lenore

Being one of the major contributors to the tranny problem, I too would support using the Amsoil. I personally have tried another ATF in some tempermental trannys such as the Dodge Caravan and Ford windstar, as well as a Mercedes 180E. The fluid is very hard to obtain and it is made by South Western Petroleum products (SWEPCO) I talked to the distributor and he claims the flash point and breakdown temp are superior to any fluid on the market. The Mercedes/BMW garage (Not dealership) uses the fluid on all his customes and claims great results. I had a Dodge Caravan with 168K miles and had changed the fluid at 80k when I heard some noise, noise went away and tranny purrie..dd right to the 168k when I sold the vehicle. I do not have any amsoil experience, But when the warranty is up on my third tranny I too am interested in Different ATF and adding a tranny filter, and cooling fan to the auxulary tranny cooler. I have no experience with Amsoil and how do you obtain it other than ordering off the internet?

I experienced Lexus of Roseville when I had to have my transmission replaced. When I picked up the car the hoses were disconected, And three of the main bolts holding the transmission to the engine block were missing. The car also became very unsafe when the transmission replacement would drop out of gear at the very worst times, like when you stepped on the gas. After 6 weeks of fighting Lexus of Roseville they replaced the transmission again, This time when I picked it up the torsion bar was completely disconnected on both sides of the front suspension and rubbing on the brake lines(rubber hoses) and drive shafts on both sides. I have digital pictures of this wonderful work. I personally was in a misshap years ago when the torsion bar fell down and spun my vehicle out. I talked to the service rep, service manager and the general manager of Lexus of Roseville and informed them I would never let my vehicle leave their dealership without my personal inspection on the rack to make sure it was safe to drive. They shop foreman and service manager assured me they personally had gone over the vehicle. I went into the bay, with the general manager, shop foreman, and service manager and inspected the work of repairing my torsion bar problem and guess what, there were still parts disconnected under the air box and a bracket and ground wire were completely hanging. Chalk it up to their great service. Two weeks later the right drive shaft came out of the transaxle and I suddenly had tranny fluid everywhere. I called and they claimed they had never touched the right drive shaft. another lie of course since when you change the transmission the right shaft has to be disconnected to facilitate the removal of the tranny. I made them repair it after the shop foreman called and said yes indeed they did have to remove the right shaft. What a bunch of idiots. I am not in the automotive trade, but have worked on cars for thirty five years, rebuilt engines, rebuilt an automatic transmission, and I can tell you their work is extremely substandard and god help anybody that has their car serviced at Lexus of Rosevile. Your life as well as your family could be in great jeopardy. I wouldn't trust that bunch with repairing an anvil. So there it be, my saga with Lexus of Roseville that never follows up and to this day almost ten months later still owes me money for parts that I gave them to replace on the drive shalft issue after being told it wasn't their fault when I thought I might have to do the repair myself. So God bless you and good luck...

It is and getting worse by the day. The other thing is that we were getting spoiled by the NAV. Now we feel like lost nomads in the Sahara! "If you can determine the part number for the bumper or any other Lexus part then you can search the parts inventories of Lexus dealers nationwide at http://www.partsvoice.com/partsvoice/conte...part.html" The Lexus parts guy did scan the country and found zero - nada front bumper covers for the 2006 RX400h. Ours is coming from Japan. ← And this is an example of the great customer support. Sorry friend, good luck with your bumper search.

Yep, the Lexus dealership performs only one service, ripping the consumer, You can rent a car for 25 dollars a day, big difference between 900 and say a resonable charge like 200 dollars for the maintenance. Those big shiny showrooms I guess have a lot of overhead. I too have used toyota dealerships and their showrooms are just as nice for half the price on the same service.

Welcome to Lexus of America the car company that cares....but not about you or your car. only their pockets, which are full of cash from the hipe and dog and pony show. Sorry you too have experienced what many others have, but as long as customers keep coming in and getting ripped they continue without making any consessions to good service. Until these customers say goodby to this treatment they will never get the message. I guess Americans are so used to getting taken for shoddy products and workmanship they accept it for normal. Thats why the shuttle is still having problems, some government worker decided to do his usual job and get paid without accepting quality as number one. I have seen it across the board in most of our industry and work ethics, I personally believe that unless it is done right don't touch anything I own. My experience in Roseville Lexus is the same as you have experienced. Notify the bureau of automotive repair in your state and file a complaint. Tell ten of your friends of your experience. That is how business as usual will change.

