tmastres

Just curious, what changes did you make after the first trans failure? Did you add the cooler and begin to change fluid often at that point or was that after the second failure? Just trying plan a strategy if mine goes bad, its about at that time frame. Thx

I have to agree with you somewhat Chuck, a Lexus is just a car and its not like they're hand made. Nonetheless I think Its most likely the result of a wear Item like the aforementioned engine mounts or the like. My 2000 RX is now 6 years old and thats a lot of time out of doors, its likey those types of things wil wear out. At least thats where I'm going to attack this problem from.

Barry, Not to go off topic too far but what is a "transmatic" sounds like it could be something quite usefull to people on this list. Thanks

If the RX you're looking at is still on the original transmission then its probably been maintained well or at least isn''t one of the ones w/ bad transmissions. The trans failures peorterd here uaually occurred much earlier in the trans life. I'd certainly agree that getting the maintenace history is a great idea if you can. I personally know a few people who have roughly the same mileage on 99 RX AWD's and so far they have had no problems. I've got 90k on a 00 RX AWD and (knock wood) I've had only one minor problem (relating to the driver side door lock) and I check but dont replace the trans fluid on a regular basis, only every 30k or so. In general terms 99 is still too young for there to be a lot of really high milage examples of RXs ot there but judging by other lexus models the one you're looking at should have a fair amount let in it. I empathize with you're desire to get rid of a problem vehicle. I had a 97 Dodge truck that gave consistent trouble and I decided to get rid of it with only 80 k on the clock just to recoup some money from of it. Once you hit 100k on a vehicle (especially a domestic one) its loses much of its value. How much might you get the RX for, that would really determine if its a worthwhile deal or not.

Thanks for offering the manual and you've certainly been generous enough but if you're still willing I'd really appreciate a copy too. Thanks sincerely! Tony Mastres@gmail.com

The English car show Fifth Gear did and interesting demo to try and solve the fuel grade debate recently. They hooked three different cars up to a chassis dyno and read the power ouput using three different fuels in each car. Long story short, the economy car produced exactly the same power for each of the three grades of fuel, the two more performance oriented cars, Golf GTI and Impreza, both showed moderate gains in Hp and torque using the higher grade fuels. I believe though that even the lower grade fuels in Europe are much higher in octane rating than ours are here in the US some it may not be a useful comparison. Iinteresting though

I had the same problem about a year ago, it annoyed me for a week or two then the bulb finally failed completely. I replaced it (since I now knew which bulb was problematic) and its not been a problem since.

Well you asked for opinions and you're certainly getting them so here's mine. I get great service from My lexus dealer even though I rarely ever take the vehicle there (only 2 times because its 30 miles away). Truth is my RX has been so good its never needed to be in the shop, any shop for anything ( I change the oil myself). Its about due for the 90k service and sometime before 100k I'll either bite the bullet and take it to the dealer or to a mechanic locally whom I really trust. This is the reason I bought this vehicle. I like the looks of your XC better than the 300 or the 330 but I just didn't trust the Volvo quality. I know several people who own 99-02 RX 300s and their stellar reccomendations of their vehicles was what got me into mine in the first place. You certainly can't discount the problems people have described here but I take them as points of caution rather than an indictment of the vehicle as a whole.

Just for comparison sake the published stats seem to be these: 2000 RX 300 60-0 stop distance 134 ft 1999 LS 400 60-0 stop distance 118 ft Definitely better , especially if you're in the last 15 ft !! Also the LS listed weight is 3800 lbs not 2800

Its a bit irrational to think such light towing would wreck a tranny in good condition. I don't recall any of the failures reported here (again and again) to be caused by towing either heavy or light. As several of you contiunously point out SOME RX 300s have had big transmission problems, judging by the detailed accounts you give these have happened under ordinary driving conditions and don't seem to be precipitated by any "kind" of driving. Seems almost like a crapshoot, you get a good tranny or you don't. I am curious about one thing though, several of you on this list are very open with your contempt for your RX's. With the seemingly excellent resale value of RX's why do those of you who dislike yours so much, keep them?

