tmastres

Although, you've already got your answer I remember from a previous thread that AWD vehicles have a certain letter designation in the VIN. Sorry I cant be more specific but I remember checking it out on mine. I'm sure its in the archive or someone else remembers

Regarding the 60k service, I posted a question last week that drew NO response so I'm still wondering if the 60k is in fact the big service with the timing belt replace? Looking in the manual the 60k doesnt look like they do that much more than a regular scheduled service, at least nothing that would be truly expensive. I couldnt find the timing belt replace until 90k. Go figure

Perusing my odometer this morning I realized that I'm creeping close to the big 60,000 mile mark (57,800). In cars past this usually meant a big buck bonanza that culminated in the replacement of the timing belt as well as a roundup of every spare coin stuck in the couch to pay for it. Well now that I own a Lexus ( I got my RX in April, Certified used) I figured I better take care of it and I steeled myself for the inevitable estimate. The cheapskate in me, however , wouldnt let make the appointment without first checking the manual and seeing exactly what was done at the big 60k service. Surprise, I diddnt see a timing belt replace, in fact it looked just like some regular old service most of which I do myself anyway. It looked like the first mention of timing belt service was at 90k So. My question(s) is/are has anyone had any timing belt problems before 90k? Did I miss something in the maintenence schedule? What have all/any of you done. Thanks!

I suppose that would depend on how much of an audiophile you are. I'm sure some people can't tell the difference between a Charles Shaw Merlot and a Chateau Margaux but I know I can. Personally I don't have the ML system so basically the whole argument is non-sequitur. What I really want to know is; who the hell is Mark Levinson anyway?? :P

$116 isnt too much to have this done at a Lexus dealer but those are both things that you could easily do yourself if you're so inclined and have a decent space to work in. I'd say you could do both within an hour with a cost of of about $30 (assuming synthetic oil). If I'm not mistaken the tire "rotation" is just a back-to-front switch on each side so you never really have to have the whole vehicle off the ground. Again, though, its really a personal preference; this weekend here it was 70 degrees F with clear skies, I know this is not the case in many parts of the US so that $116 would look like money well spent to me if it were 20 F outside. As for the wear, the back front rotation just evens out the wear and keeps the fronts from wearing out much faster than the rears, in every vehicle I've owned the fronts wear on the outside edges. This became a more serious problem on my last vehicle since the tires cost over $100 each. Thats when I began religiously rotating and that really helped. I know its probably the way I drive but what can ya do!

I've got a 2000 RX and I havent done any brake work on it yet but I used to do the brakes on my Nissan all the time. My understanding is that the squeak/squeal is from the pads vibrating during braking and I used to get some small metal "clips" with my repacement Nissan pads that went over the backside of the pad and kept this from occurring. Is it possible that this is all thats at issue here? I have started to get a very intermittent squeak and I'm glad this has come up. Thanks also Ahdoman for the info on changing the pads I was worried it would be a big hassle.

Regarding the cold shifting of the tranny, there was quite a bit of discussion regarding tranmissions and shifting issues a month or so back and my conclusion was that the shifting irregularities(or anomalies) are most likely related to the transmission being cold (just MHO). I notice that most of the people with trans. concerns live in pretty cold weather climates and this being winter I can imagine it would take a while to get up to temp. Now here in southern Calif. we think of winter as maybe having to wear long pants, maybe; but recently its gotten down into the mid/low 30's in the evenings. Until now I had never noticed anything strange with my transmission, in fact I nerver really thought about it at all , it worked perfectly. Recently though I notice if I dont let it warm up (30-60 sec), the trans will appear to shift a little rougher or perhaps its just staying in a lower gear longer but I do notice that it does something different. In any case the symptoms disappear withing a few minutes. Remember though, were just flirting with a frost, most of you are probably well into the freeze zone this time of year so those symptoms would certainly be more pronounced. I guess this is just a long way of saying its probably normal.

Allright I'l bite first here, I have no idea what could have fallen off our out to cause this problem but if your dealers with in 10 or so miles I'd drive the car there immediately. They shoud give you a loaner so you wont be out a vehicle and I'd bet good money they'll know exactly what happened. With so few miles you should still be under warranty so why bother with anything else. Just MHO.