I would go with a Toyota 4runner. good qualityand reliability.

Unfortunately that was the price of the replacement motor, not counting any labor. by the way when you use the key you bypass the motor and are using a mechanical link to unlock the door. The price is high, but I tried to take the motor apart and repair, but was unsuccessful. I did the same thing on a honda and got it to work. It is a very weird motor, but of the type used in most newer cars. more like a solenoid, but they call it a motor. good luck.

If Lexus denies the ball joint failed, then the clip on the half shaft failed which is part of the drive train. That should be covered by the power train warranty. What a bunch of ........ Come on the axle does not slip out unless the suspension supports/ ie ball joint, strut mount etc failed.

Sounds like the lock motor is bad, mine did that on the drivers door and I had to replace the motor/linkage assembly, about $285 dollars for the drivers door. ← to remove door panel you will also have to pop the wood strip out of the door panel (real small screw driver under edge after putting some masking tape on the edge of wood) there are one or two screws under this piece as I remember. then it is a matter of using a putty knife under door panel carefully after removing any screws you find.

Sounds like the lock motor is bad, mine did that on the drivers door and I had to replace the motor/linkage assembly, about $285 dollars for the drivers door.

sorry my friend, your transmission is probably bad. The damage is their with the metal in the filter.

On my AWD 1999 the limited slip was a option. So I suppose not all had limited slip on the AWD RX300.

Did you have any warning, noises, etc before this failure? The rest of us RX300 owners want to know.

Sounds like a Valve body problem, one of the fluid passages is hanging up, probably debris blocking the pistons. Lexus does not service the transmissions other than throwing a rebuilt in. They will change the valve body assembly, however if there is debris in there, something elsewhere in the tranny is probably breaking down. By the way the price is $4300 for a tranny, so half should be $2150. You could try a transmission flush and tranny filter change. but It will probably prolong the anguish. Your car should have been covered by Lexus, but they do not stand behind their product. Good Luck

The MDX also experienced some tranny problems, however Honda/Accura stood behind their product and gave a generous warranty and recall. Good product from what friends have said, they laugh and constantly ask about my RX after my disaster with three transmissions all on my cost. Buy the MDX you will be better off.

Hey RX have you changed the rear plugs? I have 116k on my RX and am not looking forward to that task. I am well equiped with tools but is it that bad? Thanks Lenore

Get a OPTIMA RED TOP I have them in both of my LEXUS and am extremely satisfied. Good luck on your decision. ← I have had great success with Walmart, And Costco batteries, Have never had one fail. The Costco Batteries are excellent if you can find your group size. Other wise buy a Walmart or Sam's club battery. Work fine, last a long time, you will not be dissappointed. The only battery I dislike is the Kragen's brand and have had them fail often, oh sure they are covered under warranty, but no failure for 5 or 6 years is better. good luck

I personally will never understand leasing. Consummers reports has ran many comparisons and proved a lease is a bad deal with your money, The dealership is the only one making out. If you are a credit union customer they will also have comparisons when leasing and purchasing. just my opinion. good luck

Mercedes from past experience are very well engineered, however the reliability has gone way down, ( suspect the labor in Germany has gone down hill) Would difinetely buy extended warranty unless you know a good cheap Mercedes independent garage. I Have one here locally in Sacramento, but the dealership is like Lexus and will rape you of any money you have. S class sedans are truely wonderful cars to drive and feel like you could drive a 130 plus miles per hour all day long will no strain. They turn marvelously, and the suspension is the best I have ever driven in my short 55 years. If drive such a car expect expense when the repairs become necessary. Good Luck

