lenore

I am so sorry your wife feels that pain, Please be aware not to sign any papers from the other insurance company with the payoff with a attachment of no more claims or adjustments. I believe you can make claims for medical problems up to a year out. this may be very important to any future problems your wife has. You can always talk to the legal aid department on base for advise, it is one of your benefits while in the military.

Hey Lex Blu good for you, My wife drives her car 98 percent of the time. The tranny failure really hit her hard as she payed for her car herself and after the last payment the tranny failed. Quite sad for a $40K plus car with such nice driving habits. We both love the car for the highway and city, but don't accept the lack of reliability to lightly. We broke down two states away on vacation, which made it even worse. the Rest of the car has been wonderful. Good luck with you 400h.

If Lexus of America would get off the dime and tell us what the improvements were and provide some sort of retrofit to the older 99 RX to try to aleviate our distrust and uneasiness in reliability it would go a long way. I am on my third transmission, however the second one was defective from day one off the dealership. It took me two months and lots of Lexus garage time to get them to replace the bad one, which was driving my wife crazy, and making it very unsafe in commute traffic down Watt Ave. in Sacramento. Why cant Lexus own up and provide some relief like Honda/Accura did on their MDX and Honda? It is because they do not want the PR of even one bad mistake in their quest for greatness. but they wont stand behind their product either. The consumer bites it in the end. Each week more failures roll in to this site, as people learn of their catrosphic failure that cost them more than a used Honda to replace. Give me a break, there is a problem, It is probably software and hardware related to the shift as West says. Given there may be a vendor problem with the Clutch plates or even the gears when such high loads, and heat breakdown the components. HAVE YOU FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS board today Lexus owners of the RX300 that have failed????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

You can not make presumptions like that, many owners do not participate on these internet forums, Maybe many of them experienced the failures and dont want a second round of financial failure. We could drive this in the ground. But it is obvious that there is a problem if Lexus corporate and the dealerships recommend under the table a 15k flush.

Ok, than corporate does concede to the 15k flushes, oh boy, at $180 per flush the Lexus owner is sucking it up big time. Give me a break Monarch, they have a problem and are desperately trying to hide it. This smells big time. Lexus should provide the flushes on our $40k cars for that little failure to inform the buyer of their problem ridden transmission. Honda Accura did..... Have you owners filed your complaint with the NHTS board on the internet today? You will need the vin # of the vehicle and a short paragraph of How Lexus missinformed you of the Proper maintenance schedule in the owners booklets to make your misserable transmission last longer.

When you go to the body shop make sure they are capable of checking the unibody structure to make sure the alignment of the chassis is correct. I know here locally they can actually straighten the frame if necessary and check the chassis with laser alignment.

Please note that toyota dealerships locally are adding an additive to the tranny fluid which conditions it to supposedly last longer and provide better lubrication properties. So what is with that. I called three dealerships and they all do it. It is called Granitize conditioner and is not sold by the dealerships to the customers, but If you go online it is available. Has anyone tried this conditioner to their tranny fluid changes???

Ok blustu, the capacity I believe was 8.7 or 9.7 quarts total. This is just redundant repitition, but Monarch infuriates me. The failures just keep rolling in. I feel sorry for anyone that has this failure as it is so costly compared to most other tranny rebuilts. Lexus is ducking and hiding, hoping that it will go away. Just tell us what they did to improve reliability.

My intent is to help existing RX300 owners become future proud members of the RX300 transmission 200,000+ club. I believe the same transmission durability enhancing tips that car makers suggest to owners who are hauling heavy loads or towing trailers would also help extend the life of the RX300 transmission. I understand, but when is Lexus going to back up their product or at least compensate us with this high prone to failure tranny? The only resolution is to sell it to some poor individual, which really chaps my hide. Oh you may get 200k after paying $4300 for a tranny or two. Oh boy.....

That is cheap, Up to you, The Lexus parts went a long way, Good luck Hey that site will list some of the items you are looking for.

How much a difference in price? They are not bad even at the Lexus or Toyota dealerships. Timing belt was only about $60 and the waterpump $120 (that was a little steep but at 100k miles ok) Hey I just look at Park Place Lexus and the timing belt is $46 and the pump is $97 and I believe they have free shipping by UPS Just type in Park Place Lexus in Texas.

Hey Monarch, great suggestion locking the tranny out of overdrive in town, Now how many cars manufacturors have that in the owners manual because their transmission can't take the everyday city driving? The real question is would you have bought a car that required you (john Q Public) to take your car out of overdrive in town, and change the fluid every 15k miles, because otherwise it would fail early? I don't think so.... It is fruitless to read your posts unless you either want to get mad, laugh, or go beat your head against a brick wall. For an individual that drives a rear wheel drive, normal tranny your input just does not make sense. I posted previously that probably most other toyota products are reliable, but not the RX300 AWD. Here it is again folks, HAVE YOU FILED YOUR COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS board today?

Gosh RXNC I like your style, We are just to politically correct on the WEST coast. Have a great fantastic day. Tom

I suspect all highway driving with such high mileage, I believe then the tranny is not trying to shift into overdrive all the time. I have a friend with 150k but it is all speed limit highway miles. So there be the problem, just not any good for around town. So there the weakness lies.

