lenore

Give me a break, the man was pulling straws and pulling the old bait and switch game. I would put that salesman right up there with the offer of selling the Brooklyn bridge. Get it in writing from the Sales manager and call his bluff.

I have been there twice, I would have taken it to an independent tranny shop if I had it to do all over again. Lexus rips you, the independent shops quoted 2600 to 3000. KKKKKKKKKKKKKK I paid 4300. And yes they were rebuilts from Lexus.

take it to a transmisson shop and have them repair it. would probably be a lot cheaper.

That is crap, if the seal had blown out your tranny would not have been working. You would have lost all the fluid very rapidly. I had that happen on a truck my son owned. Run, go somewhere else.

yes i understand the fluids, lexus only recommends GL5 standard which the Synthetic met. Thanks for the info, maybe the LSD is the killing point on my wifes LExus. Yet another unknown.

West, the LSD was an option on my vehicle, and mine does have that option. Are you saying it was eliminated completely, or is on every vehicle with AWD? I guess I dont understand your statement. By the way West I did switch to synthetic in the rear and front assemblies just recently. Is that going to help due to the Synthetic capabilities to handle temperature extremes?

Please note I did change my fluid every 30k on the tranny, did you not read the post properly? Oh and by the way I changed the pan gasket and filter each time. I receipts from Lexus of Sacramento for each change. And I did submit all this to Lexus of America and they said sorry, its past warranty. Good luck with your car, I don't wish any bad on you. I don't like seeing anybody get ripped by any car manufacturor.

There you go Monarch, LIGHT WEIGHT cars perform well, what the Hell was Toyota/Lexus thinking when they put the Heavy RX300 on such a light weight transmission, yep distined failure. Dollars in the pockets of Lexus and raping the customers at the tune of $4300 for a rebuilt. Now that is really following the trend of making customers happy. You said it best, the older trannys were built heavier and better. so you roll around in a LS that a a heavy transmission and have never taken for the lost of $4300, but you are comparing apples to oranges. As you said the Ls has a transmission not unlike the detroit trannys that would go hundreds of thousands of miles with no failures, and by the way with generally no maitenance. Until you are in our shoes with the lousy, underdesigned, weak transmission with front wheel and AWD takeoffs you will never understand. Lexus used your LS as a selling point of reliability to suck the rest of us in to buy their RX series of cars, and then whammy the tranny fails prematurely at an exhorbant cost with no sympathy or back up like Honda/Accura did with the MDX. Now that is real customer satisfaction. What a rip. I've learned never buy a first year model again, and don't trust the reliability reports of a manufacturor. You could be their next lemon victim. I changed the fluids every 30k and was rewarded with a 99k failure. Now that really builds my confidence. HAVE YOU FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS BOARD TODAY? I did and it felt good, I just hope others on this site do the same.

West, probably because of the rear wheel drive and no transaxle with weird power takeoffs. And some Lexus engineer that didn't know what the devil he was doing when trying to take off the shelf Camry components and put them on a heavier vehicle with AWD.

I agree, nice vehicle when it is altogether. I love the front seat for comfort, especially on a cold day with the heated seats. MY wife and I both have bad backs, the Lexus RX300 seats are a pleasure for long rides.The extra room in the back for hauling things when the seats are put down is great. The ride is fantastic for a vehicle of its stature. But boy do I hate the knowledge of the possible tranny failures.

Sk what are you talking about? The AWD has two differentials, ok the front one is a transfer case, but they both use 75/90 weight GL5 oil

Absolutely provide the Toyota Type IV fluid. Bring in 5 quarts and do just a drain and refill unless you want to change the filter. You can get the filter at toyota or Lexus dealerships, But then the pan would have to be removed. I would not suggest a flush. May stir up debris into the valve body assembly. Just have the drain and fill done on a frequent basis to give your tranny a chance. If your car is Two wheel drive, you probably will not have a problem. As long as he uses Toyota Type IV the powertrain warranty is not voided. Keep all receipts. It is against the law to void warranty if the correct maintenance and fluid is used.

Yes I have had it in my differentials for a couple of months, seems no ill effects so far. Available at Walmart for $8.50 a quart, two quarts and you can do both differentials. What a deal, but not a particularily easy job considering the location of the fill holes and the access to them. Good luck.

