ChaoSki

Last week I noticed when I put the car in reverse, it would rock back and forth while rolling slow. Kind of vibrating more than usual. It started to happen in drive as well (but not as hard). I also noticed 2nd to 3rd shift to be abrupt.

Today, driving to work and 1st to 2nd hits hard and I lose 2nd gear. Drive the car in 1st fine. At times it would shift into 2nd but it seemed like the gear was lost. Then it seemed to kick in (but maybe it shifted into 3rd, hard to tell).

Tried to back into parking space.....no reverse.

I'm afraid of the worst.

salimshah

Does not sound good. Do the smell, color, level check of transmission fluid. If needed do a drain and examine what comes out. My like to follow up with a fill and then have it examined by an expert.

How many miles and which yr of production. FWD or AWD and what transmission maintenance has been performed over years.

Salim

ChaoSki

212k Miles and AWD. I was about to change the transmission fluid within next few weeks (just did the timing belt).

I reset the battery. No changes.

I'm finding a lot of information on speed sensor. Will try to clean those next.

After that, will change the fluid....

aznlapin

This sounds exactly like what happened to me a couple year back (~190K) and the diagnosis was the tranny was shot. It would drive fine on flat ground and once it hit a hill, either up or down, it would slip. Lots of revving but no power. Had to shift down to 2nd and back to D to run again. After a week of this randomly happening, 3rd gear was totally gone. Had to limp it to mechanic on 2nd gear only.

We opted to have the tranny rebuilt for ~$3k and it's been running fine since. The cause was due to lack of tranny fluid change and poor design from the beginning. This was my parents' car before I took over and they never changed the tranny fluid. By the time I got it it was too late.

Hope it's something else for your sake, otherwise be ready to shell out big or move to something else.

ChaoSki

I was able to take the speed sensors off and clean them and swap them.

didn't help.....

I was going to change the fluid but I think it will just be a waste of time.

Time to sell her. Unless I can find the tranny dirt cheap (which is a risk on it's own)....and swap it myself (which is a major job based on what I'm finding)......this car is going on craigslist as is.

Too bad, really loved it

salimshah

If you can say ... RX gave me the service worth the money I spent on it ... then you ARE ahead.

Now the questions

Should I spend more money to keep it going ,,,, (estimate around $3500).
Am I itching to get into another vehicle?
Will I hold the RX as the standard for the new vehicle .... if so it surely is one of the best vehicle I have owned.


Salim
ps: did you have a pro diagnose the problem for you?

ChaoSki

It was a gift, so I spent only legal/regi fee.

Now the questions

No, car is worth MAYBE $2000-3000 if that.

No we have, 3 other cars.

Agreed, this car is the best I've owned. To keep this standard would be difficult and expensive.

I have not...

fastnoypi

consider changing the fluid it is a cheap approach to a possible solution, all it takes is some passageway to get clogged to send the transmission into a whirlwind of performance problems.

ChaoSki

I think I will, I already have the filter too so I guess it wouldn't hurt.

Bill Dowd

drop the pan and change the filter I did and I use Valvoline MAXLIFE synthetic it works fine in the RX300 trans I would do about 3-4 drops and fills after putting back the trans pan. You can use the drain bolt in the transmission pan to drop and then refill thru the filler tube.Stop by either a Lexus dealership or Toyota dealership and pick up some fiber washers that go between the pan and the bolt in the pan so when you change oil you can change out the fiber washer and no leaks.It will cost about $20 for a 4 quart bottle of Max Life at Walmart I recommend changing out 12 quarts over of weeks period this should make a big difference in your transmission.. I would recommend if all this works well, that once or twice a year every six months drop four quarts and refill this could make your transmission possibly last upwards 200.000 to 300,000 miles if it is not already shot.

ChaoSki

I have doubts about fluid/filter change fixing this, but will do it tonight. Why not, I already have everything.

Will keep you posted

maxSteel

I was having an occasional problem where the transmission would not engage sometimes after I came to a stop.

After dropping the pan and replacing the screen I haven't had any problems since.
Changed over a year ago with 242,000 miles. Now has almost 260,000.

ChaoSki

You gave me new hope. Getting under the car in few min

fastnoypi

your situation reminded me of an episode of Wheeler Dealers i saw the other week. A Porsche Boxter had a tiptronic issue of slipping gears and they were scared of the possible damage would put them in the red. The original owner feared the worst and sold it to them at a salvage price for parts due to the anticipated costs. They did a flush and new filter and it solved the problem. I hope your situation has a happy ending. Good luck!

ChaoSki

Well, the oil was black. Didn't smell burned though.

Replaced the filter and oil. Let it warm up/checked level, ran it thru gears before driving it.

At first, nothing solved. But as I was driving it, it started kicking into 2nd.....but it was slipping. Then 3rd. Showing good signs.

I'm doing #2 tomorrow as the oil still looks black after I drove it due to mixing in with rest of the oil that I couldn't get out.

I will most likely be doing 3rd and 4th to get it to pink color.

So far......good signs....I'm starting to be optimistic.....

Nothing on reverse end, still not working. But still hoping pink fluid will make things work in there....