pawsox

Hello there,

I have a 2001 RX 300 with about 80,000 miles on it. It's been really well-maintained and it has been driven through some pretty severe New England weather. It has been a great family car.

I have taken it in for service at my Lexus dealer and the dealer recommends changing the timing belt/water pump/drive belts and also replacing some failed sensors (2 air fuel ratio sensors and a mass air flow sensor, all of which cause the check engine light to come on).

In deciding how much to invest in this vehicle, I would love to hear people's opinions on the following:

-if I continue to maintain the car, what are people's expectation of its remaining lifetime?

-Looking ahead what are the typical replacement and maintenance items coming up over the next 4-5 years, and what is their typical cost at a Lexus dealer?

Thanks for your time.

99rx

iTrader: (6)

There are many threads on this, but this is the best one for what you are looking for...
Search is your friend.https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...ownership.html

bob2200

You say it has been really well maintained, yet you have three sensors burned out. I sense some difference in terminology there. Has there been regular drain-and-refill of the transmission fluid? How about regular changing of the brake fluid?

From what others have said here on the forum, you could wait until at least 90K-mi to do the timing belt and related stuff. The next major items are the spark plugs at 120K-mi.

pawsox

Thank you for your helpful replies, and for the pointer to the other thread.

bob2200, I'm not car savvy in the least, so the transmission fluid & break fluid changes would only have happened if they are part of Lexus services, the only item I do outside of the dealer is the oil change every 6 months.

Thanks for the tip, I will ask the service dept. How frequently should one change the transmission fluid & break fluid?

thomas1

I suggest every 20k or once a year for the transmission fluid, but drain and fill only, no flush....as for break fluid just have them flush it and hopefully the fill resevoir will look clear again instead of blackish....maybe once evey 3 years....

Dadikins

Pawsox,

I see that you're also from MA - hopefully the storms are all over with for a long, long time! :-)

It seems unlikely for 3 sensors to have failed at once. As has been suggested in many threads, I would suggest having the codes reset, and when the engine light comes on again, have the codes re-read to see which one appears first. It may be causing the other issues.

I learned a long time ago, not to bring my '02 to the Lexus dealership (except on occasion for a complimentary car wash). :-) Go to a Toyota dealership -- with your laundry list, it will be expensive, but you'll save yourself a lot of $ over a Lexus dealership.

Good luck!

carguy07

Seems a little early to screw with the timing belt & water pump.

The dealers like to replace the air fuel sensors in pairs even if there is only one throwing a code. Like others have said, clear the codes and see if they come back. Mine gets pissy and throws an air fuel sensor code from time to time. Reset it and it might not pop back up for 6 months or more. In fact I was getting it to come up ever other time I drove it for a week or so and it even showed a handful of codes and ran rough one time. I kept clearing them and hoped they would go away on their own. Threw some fuel system cleaner in the tank and have not seen a code in 2 months now.

So hold off on the timing belt for a while and reset the codes. Maybe you drive another year or two with nothing but routine maintenance. IMO