Great question West, wish we could find that info, Why is it that we the customers are searching for the solutions, but Lexus is not? I will tell you why, they want it to go away and move on. They have loss my support until they step up and face reality and support us unhappy customers. If this on the internet, they maybe we should be elevating it up to Corporate and the Government agencies. HAVE YOU FILED YOUR COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS BOARD TODAY?

Hate to burst your bubble, but their seems to be no consistancy. Lexus of Roseville is pushing 15k tranny fluid changes, and do you know why, because the stupid transmissions are failing. I think Lexus of America sent some memos out to tell the dealership of this possible solution. But try and prove it. HAVE YOU FILED YOUR COMPLAINT WITH THE NHTS BOARD TODAY?

If anybody is interested you can file a complaint with the NHTS at www.nhtsa.dot.gov about your premature transmission failures. I suggest you use the words unsafe and dangerous to the operation of the vehicle in your complaint. Maybe enough complaints will get Lexus of their high horse.

Well something has to be different, the computer software for the shift points or the inputs to control the shifting must be different. It still is a problem on the RX. It sucks not knowing why there was some improvement that Lexus wont devulge to improve reliability and fix customer satisfaction. Goes back to they dont care and aren't willing to step up to the plate and admit a flaw in their system. Great car company. I just wish I could see the day that they are forced to fix the damn problem.

So the RX300 without trac such as the 99 RXAWD are just doomed. Sure would be nice if all of this collective information could be presented to Lexus of America to see if an upgrade could be done cheaply to alleviate the failure rates. Just my two cents.

Yes i am very aware of the fluid type, When I first purchased Type IV the fluid was in gallon containers only and I had to buy two. I did change the fluid religously at 30k intervals when the book only said 60k if severe use was in affect. Give me a break, the transaxle or computer sucks.......

funny you mentioned the rapid deterioration of the fluid in a few thousands of miles after checking it often. I too experience the same rapid breakdown. It is not normal and Lexus will not step up to the plate. That is the truth and I hate having to change the fluid every 15k or less when any other car I have ever owned did not require this.

If you can not get satisfaction contact the California bureau of Automotive Repairs and file an official complaint. Then contact the better business bureau in your city. Lexus should not get away with that garbage. They missed diagnosed your problem and are trying to cover it up.

that may be true Monarch, but the fact is that other vehicles transmission are much more reliable without the frequency of 15k fluid changes, which if the vehicle had been sold with that definition of required tranny fluid change probably would never had made it to the market. Toyota/Lexus has a major problem when even 5, 10, 20, whatever number it be in percentage failures is occuring with fluid changes of even 30k miles which is what i was doing them at when my transmission failed. They have covered it up and the dealers and the owners book do not even agree on what the frequency should be, probably because Lexus knows they have a problem but are not willing to step up to the bat and support their product. It is because of this and Toyota's known reliability that when it does happen to us poor customers it is such a disaster in customer relations. I love my RX300, but hate Lexus and the tranmissions (two) that had to be put in my car. How sad, I turned in a MERCEDES because I felt Lexus was a superior product and would stand behind their product. Well They DO NOT. And their customer support folks at the 800 number are just pawns of somebody who will not give in to customer pressures. I have said this before and I will repeat it again, I will not give up this forum on this subject until Lexus relents and I have personally warned all potential buyers that they will not get the product that Lexus is trying to sell. Your continual support of toyota is admirable, but the support Lexus gives their customers sucks. Plain and simple they do not do what Honda and Accura do better. That is give customer satisfaction. For every *BLEEP*ed off customer I guarantee you they will loose ten potential customers. Lexus was the first toyota product I ever bought, and I am very dissappointed. Right fully so after spending $4300 dollars to replace the transmission which should never have failed at less than 100K miles and quite frankly should have gone at least 250k like most luxuary cars of that caliber. So there be it. Lenore (tom)

I agree totolly with you West. And that is why Lexus is deficient in their design. What a wonderful company, they find their flaw and change it in the RX330 but refuse to admit any flaw in the RX300.

Yes it is similar to hall effect in what it does, but you are right what it does is creates a magnetic field which is disrupted by the teeth or scribe lines which causes a pulse, The pulse is AC in nature and gives the speed by the number of pulses that the computer counts to determine wheel speed.

I would definetly take it to an independent and get another opinion. How do you know the rotors are not warped after the grease monkey at Lexus torqued the wheels with a air wrench instead of a torque wrench. Those sensors are generally just hall effect pickup devices, very realiable. maybe loose or dirty but I have never seen them go bad. Just my two cents.