I too have had great success with the Lexus pads. When you do the job buy a 6 inch C clamp. put a small piece of wood against the piston and drive the piston in with the C clamp until the piston and dust cover (rubber boot) are flush with the piston casting. Most bolts on the calipers will not be torqued to more than 20 to 25 ft lbs. Make sure you always torque the tire wheel lugs with a torque wrench to avoid brake disk warp. It really is a easy job. The pads will probably cost around $70 to 80 dollars at Lexus unless you can order them from a Toyota site. but That is quite a bit cheaper than the $1000 dollar brake job at Lexus, By the way if you do not feel comfortable to do this, try a Toyota dealership for your maintenance. They are always about half the price of Lexus dealerships for the same job. It really is a easy job, however the first time is always the learning process and scarey part. good luck

i talk to lexus and they said if it the tranny then they will replace it for me, but can they find out the problem by hooking it up to a computer or do what ever they do with out driving it? im just afaid that they will just say everything is fine. ← Sorry, you have a tranny problem, That is the exact symptoms on my RX300 AWD when it failed. If they drop the pan, it is probably full of metal debris. The valve body assembly is hosed. Grap that transmission immediately while under warranty, and make sure they flush the entire system and put all parts back in correctly. Read Transmission info on this site. You have joined the ranks of failures despite what Monarch says. Good Luck!

Thank you again RX, Some people will back their favorite until it falls on them. I have known many people over the years that back this car or that, But they pay for the pleasure of doing so. Others, good consumers do not accept poor reliability for their dollar. That is how change is commanded, unfortunately Lexus doesn't seem to care one way or other. If Lexus Of America ever monitors this site they should listen up. One bad relationship with a customer generates the loss ten fold of future customers. I promised Lexus of America I would carry this cause for their *BLEEP* poor support, and I will, hopefully to protect others from our miss fortunes. I know that I have personally deterred at least ten potential customers. I will not change until Lexus proves themselves worthy to earn my future business. Lenore

What I said is that I have changed the fluid at 10k miles since Lexus of Roseville had replaced the transmission for the second time. You would think at 10k miles on the fluid there would not be any discoloration or smell. This is completely rediculous that fluid would break down after 10k miles. For crying out loud my Ford windstar would go 80k and show no signs of discoloration or burnt smell. Both vehicles weigh about the same and the Ford is front wheel drive, and Most American front wheel drive vehicles inherently have weak transmissions. Lexus needs to step up and admit that fluid failure at such an early mileage is rediculous. All of the other Lexus and Toyota vehicles do not require such high maintenance on their transmissions. So using common sense that would imply that the RX300 AWD has a very serious design flaw. Pouring new fluid in like a funnel is crazy. I am sure that when the Car was marketed it would not have sold to people if they new that the tranny fluid would have to be changed so often. Heck the owners manual states otherwise. When My warranty is expired on this third transmission I will make modifications to try and improve the short comings of the poor design. This site has proven the number of high failure rates of this transmisson/transaxle design. Believe me I loved this vehicle and maintain it very well, but this is truely a very premature failure of both the fluid and the transmission. Lexus of America is by far the worst outfit I have ever delt with. I just bought a new ford Truck and they treat me better. (note: only the second American vehicle in my life) I bought Lexus for its reliability, but they have proven otherwise. I have worked on cars all my life, raced them, and followed statistics on their reliability, performance, etc. but I never dreamed that Toyota/Lexus would not stand behind their product. It is not what I had heard from friends, and acquantences. They have shown me otherwise. By the Way Lexus of Roseville has the worst service department I have ever experienced. Lexus of Sacramento was satisfactory.

Give us a break Monarch, The Transmission in the RX300 AWD is a weak point, As I have said many times, I changed the fluid every 30k and still had a failure. The problem is Lexus has a poor design and are not willing to stand behind their product. I have never had any vehicle in 40 years that caused the fluid to smell burnt and look black after 10k miles. I just changed mine after that mileage on my third transmission and you know, you are rediculous to stand by the maintenance as being the cause of failure. I too live in SAcramento, and as you well know their is no reason for failures up and down Watt Avenue for a commute. So get with the program, and admit the short comings of the 99 RX300 AWD. Yes it is a great vehicle, with a major problem when it comes to reliability. Lenore

I Suggest the Toyota 4Runner or RX300 Two wheel drive. The 4Runner is bulletproof and been shown to be very reliable.