The Toyota Highlander may have some changes that we do not know about. Also I believe it is a little lighter and came out in 2001. There may be significant mechanical and computer shift changes that have improved reliability. Why does'nt Toyota tell us what they are?

As usual RX NC you answered the question beautifully. Thank you for your support on this issue, I really do appreciate your efforts. Blu stu just does not get it, I too have owned a carriage house of autos, many being British Sports Cars, and have also drive at least 15 company cars that the company refused any transmission maintenance, and they all performed up to 100k miles without a failure. I don't refute Toyotas being reliable, but the black sheep in the toyota stable is the AWD RX300. It has shown a premature failure rate on the transmission and the numbers keep rolling in. Seems everyweek there is another addition just to this site. And I dont believe everyone thinks of going on the internet to search this failure when it happens. So I end with my famous question HAVE YOU FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS board today? Have a great morning.

Keep the tranny fluid changes up, not my idea of course, but with this transmission probably a necessity. Change it at least every 15k miles, the dealerships are recommending that, they know they have a problem, but Lexus will not admit it officially. If it fails file a complaint with the NHTS board online.

I am so sorry that you have joined the ranks of RX300 Tranny failures. I would be very much interested in the support to provide pressure on Lexus. I have tried, but it appears to be a uphill struggle. Make sure you enter a complaint to the NHTS board online. YOU will need the vin # of the vehicle. Describe your failure and displeasure with this failure. THE list is finally growing. There were none last year. Give me a break. I know there are thousands. Good luck. By the way I paid $4300 for the tranny at LExus, but an independent might be a lot cheaper. Some have paid even more. Watch their worksmanship also. My first replacement was defective ( they are all rebuilts) Lexus does not work on the transmission themselves but use rebuilts. By the way read RX NC for tips to get them to step up to the plate at the dealership. maybe you will get some relief from the dealership. But Lexus of AMerica could care a less. They will tell you sorry, its past warranty.

Sorry Grumpa, The sedan probably does not have AWD and some of the more sophisticated electronics that the RX300 Had. Plus the additional bells and whistles could be prone to failure over the course of the vehicles life, and RX was looking for some of the failures on the higher mileage vehicles. Yes, Alternators, starters, seals, fuel pumps and the list goes on will fail on any car, but the 93 sedan and the RX300 are two very different beasts, expecially since the RX is very heavy and puts a lot of strain on the drive system. As for the bells and whistles, We have had the door lock mechanism on the drivers door fail, and the antenna, and other than the clock going crazy due to a battery going bad. The plastic hardware on the seat rails has fallen off since day one, and some have broken. I am sweating the alternator, and power steering pump and have noticed a loss of coolent (very slowly). Good morning to everyone. The transmission is always my biggest concern as I am on number three.......................

Your 93 sedan is like comparing apples to oranges in the case of the RX300.

I read that you purchased a warranty, please be very cautious about what their contract states for maintenance. Make sure you meet their requirements. I say this because my mother had a warranty on a Nissan once and I had been maintaining the car. I changed the fluid every 3500 miles (oil) but during one change it was 7 months. When a starter failed the company denied the claim because it had been 7 months not the 6 months required in the contract, even though it still had only been 3500 miles, (requirements were 5k miles and 6 months whichever came first) Well I was furious, but the writing was on the paper and they refused to pay for the starter. Please take note of all requirements and have receipts and written log of maintenance. good luck

I am afraid you are right, wish I had worked for myself years ago, I just retired from the big X and they were getting so bad that you didn't want to work there, but quite franly the only safe jobs are in government. Otherwise work for yourself and control your destiny. You will much better off both financially and security wise. The only reason for your failure will be yourself. My two cents this morning.

Well called two Toyota dealerships, they both use an additive to the Type IV called Granitize conditioner. Went on the web, it says it improves fluid oxidation and stability extending fluid life. Both dealerships only had it in bulk, but the Granitize site shows smaller consummer containers. So what gives, why is Toyota, at least two dealers in my area useing this product when changing Type IV????? The product is AD-31 transmission conditioner made by Granitize.

I will call toyota today and find out about the additive, I have heard nothing about this before, Do they sell it over the counter at the Toyota dealerships? Some one on the site uses Amsoil tranny fluid, But I cant remember who. My last addition on the car is going to be a cooling fan on the aux tranny cooler. I have already added the extra transmission filter (screw on type) and it has caused no changes in the car other than I know the fluid is being filtered properly. It also adds about a quart of fluid to the system. The filter is about the size of a PH8 filter.

Maybe we could contact some transmissions shops and find out if they have gone through the RX300 AWD and see what they can input, would be nice to know whom LExus uses for the rebuilds, since they do not repair them. I know my tranny had a catostrophic failure with lots of metal debris, but I was crusing on vacation to UTAH (Salt Lake City) and had been driving about 75 mph. The tranny fluid had just been changed with no indication of debris before the trip, by the way it was the third tranny fluid change in 90k miles. HAVE YOU CONTACTED YOUR NHTS BOARD TODAY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR EARLY FAILURE?????