Hey there, It looks lke many of us have 00/01 RX's that were previously leases. I got mine back in May, its a 00 AWD and I paid $25k for it with 42k on the odo, certified from a Lexus dealer. I found that here on the south central California coast there were literally hundreds of RX's of this vintage to choose from. In fact, if I hadn't been as particular about the color of the vehicle I could have had a black one for about 2k less! I absolutely love the vehicle and I've put about 8k miles on it so far and have had no problems (knock wood). Aside from a small rattle somewhere near the glove box that has eluded me so far the only thing I really dont like about the RX is its absolutely abysmal (sp?) turning radius! My old Dodge 4x4 had a much better one and I really have to carefully consider any u-turns for fear of not being able to make the turn and havig to back up. Seriously though, other than that the things a dream. Regarding the gas situation, I find that I can get between 310-320 miles (hwy only) from a "tank" of gas. A "tank" being defined as the amount of gas I put in from when the light first comes on (when I usually gas up) to when it comes on again. On highway only trips the readout tells me I'm acheiving 23.5-24.5 mpg, this calculates roughly to 13.2 or so gallons used. I checked the manual and it calims the tank holds 17.2 gallons. From that I would figue there are 4 gallons give or take left in the tank. Now here where I live the distance between gas staions is measured in feet not miles so you've got to be pretty inattentive to run out of gas. However, I sometimes travel to places where stations are few-and far-between and I've been known to fill up with still half a tank just because I absolutely hate running out of gas.Anyhow if anyone knows anything about the true tank capacity or how much is really left when the light comes on please chime in. Lastly, I have a question of my own; my Lexus came with chrome wheels rather than the satin-finished metal, and the "L" logo on them is not the standard Lexus "L". I've seen these wheels on other Lexus' but I'm not sure if they were standard gear or aftermarket add ons. Anyone have any info on this or the quality of the wheels? Thanks

Did I read correctly that theres a wallet key with a chip? Can you get it at the dealer like a regular lexus Key? Thanks!

Jon, I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with you but I'd suggest you take some of you're own advice. It's your sphinchter muscle that seems to be crimped up tighter than anyones and its usually wrapped tightly around your own neck! Your "opinions" are generally insulting and insinuate that anyone who dares think different than you is somehow stupid or foolish. Its clear from jdmparts ' post that he's simply trying to solicit ideas and constructive opinions from people who DO modify their vehicles. I seriously doubt anyone cares that you "prefer to establish my vehicle bank accounts for maintenance and performance enhancement, not wasteful spending on junk". When are you going to sell that Lexus anyway?

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Theres no doubt that there is something wrong with many, and maybe most of the transmissions in 99-01 RX 300 's. It would also appear that there may be a similar problem with the transmissions in the 330's although I have no idea whether it is the same unit. That said , if it were tryuly a design flaw almost everyone with the same vehicles and same mileage would be having this problem. The common question I think everyone would like to know (as well as benefit from) is; what is the connection betwwen all of those having the transmission problem? Conversely what is keeping all the others from having the same problem? I certainly know the frustration of having to drag a vehicle to the dealer constantly and I dont downplay that frustration, however in order to find a true cause and then effect a fix of the problem you've got to identfy it. Complaining that there's a design flaw doesnt do any good unless you can identify the flaw. Its usually best to detach emotionality from problems like this and lookat it logically. On the surface this problem seems that it may be cold weather related, thats a fine place to start looking for an answer. I do agree that anyone with a problem should press their dealer for answers and the more people who visit their dealer for a specific problem the more likely it is someone will find the problem

;) Ok, let me preface this post by saying that I'm not a mechanic and I dont even play one on TV. That said I have learned (primarily from this forum) that: A.)-By design the engines in early 99-01 RX 300s run hotter than normal. I dont know how much or what "normal" is but there it is. B.)-Conventional motor oil breaks down with heat & time and turns into sludge. Of course it follows that the hotter your engine runs and the longer you leave a batch of oil in the crankcase the more likely that oil will turn into sludge. C.)-The biggest rap on the X 300 is the fact that is particularly succeptible(sp?) to sludge, and that the oil should be changed regularly to avoid it. OK now if you put all these together, to my mind (and this is just my opinion) you should use a synthetic oil (such as Mobil1 or Royal Purple) which is much, much less prone to sludging and you should probably go ahead and change the oil rather regulary to be double sure your not accumulating sludge. I would also think that by the time you realize that you've got a sludge problem your engine is trashed since I dont think there's a "sludge" light and since we dont have oil pressure gauges its pretty hard to know when the oil sump/pick-up is clogged with the stuff. Could be wrong but ......

