Stemmer

I assume it's third gear anyway. When I first leave my house for the past 6 months, about 1/4 mile down the road there is a mild incline. I'm driving about 30mph per the speed limit and cop that's often sitting there. Every day my '99 RX300 goes up the incline the RPM's go to 3000 while the engine revs a little until I reach the top, go for a bit more, and it finally changes gears and drops to 2000 RPM. I've tried a bit faster and a bit slower with no real difference. Does not happen at other times, only starting out up this incline. Happens in warm and cold weather. Was changing tranny fluid every 30k now down to 20k. Tranny failed at 88k, remanufactured put it, and now at 200k. Anything to worry about? Any suggestions or just ignore it? Thanks.

hypervish

Is the car fully warmed up by the time you reach that incline? If not, then it's the car compensating for 4th gear (overdrive), as 4th gear is locked out till the RX reaches optimal temperature.

Nothing to worry about in my opinion, ignore it.

Stemmer

The warm up crossed my mind, but thanks, I won't worry about it.