H. Dindi

2000 RX300 AWD at 100,400 miles. No Transmission fluid change ever done. Over the years, we changed MAF, A/F Ratio, Knock sensors. Changed spark ignition coils, etc. All relatively expensive repairs.

Checked tranny fluid before the latest knock sensor replacement job (3 weeks ago). Looked brown/dark red, thin but not fresh cheery color.

2 days ago all of a sudden, the car does not want go while pressing the gas pedal. When the engine is cool, I get some power that lasts for 5-10 minutes then gradually gets worse, the RPM goes through the roof (4000-5000), while the car is at 20-30 MPH, with little to no power. Exactly the same as what "roanokebarry" described earlier in this thread on Mar 7 2006 as "neutralizing". After a while, the car does not even move. All of the gears are the same. D/R/2/1 all behave as if you are in neutral, the gas does not make it to the gears. Then you cool down the car, you get power until you drive another 10 minutes.

Towed the car into a chain transmision shop. The manager described back to me the above behavior which I already knew. Said that they charge $525 to open up the tranny housing, diagnose and figure out what is wrong. They will then give me a price which he says will be around $2600-$3000, total, including the initial tranny open up fee, but no guarentees as to what the total cost will be.

We have not heard of any any noise while driving or gear shifting, no CEL came up either. Going from one gear to another feels smooth, with no noise from the transmission.

Could this be the clogged tranny filter in the pan ? It really hurts me to even talk about a $3,000 expense out of the blue ? What to do?

We own for many years a RX300 ( year 2000 ). Last month the check engine light came on, we own a universal garage so I connected a OBDII scan tool and found code 0171 ( bank 1 lean ) My first thought was : probably a bad oxygen sensor, but I connected a Elmscan interface to my laptop and all voltage readings seemed to be correct. I did reset the OBDII code 0171 and test drove again the car with scantool connected, at that moment the overdrive was working, after a mile the check engine light came on and after 10 seconds the overdrive was gone. I did read the OBDII scantool and again the same 0171. I decided to reset this code again, continued my testdriving and yes at that moment the overdrive was working, but after one or two miles check engine light came on and overdrive not working anymore. I have been reading on several forums and know I'm not the only one with overdrive problems. I think the problem is not inside the transmission, we did oil changes / oil filter every 30k miles. Could this problem be related to the knock sensors ? Can anyone give me a logical explanation for this ? Andy / Dutch Caribbean.

Were you able to solve your CEL 0171 code? If so could you tell us what have you done?

I also have a 2000 Lexus RX300 at 80K miles and having problems with the same 0171 code... I cleared it several times and within 5-10 miles of driving it comes back... It causes the car to switch into the safe (fuel rich) mode which is causing power loss (slow acceleration), some (burnt!) fuel smell when the car is parked in the garage after a drive.

I have cleaned the MAF once with an electronics spray cleaner which did not solve the code 0171 problem... I had also replaced the A/F ratio sensor (Bank 1 sensor 1) with an original Denso sensor about a year ago which had then solved a different CEL code...

I would like to learn from your experience if you don't mind sharing...

I have a good master and an uncut master. Has anyone had success getting a side laser cut done correctly from a working master without going through the dealer? If so, I would be interested in pricing and locksmith's name and number.

Thanks,

Russ

Go to the Car openers. they are great. they cut my master key and my wallet key for me. You have to take a photgraph of your key or give your key code.

it takes like 5 days. mind you i live in canada. prolly fasteri f you live in usa.

Terence

Can someone give me the name of an ebay seller who has these blank keys with transmitter , that you'v delt with before..

This isn't the ebay seller you asked for but they do have a decent deal. You can get a replacement shell and blade cut to your key code for $40. You just need to put your electronics into it and you are good to go. Or if you need the new electronics also it's $145 complete.
http://www.toy-lex.com/store/index.php?act...at&catId=24