Mark2008

I have about 66,000 miles on the 2000 year model. Last night, I started up in Park in my garage and engage to shifter to Reverse. I backed out one foot and the vehicle suddenly stopped, as if hitting something in the garage, then OK for a millisecond and then another stop. Forward gear worked OK to pull ahead 3 feet. Checked for any obstacle in the rear of the vehicle and none found. Tried to engage the shifter from Park to Reverse and noticed no engagement of that gear. Also noticed that the radio had gone from 88.1FM to bottom end of AM range (640).

Pulled the negative lead to the battery to reset the computer, thinking that maybe reverse gear was misbehaving from the drive history computer. Reattached the lead this morning and reset the radio and clock. Started the vehicle in Park and shifted to Reverse, but did not observe any movement or clutch engagement. Gave a touch of the throttle and the vehicle moved in reverse, as if breaking out of a seized brake piston.

Forward and Reverse worked very smoothly, through several cycles of the engine off and on. I suspect a transmission issue may be developing, insofar as I could engage and drive forward and not in reverse. This may be a one-time-issue with a sticking piston, or just a beginning of something expensive. Vehicle is nearing the end of its 7/70 drive train warranty, a 2000 AWD RX300 with 66,000 trouble-free miles. The vehicle is only used for highway driving and the tire shop says there is maybe 35% remaining pad lifetime.

Thoughts?

salimshah

Loosing Radio setting pointed towards an electrical gremlin. By disconnecting the battery you may have cleared it all. Unfortunately you also lost what was the state of the ecu.

The piston/band did not make sense to me [you are trying to state some thing but problem is with my comprehension].

Lets hope that you do not encounter the same problem again. To be on the safe side, I suggest taking the RX to the dealer and log that as a complain/issue. They may hook up diagnostic equipment but may not find anything since the ecu got erased.

You can have the trans fluid drained and examined [it may be time to drain and fill].

Salim

Lexmex

Welcome to the Club Mark.

Really not sure as the odd radio behavior indicates a power issue as Salim mentioned (as normally this issue occurs only when battery has been disconnected where radio stations reset). Not sure if this could be a battery problem as I assume your negative/positive battery posts were secure.

On the transmission side , I would first check the transmission fluid consistency as Salim mentioned. Last year, my uncle and I had a 96 Caravan we had as a utility van its reverse gear gave out, pan was full of bits, even though we had changed the ATF after we had bought it and cleaned out the pan, there were still bits in the tranny that a drain and fill couldn't get out in that case. One of those bits I am sure ended up killing our reverse gear.

I haven't seen too many cases of sticky brakes and I abuse my brakes a lot.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

At this point, I would bring it in for warranty to see if they can do anything. You only have 6000 miles left for warranty so you might as well try your luck with it.

TunedRX300

His powertrain warranty already expired by time. To replace tranny under warranty, Lexus has to offer it under goodwill.

Lil4X

Welcome to CL, Mark! This is strictly a guess, but that reset of the radio stations, as Salim and Lex said, makes me suspect an electrical problem too. Low voltage is normally the culprit that triggers a cascade of strange events in the radio stack. I just wonder if that same low voltage might have confused the electronics in the shift program of the ECU such that it attempted to select the wrong set of clutches - or maybe more than one set - that would halt the vehicle. "Park", as I understand it, is a mechanical function, but it sounds like your gremlins are electrical in nature.

If your 2000 RX is still on its OEM battery, it's about time for replacement. Have it checked under load. I just had mine done (free) at Firestone, where they have a good-sized "handheld" instrument that will read battery amps/volts during cranking and while running, then print you a result.

My battery, as predicted last spring, is going away after a deep discharge. The tale of the tape indicates I have about 430 CCA available, and it is living on borrowed time. I have delayed replacement in order to see if I experience any of the strange maladies so often reported here. None yet, but with winter coming, I don't want to trust my luck much longer. It will have to be replaced next month.

Please post again when you have more information - or if you find the problem. While there are instances of transmissions and transfer cases locking up, they are extremely rare - suspect rather an electrical problem. It should be a MUCH cheaper repair!