Anyone know of a way to read trouble codes on an RX without an external code reader(tool). My old Dakota truck allowed you to pull trouble codes by cycling the ignition/acc switch three times and you'd be able to read the codes on the digital odo. Good thing too obecuase that thing had a lot of codes to read!

You are both very right. The word I meant to use was omnidirectional althought bi-directional is probably most appropriate. In any caase I fully agree that most tires will run fine mounted either black or white letters out. I do fully agree that aesthetically on newer vehicles it almost always looks best black side out. I think most tires that are uni-directional (one way only) have rotation direction arrows on them and a cursory glance at the tread pattern shows a directional design. Thanks for the correction

I could be wrong here but mos SUV/Truck tires (as well as standard car tire) are unidirectional and if they have white letters on one side they almost always have simpler black lettering ont he other. I just bought a set of Dayton, Timberline HTs for my 00 RX and they had the whitel letter/ black letter on respective sides. Great tires at a really great price. CR rated them 3rd out of about 20 they tested and for only $75 a piece!

B0bo, please keep us all posted on what transpires with your tranny. While I certainly wouldnt go as far as saying that tranny problems are "common" with RX's there can be no doubt that this is a weak point of the model and a significant number of people on this list have had them. Several people have "cured" their trans. problems or at least now keep them at bay so it'd be very interesting to see how yours is handled/fixed by you and/or the dealer. I have no boubt that there is some type of flaw or inferior part thats causing these failures, It'd be interesting to finally find out what it is.

No doubt thats truly outrageous, I'd hazard to guess though, that Lexus figure most people who buy a Lexus arent the do it yourself type and probably don't consider $700 very much money. Not being one of those myself, I do know some people who are. Back to your post I'd say if you don't want to do the work yourself do the legwork of finding a good and trustworthy local mechanic. Give them some repeat business and they can do almost all the same work the dealer can do for a lot less.

I guess I've just been un-lucky in the past. It seems like every vehicle I've ever had (other then the RX) could never go a year without some at least minor problem. Knock on wood for this one though, I do hear the complaints of others on the list so I know some of you have had problems (some serious ones too), I don't look forward to any of those, hope I can steer clear of them

Well I hate to be the contrarian here (not really though) I've got an RX thats very similar in vintage and mileage to yours and I've never had a stitch of trouble with it. My transmission shifts great and the fluid is still red (getting a bit darker red I will concede). I just got back from a week in/near Yosemite Nat Park and the Sierras where the vehicle was encased in ice several nights and frequently traversed snow and ice covered roads without a hint of trouble. Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing my experiences with even one full season of real cold but even at 26 degrees F I noticed no difference in the way the tranny shifted or performed. As for oil, I must admit I'm a bit particular, I only use Mobil 1, 5-30 and change it every 4k but I've never added a drop to this thing other than when changing the oil. I've also heard a bit of !Removed! about how underpowered it is and how the brakes are sub-par, neither one of these do I find to be true. Sure it would be fun to have a ton more power (more torque would actually be more welcome) but thats just what it would be , fun. I've got a hot-rod that I take out for that kind of fun stuff, the RX is an everyday car made for puttering around in or cruising down the road and it does that just fine. Brake wise, it may not stop like a 911 but I've had the misfortune (only a couple of times luckily) to get "hard on the binders" as my English friend likes to call it, the RX was unwavering and stopped short and straight each time. Anyone who says their trucklike American SUV stops better, wont sell that to me! So maybe I got the perfect RX and you somehow got a lemon, but the reason I bought one these things in the first place was on the stellar recommendations of three separate RX owners that I know personally. I was skeptical at first because I had been a truck guy for a long time, but I'd just come off one of the worst vehicles (reliability wise) that I'd ever owned, a Dodge truck and was looking for something I didn't have to fix every week. Well I found it in a 2000 Lexus RX300. I do admit its a !Removed! to work on this thing sometimes but luckily it needs so little work to be done it more than makes up for it. Just my Opinion though, and you know what they say about those!

Thanks for posting this link I think it will be very useful to many members. By the by, shipping to and from Canada using USPS isnt too tough, it just requires a small form to be filled out (if your shipping to) and handed in when you drop of the package at the PO. I do it pretty regularly.

