Kirk RX3002001

Dear Lenore,

I don't think you read my post correctly. I have no problem with my overdrive. And the flush was done after the pans were drained cleaned etc. The idea I was referencing has to do with the electronic relationship of the gear engagement using the overdrive button, which in my case, when I drive without overdrive, seems to reduce or eliminate the "Neutral" condition that was experiencing before I flushed as described above. I don't mean to represent this as a cure, just another way that may extend the inevitable rebuild or replace.

I hope that helps. Kirk

Dear members,

It has been a while since I have posted and since my last posting I have tried a method to address the "neutral condition" while in drive or reverse"  that began to randomly happen for me about 113000 miles. The procedure one owner listed here that work for him, was to get to the dealer and have them drain the trans, pull the pan, clean the pan and all the sensors in the pan area (which can only be accessed when the pan is pulled. Then fill with trans fluid, run engine/trans and flush the system. Add new fluid and hope for the best.

Well for me, it worked for over 10,000+ ,miles, not a slip in all that while. Then one day I put the car in reverse and it acted like neutral, pushed the accelerator, it lunged and engaged. I have an engineering background, and built buses and firetruck for many years. I gave some thought to why all of a sudden this would happen again after all this time.

Please let me add my RX300 2001 AWD has had misc electrical problems which began about the same time my first "neutral" transmission experience happened. i.e. dash lights, window switches acting weird etc... So I had an idea that the problem could be related to the overdrive operation, that my car starts in by default. You have to switch it off to not drive in overdrive mode. I have cautiously driven over 6,000 more miles with no overdrive (hard on gas mileage) but no (neutral condition) happened until one day I was leaving a parking lot and forgot to disengage the overdrive button, and the care slipped again. I stopped push the button in the transmission worked fine. Since that last slip, not one (neutral condition).

I do plan to take my car for another transmission flushing to see how much metal debris have been created since I last had the trans serviced, which was the first time the pan had ever been pulled. i.e. I always serviced the transmission earlier than recommended but never did the full flush before. I went into the shop and saw the pan with the metal shavings in the bottom attached to the three magnets that the pan has in the bottom. For 14 years of driving it seemed like a smaller amount than I would have suspected from a faulty gear set. The shop foreman said, looks like you need a new transmission, I said not in my opinion, it looks quite normal for all that time. So far at 15,000 plus later I will see what he has to say when I take my car in for next flush.

A last thought, the notion that this transmission used from 1999 - 2003 may have had a faulty gear that caused the "neutral" problem because of the type of material it was made of may be true. But in my theory, because "Overdrive" is a condition whereby you engage another gear set. I suggest the problem may be connected to the overdrive gear set, and because of the randomness of the condition that me and others have reported, it may also be an electrical problem with the "Overdrive" system.

That's my opinion and experience of the random "Neutral Condition" that has plagued many owners of this model. Please let me know if I have not been clear or if you have additional opinions that help us all.

Regards, Kirk

To Teslex

The transmission problems you are having with your rx300 seems to be all to common....you did not list the symptoms or problems of the transmission.....

I have a 99 rx300 awd it now has 110k on it but at the 80k mark I began having transmission trouble I was told the same as you 4500 to5000 dollars to replace it .....I thought this is rediculous for this vehicle this is a Lexus the transmission shud never give us this kind of problem... after a lot a research and trying a few different avenues this is what I found....

If your symptoms are neutralizing, it is in drive or reverse yet acts like it is in neutral..... most likely the screen filter is clogged......if you dont mind getting under you vehicle and getting alittle dirty you can drop your own fluid and clean the screen yourself and replace with new fluid....note the dealer charges about 300 dollars to do this they will also flush out all the old fluid which is about 15 qts......when I did this it was good for about 8 to 10

thousand miles and my rx started doing the same thing again....what was happening is the metal clutches were not getting the proper lubrication and the torque converter was not either.....so I had the dealer flush the transmission again and clean the screen filter and this time when I had them replace the fluid I added a product called TRANSMATIC this product thins the transmission fluid to help it get to the critical parts it should. So far

I must say my transmission shifts like it was new.....

Now I admit we should never have had this problem until after many more miles but we have it and I hope this helps you and others out there....good luck..

roanokebarry

I have a question about your transmission failure. Do you have an AWD RX300, cause I do. Second, was the fluid dark brown, or was it fresh looking when it was changed. My trans began by being in neutral when shifted into reverse. Any info would be helpful, cause I was hoping your solution could fix mine, still dreaming, Kirk