After owning a 2001 RX for 14 years (It was 4 years old when we bought it) and never having a single issue with the car it finally dies at 274,000 miles. The greatest vehicle I ever owned and I've owned about 10 different cars and SUVs. So I get a bright idea to see if I can find another one in decent condition with low miles for my daughter since she needs a car for college. Long story short I find a 2001 RX 300 with 125,000 miles! It's at a local Honda dealership so I go have a look with my daughter. Right up from they tell me it has a rebuilt title. No problem since the minor accident happened in 2004 with less than 50,000 miles on it at that time and it's still running fine here in 2019. It looks great inside and out, like its been taken care of. I take it for a drive and noticed the transmission slip leaving the dealership driveway. I'm hoping it was some ice but I know the feeling. I take it to my mechanic and he does an inspection and says if I don't buy it he will, he could not find the tranny problem, the dealer wants $2000 for the RX. So on the way home I find a deserted road and do a few fast reverses and hit the brake hard, the second time I do this I hear a nauseating bang/slam! I'm guessing the torque converter sliding around. Anyway, I gas it forward and everything seems ok. At this point, I have not bought it. I look into buying a rebuilt tranny at my friend's transmission shop., $4200. Considering we almost bought a 1999 RX with 145,000 miles needing the timing belt replaced for $6500 plus around a grand to replace the timing belt and related parts. We opted for the 2001. Delivered it to my friend to have a rebuilt tranny installed, total cost was around $6375, we thought, great, a little less than the one we almost bought.. Also, the carfax showed the local Toyota dealership replaced the timing belt/water pump 10,000 miles ago. She should be good to go.
So, great car, ready for a couple of years at college for my daughter. About a week later my daughter comes back into the house and tells me the car is making a weird noise. I lifted the hood and something was making a sound that sounded like a dry bearing, I was thinking the alternator but the sound was coming from the middle of the engine, water pump? Maybe those !Removed! at the dealership didn't replace the water pump, I have a deep distrust of dealerships formed by experience. Well, we parked it and waited on Monday to take it to the shop and I made it about a mile when it went dead. Got it to the shop and my mechanic showed me a broken front camshaft due to oil starvation on two of the bearings!! Just had the oil changed when the guy did the transmission swap using my favorite oil, Mobil 1.
My question to you good people here is: Any idea why the bearings were starved of oil?? Anyone think there could be metal in the engine from this disaster, enough so that the engine should be trashed?? If so where is a good place to get an engine? Money is an issue due to myself being disabled and can not work. Almost all our money will be tied up here in this car. I want it right, can have my daughter 1500 miles away in a crappy car