Whether its a design flaw or not is certainly a a matter of opinion, however when I bought my Lexus I was provided with two ignition keys ( with the chip and remote entry ) as well as one emergency key (with a plastic holder so it will fit in your wallet) which is just like a regular metal key without the chip and remote entry stuff. This third key will only un-lock the doors and will not start the vehicle. Obviously this is to address the issue raised regarding locking your keys in your car. I'm sure this "emergency" key could be provided by any Lexus dealer, although because of the style of cuts on the key I doubt if you could have one cut down at the Home Depot. I do agree that this type of security should have some way to disable it. I know many people who live in areas where they don't even take the keys out of their vehicles when they stop somewhere, they definitely dont need this type of security. As for myself I, enjoy the peace of mind it affords. As I understand it most vehicles are pathetically easy to steal and this security measure apparently makes it much harder to "jack" my Lexus.

Whoa! I diddnt mean to come across as a "Lexus Snob" This is my first really nice vehicle after quite a few years driving used mustangs, bone stock compact pick-ups and lastly a Dodge Dakota that needed more than its share of maintenance from both the dealer an myself. I'm not trying to insult anyone here or pass judgement on the type of vehicle you want to drive. Obviously people drive vehicles according to their needs and wants and although I got rid of my Dakota I've still got a truck as well as a 68 Camaro. It sounds like you had a lotter better experience with your Dodge than I did and I'm just hoping that by spending the extra coin up front for a Lexus I can avoid some of the issues I ran into with that vehicle. Anyhow I got a lot of help and assistance with my Dakota from a Dodge group known as the "DML" hopefully we can all help each other here too.

Well now I just traded up from a Dodge Dakota to an RX 300 and I wouldnt go back for anything. Sure I liked to chirp the tires occasionally ( something the RX will absolutly not do ) but the Lexus is built so much better than the Dodge its shameful (conceding of course that the Dodge did cost less). You mention that you bought the vehicle for your wife so the fact you dont fit shouldnt be too much of an issue, a good friend of mine is 6'6" 315 and he fits reasonably well in the passenger side of my RX . Of course I havent tried changing the oil yet and I'm sure when I do my tune will change a bit . The Dakota did have excellent access to the oil filter through the passenges side wheel well. Anyhow I'm just ribbing you a bit as i'ts strange to hear anyone wishing they had a Dodge over a Lexus. Thanks for posting here though there was much, much more information out there in regards to working on Dakota/Durangos.

This does shift the thread a bit but in response to the question of octane, I got used ot using 89 in my Dodge Dakota ( which would knock like heck with 87 ) so I just naturally began to use it in the Rx300. I had heard you could use 87 no problem but looking though some old posts I see some people recommend the 91 or 92. I've only used the 89 so far but I will try something different for the nex tank or two and let you know. ;)

I've got the exact same vehicle and I just managed 23.0 on a 220 mile trip of exclusively highway miles w/ the a/c on and NO cruise control. Ironically a similar trip taken two weeks prior netted only 22.3 when using cruise control the vast majority of the time. I usually cruise at 65-70 when working the throttle myself and generally set the cruise at 70 when using that. This is all with 89 octane gas if that makes any difference

$21k seems like a pretty reasonable price for the vehicle you describe. I just purchased a 2000 Rx that was certified is AWD and has 44k miles for $24k. I looked at about 30 different Rx's before I bought mine and the lowest priced 2000 I saw was $22k but it was not certified and not from a lexus dealer. All the Rx's I looked at had sunroofs and CD players so I cant tell you anything there but the AWD/2WD is obviously a factor. Roof rails may also be a cost option.