TunedRX300

Check out SKperformance's thread on Tranny Filter

Grease

Good setup, I have Akebono and Brembo blank for the front, better stopping performance and produce far less dust than stock.

SKPerformance is right, check the glider pin also. See quote from https://www.burtonpower.com/technical/tt_brakes.html "Brake Juddering Brake juddering is a fairly common complaint on all cars, whether standard or high performance. In most cases, the brake discs will have warped and a replacement set is the obvious cure for the problem. However, the cause of the problem can often be found elsewhere and the replacement discs will soon warp as well. It is not only essential to fit new brake discs, but to also rectify the cause of the problem in the first place, otherwise the juddering is likely to return. From our own experience, we have found that the following causes are likely to result in a warped brake disc: Seized calipers - either a seized caliper piston or a seized caliper sliding pin will result in uneven forces being applied to each side of the brake disc. Suspension bushes - tired TCA or anti-roll bar bushes. Poor quality pads - these can overheat quickly, particularly if the brakes are used often and hard. The excessive heat from the pads can cause the discs to overheat, resulting in the discs warping. Hubs - although rare, it is possible for the hubs to warp. Bolting a disc to a warped hub will always result in brake vibration. The same will also happen if any rust from the hub face is not removed before fitting the disc. After fitting a disc, we always recommend checking for disc run-out using a dial gauge. If the run-out is out of tolerance, then the disc should be re-fitted in an alternative position (i.e. turned through 90o) until run-out is within tolerance."

Check the cable reel for the SRS air bag if you already changed out power steering fluid.

Check calipers, it is early for rebuilt but make sure those pistons won't be stuck.

The appearance of the " dogbone " won't always reflect the condition of the worn-out rubber inside. To really check it out have someone get in the car, put the brake on, and move the gear selector from reverse-to-neutral-to-drive, several times, to see if the engine " rolls over " from front to back. I just ordered a dogbone this morning for the man across the street. Also his '01 RX300 FWD [ 78,000 miles ] cabin air filter had never been replaced; it was ugly. ← Thanks for the tip, the top mount is easy. I searched and found someone in the ES forum posted this image for lower engine mount.

I would use PB Blaster to soak the plug, hammer something like a Craftsman tap into the hole and use impact wrench to loosen it. If that fails, find a way to turn the car upside down and use the drain hole to fill gl5 :)

GL5 is a much thicker oil than ATF. I re-used drain and fill gaskets when I replaced both front and rear with 75w90 Mobil 1. There is not a single drop of gear oil.

Can you post a DIY instruction and tools needed? Thanks

I hope you did not drain the differential before you loosen the fill plug. When I searched the forum for DIY instruction, that was Rule #1. They overtighten everything from oil filter to wheel nuts so no one can DIY, from dealer to private shops - simple practice to improve top line $ of the service depart. It is pretty hard to strip the entire thread, did you just strip the outer thread? Rotate the rear axel by jacking up passenger side rear tire until the axel nut are out of the way. Soak the plug with WD-40 for 15 minutes. Go to sears to buy a 3/8 or 1/2 drive socket with 10mm allen head and insert the hex end into the hex hole. Last use a breaker bar or torque wrench to pull counterclock-wise.

RX330's brake rotor is not that big also. May have better luck to locate 2 piston calipers for RX300 from ES.

If you really could care less about black dust covering your wheels, Axxis Ultimate is one of the better performance semi-metallic pads, but it generates tons of dust, much more than EBC and heck a lot more than Akebono. I would just replace the rear since you are not sure, to keep the bias balanced, you can take off the spare tire to bias forward. It helps accelaration and stopping since you have less overall mass (from the rear) and you offset relative higher bite in the rear. But I would not have different pads for long. BTW, taking the spare tire off means you will need to call roadside assistance in case of a flat tire, should not be a problem if you never intend to change flat yourself on the side of the road.

Depends on what you need, EBC is semi-metallic but has higher friction coeficient. Akebono is ceramic, gives you a lot less dust, squeak, but it has lower bite. What ever you decide, same brand, same finish for both front and rear. $158 is a lot, I got Akebono for $100 shipped from www.rockauto.com, (you can google a 5% coupon on internet). Just from the price alone, EBC has to be 50% better (depend on what is imporant to you) than Akebono to breakeven on satisfication.