Mark2008

Thanks and I think you are onto the culprit and solution. Without a load and with the vehicle switched off last night, I checked the battery and found it at 12.02 VDC with a digital VOM. Today, after I cleared the computer, the check engine light came on, so hopefully we are looking at a solenoid issue. The shop will check the code tomorrow and I will report back.

Considering the volume of posts online referencing the RX300 transmission, it might be prudent to consider an extended warranty. Mark

Mark2008

Thanks and the door post mfg tag says 05-00; I don't know if the warranty covers from date of mfg or date of sale. I am the second owner and this has been a good rig.

Is it possible a dying battery could cause this kind of no reverse shift and by increasing the throttle, I was able to get enough power to the solenoid to make reverse work?

Mark2008

Thanks and this might be an electrical problem, insofar as the check engine light came on this afternoon, an the engine is still running fine.

Mark2008

I drove to work this AM without any issues. Left around 11 for a haircut, backed out of parking space just fine and drove for about 10 minutes. After leaving the salon and less than 5 minutes of driving, the check engine light came on. I immediately drove to the Toyota dealership (no Lexus dealership within 120 miles) where I was told that no one was available to see the car and that "as long as the light is not blinking, you are OK." Appointment to read computer is tomorrow 8AM.

I called the Eugene, Oregon Lexus dealer and talked with Rick about signs and symptoms. He suggested that it sounded like a solenoid problem, but needed to see the code from the check engine light. There are 6 solenoids. He did not think that the solenoid could have caused the radio malfunction.

Stay tuned for results of computer read-out tomorrow.

Mark2008

That post about Eugene was made by Jody, just in case anyone thinks that Mark hangs around hair salons! I am going down to Schwab this afternoon and get that battery replaced. Mark

HarrierAWD

As auto tranny needs quite a bit of juice to shift, it is most likely a weak battery, a weak alternator, or both. Don't just blindly change the battery. Have the tech do load tests on both the battery and the alternator first.

Mark2008

Also I want to post the earlier note:

" I just wonder if that same low voltage might have confused the electronics in the shift program of the ECU such that it attempted to select the wrong set of clutches - or maybe more than one set - that would halt the vehicle. "Park", as I understand it, is a mechanical function, but it sounds like your gremlins are electrical in nature."

OK, so we left the discussion yesterday with a note that the check engine light had come on during the stop and start morning. I then picked up the RX from the wife and notice that the check engine light was gone after a period of driving that charged the battery. Stopped by Les Schwab Tires here in Bend and had them remove the battery and prepare a load test. The battery was showing 11.3 VDC and after an hour on the charger, this OEM 7+ year old battery could not be fully charged for the load test.

With the frozen berries from Costco thawing in the rear of the RX, I elected to not further attempt to charge the battery and had it replaced with their best AH rated battery for make/model, that comes with a 2-year complete replacement warranty before the regular annualized rebate goes into effect.

I am going to have the local Toyota shop (nearest Lexus dealer is in Eugene, 2.3 hrs to the west and over the mountain pass) drain and flush the tranny fluid this morning. One of the "what-if's" I am considering about the large number of reported RX tranny failures is this: does a weak battery trigger the tranny failure by confusing the ECU as to the drive state of the RX? If I noticed a slight bump upon reverse out of my garage, could a similar event occur in a forward drive gear when the voltage goes south for the ECU?

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions and lets hope the new battery and flush are enough to solve this issue.

Lexmex

With the tranny, my contention is that the U140F (AWD tranny in the RX300) is ill-suited. It is actually used in the RAV4 4x4 for 2000-2003 models and the FWD U140E was used in the 2002-2004 V6 Camry, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_U_transmission#U1xx

At some point in the future when I go back to the States, I plan to beef up the tranny with some upgrades, but until then I plan to keep changing the fluid often enough and at some point when it becomes available to me, switch to Amsoil ATF, as several RX300 owners have done on this forum with positive results.

salimshah

Standard practice is to drain and fill. Do your homework before asking for flush as it comes with advantages and disadvantages .. specially how it is performed.

Salim