93B18

Hello all:

My first post. We'll I've read a number of posts regarding the infamous RX transmission problems. Well unfortunately mine finally went out. Despite the high cost for repair, I love this car and have decided to have it rebuilt to the tune of $2500! Ouch! Biggest repair cost I've eaten on any car so far!

I'm hoping to add some value to the forum here as a result of my mishap so here is a timeline that led to the problem.

1) Transmission started whining several days ago. You can hear it mostly during the cold start-up and as the revs get higher with the noise lessening as it warms up.

2) As I was driving on the freeway, the car started shifting out of gear to 3rd and then 2nd and then back again sporadically. I pulled over and decided to have the car towed to a local transmission shop.

3) Got the call today that there were a lot of metal shavings in the transmission fluid and that the entire transmission would need to be rebuilt. Tech mentioned that the RXs are well known to have a problem with the planetary gear. He will replace all the internals with new parts and include a 3 year warranty.

I knew transmission rebuilds were pricey. However after hearing the cost of the repair bill, I couldn't help but cringe in my teeth!! I thought about selling the car but wouldn't be able to get much with a broken transmission. Given the car has went 248,000 miles and hasn't given me any real problems since I purchased it with 80,000 miles, she still runs as smooth as a babies bottom. After the trans repair, I hope to keep her for another 250K! The RX is still a great car!

hypervish

Welcome to Club Lexus!

I wouldn't complain 248k miles on an original transmission, that's good!

$2500 is not much for a trans. rebuild, it's a good price especially with a 3 year warranty.

How often did you change your transmission fluid?

richonline

Sorry to hear it, hope u get it fixed well. What model is you rx, year, FWD or AWD?

[QUOTE=93B18;6535992]Hello all:

My first post.

new2lexus2

I am impressed, and heartened as well, for 248kmiles on the transmission. In addition to how often you may have done a transmission fluid change/service, how many timing belt changes have you done?

Thanks for the posting, and thanks in advance for additional information.

Lorider680

I just bought one that has 80,000 on the odo. First thing I did after reading posts in the forumn is change the diff/tranny/oil fluids. It seems this shoudl be done every 20k or so to insure proper function which is pretty crappy if you ask me.
\F

hypervish

Only transmission fluid should be changed every 20k. Changing the transmission oil literally takes 10 minutes, I just did it again last night. I do it every summer which in my case is about 20k miles (all highway miles).

The diff and transfer case can be 50k if not more.

thomas1

You got a great price on the rebuild, Why dont you post the rebuilder, we should create a list of successful tranny shops for all to use when needed. At least than folks can investigate and decide if they are reputable. I too live in california and a poster recently asked me for a reference on a tranny shop.

93B18

Thanks for the welcome and replies.

Last time I changed the transmission fluid was when I performed the last major service incl. timing belt which was at 130K miles. It may have helped to change the fluid on a more regular basis which might have helped the trans last longer. I may have procrastinated longer than I should have. Lesson learned.

My car is a 1999 RX300 AWD.

I've changed the timing belt only once at 130K. I plan to do another major service in the next month after I recover a bit from this $2.5K repair bill.

I will be changing the transmission and differential fluids every 20K from now on.

My car is being repaired by Kim at Coliseum Transmission in Oakland, CA. I was referred to Kim by another reputable mechanic where I take the Lexus for all its services. Kim seems like an honest mechanic and all he does is transmissions and from my mechanic, he is supposed to very good and reasonable on cost. His reviews on Yelp are very good as well.

shark13

As others have said $2500 is a good deal. I just paid $4000 (California) for a rebuilt Transtar transmission. In the course of 8 months the pan gasket had to be replaced, a seal on the top of the transmission where a sensor mounts had to be replaced, and finally now the seam between where the two parts of the transmission meet is leaking. That said, at least Transtar lived up to their warranty. They paid to have a newly rebuilt trans sent to me, and paid for the labor to remove the old and install the new. Hopefully I'll have better luck with this one.

Because we all know that the RX300 has a problem with its transmission, perhaps I should start a post about whether people suggest to have a trans built by a shop or from a larger company...and if from a larger company then from whom?

lserlohn

A remanufactured one is much more reliable than tranny shop. Replace it rather than rebuilt if you want to end this nightmare.

Iluvlexus

248K on an automatic transmission is not reason for concern. Wonder how many other RX 300 transmissions gave this kind of service? Maybe we are making a bigger deal out of this than exists?

hypervish

I think many people are making a bigger deal out of it than it really is. Although there are some failures that shouldn't have happened, I still think the majority are fine.

shark13

I think its justifiable to question whether the rate of incidence of transmissions failing prematurely on the RX300 is due to the nature of forums and their inherent bias towards what is wrong with a vehicle. That said, I've not seen a situation such as this in any other car or truck I've ever owned (not including items that were later recalled). If the necessary research was done I think it would be found that this early model RX300 had an inferior transmission. I've spoken to nearly a dozen shops in the course of choosing the place to replace my trans as well as the shop that currently looks after my vehicle. All have described the high number of transmissions of this type, from the RX300 and other vehicles that they are in, that have issues. My most recent example. When I had my transmission looked at because it was again leaking...the mechanic told me at that moment he had 4 other transmissions of this type in this shop currently being worked on. It seems to me that if it walks like a duck....talks like duck...then well...maybe it's a duck.

hypervish

I think it depends on the Climate you live in as well. Heat is the major killer of anything... If the outside temperature is 105 degrees F 365 days a year then that's gonna take a toll on the transmission.

I've spoken to many people in my area that have RX's and their transmission's have been just fine. My mechanic hasn't see any RX300 transmission failures yet (he's been a mechanic for a long time 30+ years). He knows many people with RX's and they all of hundreds of thousands of miles, I recently learned that my uncle's neighbor has 41X,XXX + miles on his RX, it's a 00' AWD with the original trans. I'm going to try and take pics of it, that RX looks better than mine (my RX is in mint. condition as well, but his is just amazing) and I only have about 1/4 of it's miles.

lserlohn

I remember you live in Michigan, I live in Milwaukee, the Climate should be similar. Why my tranny was gone at 125k miles...............
Mine is 01 AWD with tranny cooler