I was pokling around the BB prices lately for 2000 RXs and if I remember they were around 14.5k for 65k miles and excellent condition. At 75k miles I'd say it'd be a little less. IMHO Since its not Lexus dealer I'd say you're good if you canget it for $15k maybe $15.5. But $17 seems a bit too high.

I suppose you're pretty young for just about any luxury car. Most peole in their 20's cant really afford a Lexus and are usually more interested in performance. As you get older (and wiser) you tend to get more practical (something most performance cars arent. I've owned both a Mustang and a Camaro). I'm 39 now and when I was 37 I traded in a Dodge 4x4 truck and got my RX 300 (WISER!) I can still haul all my racquetball, baseball and yes camping gear. Who are we kidding here most campsites (even fairly remote ones) are populated by minivans, sedans and RV's, the RX's all wheel drive is more capable than any of those types of vehicles. Its true that the RX is very popular with women (probably because of its practicality) but its more of a 65/35 split rather than the ridiculous 95% figure mentioned elsewhere. And Yes this even applikes in areas where manhood may be judged by the size of your truck and not your brain (or anything else) Note: I seem to find Subarus are more of an Activist vehicle, Go figure!

I'm not a lawyer but I dont believe this is legal , at least here in Ca. I'm lucky to have friends and relatives in the leagal biz, and like a good American I don't hesitate to bust out the lawyer when trouble appears. You'd be surprised how well protected consumers are here in the Golden State, I'm fairly certain that you cant be forced to use the dealer to keep warrantys in tact. Furthermore for routine maintenance its not a stretch to prove an individual is competent to perform those simpe tasks.

I sincerely agree that no-one (not even the Lexus dealer) will do as careful a job as I will (you all too I'd assume) and also that most basic service can be done yourself in the driveway. There are a lot of other issues to consider though, a $100 oil change might sound good vs crawling under the rig at 30 degreesF or worse yet how about 36F and raining. Anyhow I prefer to do-it-myself, if anyone's interested I use premium synthetic oil (mobil-1, a sure way to prevent engine sludging) and an oil-change usually runs me about $35 in materials. I can easily do it in 30 minutes, clean to clean. Our local university has an oil drop at their Environmental Health and safety unit. I've had my RX serviced at a Lexus dealer and they did a great job but they're 30 miles away from me so its not very convenient. I do have Toyota dealer a lot close and I'm going to take a previous suggestion and have my timing belt changed there (if they'll do it) when I hit 90k. Oh, as a note, I keep all the store receipts when I buy the oil and/or other parts and I have a small log-book where I document the woek I'm doing. While this may not be the same quality evidence as service receipts it does somewhat document the work you do yourself sould there be a problem. PS Women are probably better suited for car-work than men anyhow, smaller hands, more anylitical approach and a more even temperment. :D

The usual caveat of "never buy the first model year of a vehicle" is always a good one to heed, however if you must do it, a Lexus is certainly the way to go. The biggest problems I've heard of with the RX series are: Oil sludging 99/00 models and transmission problems which seem to cover all model years. I'm sure there are many lesser problems that are fixed each successive year, that seems logical but those are the only "biggies" that I know of. With that said I have a 2000 and I haven't (knock wood) experienced either of these. On the sludging issue I came to the conclusion ( with much help from list members here) that the engine sludging problem can be avoided with the use of Synthetic oil (I use mobil 1 10w-30) and/or frequent/regular oil changes (2500-3000mi). Unfortunately most people (especially Lexus owners) like to do the 5,6,7000mi oil change thing and if you use regular or cheap oil you'll be in sludge city with the Lexus V6. The reason, I'm told, is that this unit is designed to run hotter than usual and thats what kills regular oil. The transmission thing is still a mystery to me. I have no doubts at all that a lot of people are having tranny trouble but no-one seems to know whats causing it in some but not in others with the same or more miles.

Well, I've confirmed my 2000 is AWD and I have no sign of a trailer hitch, so I'm not sure thats a great indicator. I could be though, that all RX's w/ hitches are AWD but not the converse that all AWD have trailer hitches. I suddenly feel like I should be making some Venn diagrams or something!! Could be something that happened after 00 too..

So RonLex, do you put the chains front or back? This may sound silly but if you read this entire thread you'll actually see a difference of opinion. Just curious for some empirical data.