Brian in AZ

Thanks. I hear you on the Mercedes. A number of years ago I was a service advisor for a MB dealership and they are nice cars but require tons of expensive maintenance. They also have a lot of parts that break that really surprises the owners. And all the electronics - forget it. Over-engineered is a word that comes to mind. The ML's are the worst with the S class in a close second.

Lenore: Have you put in the sensors yet? Did they work?

I did the same. I bought a used 2001 in good condition and felt that "hey it is a Toyota product so enough said". I have had it now 1.5 years with no problems and then came across this forum along with a couple others and started to read about them and immediately felt like crap. I am still sorting through all this new info coming my way. Here is my thoughts and .02 worth on this. I have checked with a couple transmission shops that do high volume and also with an independant Toyota/Lexus repair shop. All three said that they see nothing unusual on these. One of the largest tranny shops advised that they do maybe one RX300 transmission rebuild every couple months. The common thread from all is to change your fluid regularly with the Toyota type IV fluid. Most times when these take early retirement is when the fluid was never changed. That is what they told me anyway. I am sure some folks have had issues even doing the fluid changes and that can happen with any car. You sometimes get one that does you wrong. I have had Acura's that I put 175k miles on both without ever having a problem with the tranny but I changed the fluid actually once/year because I live in a very hot climate. I have heard others with Acura's who did not change the fluid and they were toast at 100K. Just change the fluids. It is not a guarantee but I think it is a guarantee that you will have early failure if you do not. That goes for the oil as well on your sludge concerns. Since you just bought this I would recommend either pulling or having someone pull a valve cover and take a look, and do it very soon. If it looks good then change the oil regualrly and I doubt you will have a problem with sludge. If there are signs of trouble then take it back immediately to the Lexus dealer and ask for a new engine. Since you just bought it I would bet that they will rectify this for you. I think they extended the warranty for this anyway till 100K so they should cover this under goodwill however I would act on this now. If it is ok then you can sleep again at night. On the tranny, all you can do is change the fluid and hope for the best. Maybe have someone pull the pan to make sure the filter is clean and see if there are signs of any unusual metal in the pan. If so then take issue with this now too with the dealer before more time passes. I suspect on the tranny's that when used in a Camry they are fine but when used in a heavy vehicle like the RX it stresses it. If you have a an AWD then that adds to the stress and heat. As mentioned above I would not tow or work the vehicle as a truck, rather treat it more as a car and your odds of having major problems goes down.

If it were me I would clear the codes and see what happens. If it triggers the light again hopefully the new code(s) will be more definitive. It seems very odd that both of the sensors would go at the same time. It may have been something else that caused this code to trigger. These codes are not alway black and white. They help guide you on where to start looking for a problem but sometimes further testing is needed. I have read that if you are lucky a common issue that triggers weird codes is if the black hose comes off the back of your air filter box. It may not be your issue as the light went back off but worth a check.

Thanks for the feedback. I take good care of my vehicles and change all fluids regularly regardless of whether the manual says that they are "lifetime". I am from the old school and feel that there is nothing that lasts forever. I have read many of the forum strings on these transmissions and the ones who are having problems do not always identify if their model is fwd or 4wd. I see mainly complaints of the 99 and 00 models but have also seen some 01's surface too. I was wondering if the 01's are the same old tranny and the miles are just now hitting the mark on the 01's to now start showing it's true colors? To-date I have been happy with the vehicle but this stuff that I read about the earlier models makes me wonder "for how long"? I hope that the fact that I have an 01, a 2wd, I do not tow anything, and my changing of the fluid will be on my side. I hate to see the trouble that the others have been having with this as it is such a big ticket repair. I do not wish this upon anyone. I chose this vehicle over the Pilot and I hope that I made the right decision.

I purchased a pre-owned RX300 Silversport FWD about 1.5 years ago for my wife to haul the kids around in. It is a sharp vehicle (silver w/black leather and 18in Voxx sport wheels) and she likes it. Knock on wood, we have not have any problems with it yet. I come to this forum and read about all the sludge and transmission issues on these and makes me wonder if I should keep this thing. I do change the engine oil every 3k miles and the transmission fluid was flushed by the previous owner at 45k mile and again by me at 66k. It now just turned over to 70k on ther clock. Since it is an 01 and not an AWD can I realistically breathe easier on the transmission issue from what I read? How long should one expect the tranny to last on this thing? Is there anything else I can do other than change the fluid once/yr to help the tranny situation? Maybe I should consider purchasing an extended warranty on this? Are there any good firms for that out there? I appreciate your advise!