moekazem

I had a problem with my 2001 RX300, it seemed like that gears were not engaging intermittently and after a while check engine light came on.

I replaced the transmission oil and the filter, it is much better and I don't have the problem with gear engagement but it sometime it has a rough sheeting between the gears and also we I put it on the revers.
I had the the check engine light reset and the code was something about shift solenoid.

I took the car originally to couple of local shops and they said I need to rebuild the transmission.
Changing the oil definitely has help and I am wondering if I should also change the shift solenoids or indeed I need to replace the transmission.

Thanks for any input

bob2200

Did you or anybody drop the transmission pan and clean the filter screen? If so, what did you find as far as metal shavings and other debris?

lexus114

Bob,......."I replaced the transmission oil and the filter" ^^^^

lserlohn

Base on my experience, it totally depends on if the trans is whine...

http://www.justanswer.com/lexus/4y9j...nsmission.html

thomas1

doesnt sound good, the shift solenoid is a common code when the tranny is moving toward failure...Was there metal shavings in the pan? Dont bother with the shift solenoid, and dont do a flush on the tranny....

moekazem

Yes there was metal shaving in the pan and the oil was dark brown color.

rx300mm

I had similar problem last year on my 2001 RX300, gears were not engaging intermittently and check engine light came on. My garage guy found metal shavings in the pan and he recommened I shuld go for a rebuilt tranny with one 1yr .. after spending $3000.all is good. It was a quick solution for me as I don't understand solenoids and tranny, tried reading about it but its all too much for me. Hope all works out well for you. Was not happy as mine only had 145k km (90k miles) on it ..

lexus114

What puzzles the heck outta me with these trannies are; some last,and last (even awd`s) and others puke out at at 90,000 miles?? Some go bad even with regular maintenance, where as others dont get any,and keep going. Thats what I dont understand. Were some just built on a good day or what? When I traded my 01 in on the 330,it had 110,000 miles on it and was doing fine. I had Wolf`s Head universal Synthetic fluid in it,and all was well. Then I got my 330 and I thought thank God, no more stupid tranny problems! Then I noticed a lag between 1st to 2ng gear,and a down rite hesitation at times,which lucky for me,was not a catastrophe. I thought to myself; "well, here we go again!" Then I discovered the ecm re-flashing that takes care of the problem. So far,so good. (BTW) this 5 speed auto does not like Synthetic fluid. It likes the Toyota stuff. So that`s what I give it, with a bottle of Lube Guard Red of course.

thomas1

Some of it may have to do with the commute, if it is a lot of stop and go and in a hot climate the tranny takes a beating...Remember also they had a weak planetary gear setup and I could see with aluminum supporting the gears (steel) that the stop and go and heat could cause premature death. A car that is driven constant and mostly highway I suspect will just do better. Also with AWD especially on the 99 car the transfer case and front differential put a terrible stain on the system...whatever it was a weak design.

bob2200

There was a theory mentioned here a couple of years ago that would maybe explain this. The theory is that American's tend to shift from forward to reverse without making a complete stop. In other parts of the world, where manual transmissions are common, this is never done. Thus, the theory goes, this problem wasn't discovered before the U.S. introduction (and presumably the failure rate is very low in other countries). I have no ideas whether or not this is the explanation, but it makes an interesting theory.

JAB

Not buying it. I have never 'shifted from forward to reverse without making a complete stop' yet my transmission failed at about 115K. I attribute failure to poor design and a maintenance schedule that was silent as to transmission fluid change except under 'extreme' conditions.

hypervish

I agree with this. This attributes to at least 85% of the failures these RX's suffer.

hypervish

Your's failed due to lack of maintenance (well at least that's what it sounds like), you said right there no fluid change except under extreme conditions and you bought it.

JAB

Lack of maintenance? Actually, no. For the first 100,000 miles all service was done at the dealer, 'by the book.'

LA4Mead

I didn't know tranny service was recommended "by the book". I think the book was written to a different standard. Many cars don't have tranny service intervals prescribed by the manufacturer, but that doesn't mean these vehicles don't benefit from it, especially if you want to keep the car 10+ years.
I got the impression that L and T dealers would rather perform high-profit services like tranny flush, packaged service "deals" (you noticed those nifty dealer service "packages" don't include tranny service other than (maybe) looking at the dipstick), or replacement of the whole component than allow their mechanic's hands to get real dirty.