bwilmoth

Doomed to run hot under some driving circumstances. But the owner can at least partially mitigate the potential consequences by changing the fluid more frequently and checking the transmission filter screen for blockages every 2nd or 3rd fluid change. By contrast, planned obsolesence is engineered into most American car automatics built since the late 1970's (via inferior quality internal seals, inferior clutch friction material, inferior gear metalurgy, etc.) and no amount of fluid or filter changing will enable them to last 300,000+ miles like all Toyota automatics can. I would not be so quick to get down on American cars I had a 1995 Saturn SC2 with well over 300,000 miles on it before I sold it. That transmission had a twist on filter that could be changed easily. It did not shift as smooth as my 99 RX 300 but it never leaked or cost me $5000 for a new tranny.

No I am not sure but they said it needed a new transmission. I am probably taking it in the shorts on that also. Thanks for rubbing salt in my wounds. :chairshot:

I have just gotten a diagnosis from lexus concerning my leaking transmission. They did a quick inspection while I was their and said they believe it was the front seal but would have to take it apart to be sure. The estimate to repair the seal would be $1500. Went to work with my loaner car. I got a call from them a couple of hours later saying I needed a new transmission cost $5200. Their explaination was the front seal apparently had blown out into my transmission fluid pump and was unrepairable. I would like to know from you guys does this scenario seem possible and am I doing the right thing having the tranny replaced verses attempting to rebuild. It just seems to me you could clean the seal out of the pump by flushing it and then put a new seal on and it would be fine. I had not noticed any performance issues with it other than the leak. Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.:cries: That is the kind of bizarre crap I got routinely from the two Lexus dealers I frequented. For the life of me I have no idea how Lexus is able to continue pulling the wool over the American consumer's eyes. I guess if you keep telling people how great you are, eventually they will believe you. Just got back from the lexus dealer. I wanted to see with my own eyes what they were telling me. I didn't let them know in advance I was coming by. I asked for a machanic to walk me through the problem with the transmission. They had the car up on a lift with the transmission underneath. The mechanic showed me the tourqe converter. It had a metal sleave from the oil pump seal stuck on it. It looked as if the metal sleave was almost melted into the walls of the tourqe converter. The oil had rubber from the seal inside of it. I know the repair is legit now. I know I should have took it to a good transmission shop. I know I probably don't need a whole new transmission I just need a new tourqe converter and oil pump but by the time I pay $1200 to have lexus put it back together and take it to real transmission shop for the repair I wont save that much money. Their is always that possibiliy the transmission repair shop could get into it and find something else wrong that would require a total rebuilt in which case I would be in the same boat or worse. I want to make it clear that the problem with my transmission does not seem to be related to the many AWD problems I have read about. My problem was caused by what appears to be an abusive young driver. Considering the condition of the oil pump, tourqe converter, and the fact that it probably ran with low levels of transmission fluid at times I am surprised the transmission had not had any shifting problems. We have owned this vehicle for about seven months and put about 6000 miles on it. I feel as if it may have kept shifting for quit a while If I would have kept putting fluid in it and ignored the problem.

I have just gotten a diagnosis from lexus concerning my leaking transmission. They did a quick inspection while I was their and said they believe it was the front seal but would have to take it apart to be sure. The estimate to repair the seal would be $1500. Went to work with my loaner car. I got a call from them a couple of hours later saying I needed a new transmission cost $5200. Their explaination was the front seal apparently had blown out into my transmission fluid pump and was unrepairable. I would like to know from you guys does this scenario seem possible and am I doing the right thing having the tranny replaced verses attempting to rebuild. It just seems to me you could clean the seal out of the pump by flushing it and then put a new seal on and it would be fine. I had not noticed any performance issues with it other than the leak. Any help or suggestion would be appreciated. :cries: I did some checking and found out the Lexus service dept will not break into a transmission to repair anything. Wish I new that before I went. Anyway my problem is I have a transmission pump problem as a result of a pieces of seal being in my pump. If I ask Lexus to put the trans back together like it was so I can take it to a transmission repair shop it will cost me $1240. The repair of the pump worst case could be $1580. A total transmission rebuild would be $3800. I am leaning towards just letting Lexus put the new transmission in. My reasoning is that the new transmission could be inproved over the old one as a result of reported problems and possible corrections by Lexus. If I repair the transmission pump the trans could have already been damaged as a result of the fluids leaking. The repairs could be done and a month later the trans goes out anyway. Is my reasoning pretty sound. :cries: :cries:

I have just gotten a diagnosis from lexus concerning my leaking transmission. They did a quick inspection while I was their and said they believe it was the front seal but would have to take it apart to be sure. The estimate to repair the seal would be $1500. Went to work with my loaner car. I got a call from them a couple of hours later saying I needed a new transmission cost $5200. Their explaination was the front seal apparently had blown out into my transmission fluid pump and was unrepairable. I would like to know from you guys does this scenario seem possible and am I doing the right thing having the tranny replaced verses attempting to rebuild. It just seems to me you could clean the seal out of the pump by flushing it and then put a new seal on and it would be fine. I had not noticed any performance issues with it other than the leak. Any help or suggestion would be appreciated. :cries:

I'll check it thanks.

Man I am just not lucky enough for it to be the drain plugs but I will check it for sure. The leak is dripping on the exhast between the engine and transmission. You can actually smell it burning at times. It is right before the exhaust bends to go up to the engine. I will take it to a dealer shortly and let you guys know the results. Thanks for your input.

Transmission fluid, the proper type, will have a definite pickish tone, colour. And, IMMHO, failure of the front transmission/transaxle seal would be highly unusual. I have heard rumors that if the engine is overfilled with lubricating oil Toyota engine's rear main seals are very prone to failure shortly thereafter. It is diffinitly transmission fluid. Engine oil is pretty, clean and always full. The transmission fluid is clean also because I am constantly putting fresh fluid in. My garage floor on the other hand is a mess.

I have a AWD 1999 RX300 with a transmission leak. I have had a oil and lube guy tell me it was my front seal on my transmission. I call Lexus to get a price for the repair. They told me they have not seen that before. From my description to them they seemed to think it was the rear main seal leaking. They told me it was going to cost around $1850 to fix. I was curious if anyone else has had a similar problem and what it cost to fix. It leaks about a quart every two weeks. I was also wondering if the problem will get worse because $1850 will buy alot of transmission fluid.