I have Brembo blank front and Rotora Slotted rear. I bought Brembo front because I did not know Rotora makes one for RX300. Pads I have Akebono Ceramic for both front and rear. My suggestion is to keep the same pads and rotor front and rear because you will throw off bias Toyota designed and applied to front and rear brakes by going to pads with different friction coeficient. See Stop Tech white paper why a balanced braking system minimize stopping distance.

Lenore, that is a great idea to have a thermostat controlled cooling fan. The only thing is that RX AWD does not have enough space at the back of the tranny cooler. If you poke your finger through the ridges/holes of front passesnger wheel cover, you can feel the tranny cooler. So the fan probably have be in the front. Well... windshield wash fluid reservior is in a bad spot to block circulation and takes up space, perhaps a plastic pipe to collect and channel cool air from the right bumper hole to the tranny cooler would be an easier solution? Hmm... time to visit Home Depot plumbing department again.

See gserep1's posting about 05 LS and 06 GS now have synthetic ATF filled by Toyota at the factory. New Toyota ATF is Synthetic I also remembered Toyota/Lexus does not recommend owners to go back on dino oil after changing to synthetic engine oil, but now Lexus dealership is using Castrol Blend to service RX400h. Isn't blend a mix of syn and dino? I don't follow the logic. OK for Toyota to use synthetic but not OK if we as owners want to use it?

Sound is as quiet as with intake resonator, which makes me suspect that the resonator is for dampening idle roughness. I noticed a little more vibration at idle but since I installed SUN Hyer Voltage System, it is now even quieter than stock setup. My wife noticed the HP gain because she must go up a deep hill on the way to work. Before the mod she can feel the car is choking while leaving tranny at "D", now she noticed better acceleration. Enjoy...

www.ajusa.com, best price. Also you can make a CAI in place of the intake resonator, I have done it with $15 home depot plumbing parts. ← THAT SOUNDSSS PRETTY CRAZYY BUT COOL IN SOMEWAY , What ABout the MAss AIRFLOW SEnSOr it Has to Placed at the CAI someways right Otherwise CHECK ENGINE LIGHT is gonna come on And Do u have any specss and what pARTss for the CAI and The Size Of the FILTER, and BRAND and maybe some pics so i can perform the INSTALLLS better u know ECTTT THNXX N Have u heard of the DRAGON n WEAPON R INTAKE OUT there is it Good ? , IS the 99 MODEL INTAKE OF RX300 same AS 2000 ? ← No need to mess with MAF, I just replaced the intake resonator with a air horn to connect to stock air box with a panel drop in K&N. Wearpon R is short ram, it increase air flow but sucks in hot air inside the engine bay. My setup has cool air from outside the engine bay and more flows. DIY CAI

Lenore, let everyone know, I will be installing Magnafine tranny filter also soon.

You can buy P21S and Sonus from this web. They are both PH balanced to make your rims shining. http://www.autopia-carcare.com/tires---wheels.html

www.ajusa.com, best price. Also you can make a CAI in place of the intake resonator, I have done it with $15 home depot plumbing parts.

Everyone has an opinion but when one shuts down all options except what is financially beneficial to Toyota w/o stating facts won't win my credibility vote. Amsoil ATF claims to not oxidate as much as than OEM ATF, if the tranny is improperly cooled and burn up T IV at 1/4 of recommendate change interval (BTW under extreme case of towing a trailer), finding another ATF e.g. Amsoil that can take that increased tranny temperature may be one of the better solutions. If Amsoil is lying, show us data and fact so everyone knows this is a bad choice. Tranny filter that SKperformance suggested also wins good comments from ES and RX owners because they reported prolonged ATF life and better shifting as the filter catches finer metal particles that the mesh can not filter. If this solution harms the tranny, show us how.

Hmm, T-IV not synthetic, I am 60% leaning toward Amsoil. Magnuson-Moss Warranty law requires automakers to provide OEM parts free if they are the only qualified parts to work in our cars. I don't see Toyota giving out T IV ATFs. It is interesting that you have no problem for Toyota making lots of money off us. RX in NC posted he is not surprised if you show up in Toyota's payroll somewhere, I tend to agree.

Toyota T IV is synthetic, also there is 16 quarts in AWD tranny, we can drain and fill only 4 quarts. I am debating to to go Amsoil after my powertrain warranty on tranny expire, no one knows how Amsoil mix with Toyota T IV ATF. I will definitely put a tranny filter on the return line of the cooler. RX300s have a mesh and rely on two magnets on tranny and transfer case drain plugs to catch finer particles - SKperformance has an excellent post on the ES forum on the external filter.