tarzan17

Background
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Wife has had the 2000 RX300 for 4 years. Currently has 100K miles on the clock. Have done very little maintenance besides regular oil changes. Previous owner had done all scheduled services including timing belt.

Until recently, we never had any trouble until a host of issues appeared which appear rectified by installing new Denso A/F sensors, new catalytic converter and changing out #2/4/6 spark plugs (have not done the firewall side plugs just yet). Also new air filter and cleaned MAF. So far so good as the CEL has been off for past few weeks (came ON daily after reset each night).

Now Transmission Issue
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A few weeks back my wife was not able to reverse from park, then after a few attempts, it suddenly reversed with a noticeable thud sound.

Then a few days ago, without warning wife calls me and tells me that she had to pull off the highway, after having problems reaching 50mph. Car would rev with no speed change (as if in neutral) or rev very high and move very slowly. Car would die when she came to a stop. She ended up parking the car which I slowly drove home early in the morning.

Besides the lack of CEL, the first thing I noticed when I started the car was a loud (to me) whirring sound which was not there before. Lifted up the hood and it seemed to come directly from the engine, pitch increased as I revved higher and decreased as revved lower. Next day followed the DIY transmission filter change thread and changed oil and filter. The old oil was dark brown, and with nothing to compare against, there didn't appear to be a lot of metal shavings in the pan. Because car seems to drive OK again, and only change was transmission related, I conclude that I have a definite transmission problem.

I also understand the next time the transmission fails (without warning) it would most likely need to be towed. Wife refuses to drive the car again. Because of what I have read about transmissions dying with similar symptoms as ours, I am wondering what to expect going forward. Should I only use for short trips? Will it die in one week? One month? Any other maintenance to make the transmission's life longer? Any thoughts appreciated !

Lexmex

Do you actually hear a particular sound from the transmission itself?

Sometime the sounds can only be audible when it is in Drive and you have someone else listening on the outside as you go forward a bit such as on a driveway or lightly traveled street.

Also would like to know if your RX is an FWD or AWD, as the AWD models also have a transfer case and rear differential with gear oil that needs changing and do have an effect on the transmission.

Without seeing this vehicle personally it is tough to say what the condition is. I would take a good listen to the area underneath the vehicle where the transmission meets the engine and see if you hear any kind noise from that area with the vehicle on (can be in park). That is the area near where the torque converter meets the transmission pump.

tarzan17

Thank you for the response Lexmex. Car is AWD. Will report back results from your suggestions.

TODO
- drive/listen test to see if I hear any strange sounds.
- possibly changing the transfer case and rear differential gear oil.
- listen to where transmission meets the engine (once I find the torque convertor and transmission pump - I know where the engine is )

Lexmex

This thread from about 5 years ago, https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...went-bump.html shows where the locations of the tranny and torque converter are.

The situation in that thread was not a pleasant experience, but did save $$$ in the long run.

tarzan17

Thanks! Those pictures are a gold mine. For newbs like me who can't find specific pictures through search, a sticky thread (pictures only) of various parts of the RX300 would be fantastic. Glad things worked out for you - just bad luck and timing with combo of shock giving out and bad road. All's well that ends well. Maybe we exchange some cousins ?

Had a listen to the transfer case while parked, and where it meets the engine, but didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Also with a friend driving the car (albeit slowly as I can only run so fast) and listening from the outside, I could not hear any noises except the engine. After flush and filter, it appears that the problems have disappeared as quickly as they appeared. No CEL throughout this whole process.

This has probably been discussed, but what do you think about ADDING more magnets to bottom of transmission pan? I understand I am in the hospice stage but just trying to prolong it.

Going forward, will probably change out the transmission filter and oil every 10K miles or so. Have swapped cars with the wife and I am driving the RX300. Hopefully it makes it to its first 10K service.

Lexmex

I'll throw my hat into the magnet discussion. Awhile back I added a drain plug that had a magnet tip on it. I am not up enough drain and fills to really say long term what the effect will be, but being diligent with the transmission drain and fills is more important here.

tarzan17

Finally experienced the "cannot reverse" issue firsthand.

Just below zero this morning, started car in garage and shift into reverse. As usual, revs dropped on tach and felt/heard gears engage. Stepped on throttle and nothing. Car would not move. With foot on the brake, traversed through the gears down and up and then back to R, saw the tach drop and felt/heard gears engage and this time car reversed without protest.

No CEL and transmission seems to shift good.

I am still trying to get the transmission fluid to proper level as it is a bit low. Just checked and about 0.5cm under bottom HOT hash mark. Because I don't want to overfill, each time I drive and park (ie. with engine warmed up) I recheck level and add fluid.

Can the reverse problem be attributed to low fluid?

salimshah

In the range you are talking about, I would say no.

Are you loosing fluid?

Salim

tarzan17

No, not losing fluid now. When I changed out tran filter last weekend, I did notice the gasket at the back of the pan was worse than other areas and the pan screws at the back had transmission fluid on the threads when I removed them.

So far I have added about 1/5 quart over what I measured when drained.

I always thought that a sign of transmission slip is when gears would not engage. However the R gear seemed to engage, just nothing happened when I hit the throttle. Could this be a function of the IACV being dirty? I plan on cleaning it and changing out the rear plugs, and cleaning the speed sensors this weekend.

JAB

In my 99 AWD RX300, shortly after 100K it experienced an occasional reluctance/delay in shifting into Reverse from Park. Didn't think much of it, but several weeks later when returning from a trip about 130 miles out of town I experienced more severe symptoms, i.e. engine reving without forward progress. Would turn off, wait a few minutes, and I could then drive about 5 miles before it became undriveable. Repeated this for about 30 miles to a friend's house. From there had it towed to a Toyota dealer and they replaced the transmission.

Baetke

On my car it took 8 oz. of fluid to raise the level on the dipstick from the low(hot) to the high(hot) mark.

tarzan17

So far I have not had any trouble shifting into R but the engine rev without forward progress is exactly what my wife experienced. Still deciding whether to get the trans done or just run her into the ground and move on (leaning this way).

Thanks for this, just added another 10 oz. Should be safe since, from my understanding we should try to reach as close as possible to the top hash mark when engine is hot.

Thinking about this more, if the fluid expands that much, adding new oil that is *cold/warm* we should wait a period of time to allow it to heat up for a proper measurement. Probably a mute point for me since I have not been able to get a usable reading immediately following a "top up".
Dip stick is always soaked with oil well above the HOT indicator on both sides.

JAB

I don't think your problem can be fixed by changing the fluid or confirming the proper level. Your transmission is dying and nothing short of replacement will be satisfactory. And there are lots of horror stories on this forum about people who entrusted 'rebuilding' to some local transmission shop, with bad results.

hypervish

I suggest you start looking at transmissions. The RX may leave you stranded if the transmission were to fail. I'd do one more drain and fill though if you are just trying to get as many miles out of the trans as you possibly can.

Take a look at www.car-part.com to look at transmissions at local junkyards.

The website will also list if the transmission was recently rebuild or if it's a reman. unit.

For example, I just looked now to see how much a used transmission would cost you and there is a recently rebuild transmission for $1500 in Corona, NY.

tarzan17

Thanks for your advice. Looks like transmission is closer to the grave then I thought. Really thought I had about 4 months of life left.

Thanks for the advice as well. Will do another drain and fill and then use it exclusively for short trips until it dies then get it towed to my local garage. In the mean time I will get them to start pricing out some options.

Cheers guys.