the brain. Just my thoughts. Have a great day.

I had my honda stlye mesh flex pipe installed 3 years ago and it is still well....

That dealership is full of bull, Lexus has a problem and will not admit it. I serviced mine evey 30k miles. and it still failed. Why do you think Lexus changed their tranny in the 2001 and 2004 years, because they know they had a problem, but will not stand behind their product for the rest of us saps. So sorry for your failure, DID YOU FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS BOARD ONLINE? By the way you will be sucked by Lexus for $4300 or more. Go to an independent Transmission shop and get it done for $2000 and enjoy the satisfaction as well as more money in your pocket. Their guarantee is only 1 year by the way at Lexus, hardly worth it...... Good luck

Simple go get the oil changed at someplace different and use a toyota filter. Then see what is shaking....

whoa, where is that secret camera and mic when it is needed. That just tells me they are honest, or a tech got carried away telling the insiders story. Usually they keep that kind of info secret. Lexus Sucks when it comes to this issue. I know, only the people with failures scream, and the numbers are against us in that scenario because Corporate will say it is a small percentage. And the count goes on......... the percentage sucks, but the admission of a poor design is significant.

Do you have a bureau of Automotive repair in your state government? If so file a complaint with them. They are not funded like the BBB is.