Piece350

Hello All,

Long absence from here unfortunately. My wife and I just picked up a second RX...She has a 2011 and I just picked up a 2000 RX with 130 original km...1 owner...

My question: Are there any ailments in Generation 1?

Cheers,

2KHarrier

That is one heck of a question...

Read through the DIY thread in the Sticky section of this forum. There are lots of things that may need attention on the first gen RX's, but with proper maintenance, they can last a l o n g time.

First and foremost are the transmission health and the issues with oil sludging in the engine.

Transmissions have been known to fail, but I'm at 165K and it looks and shifts fine.
There are a few guys here that have well over 200K on their transmissions. The Planetary gear ring was undersized, and is prone to breaking under hard use.

Oil sludging is mostly due to an improperly designed rear valve cover which allowed oil to be drawn back into the PCV system, thus clogging the PCV valve and causing the sludging issues.

Like many of the guys on here, I've replaced my rear cover with the newer re-designed model and the oil issues have dissapeared. My oil consumption is minimal at best.


Really not many other big problems with these cars. Just read through the Stickys and learn as much as you can.

Piece350

I will be heading to an indy that services Lexus/Toyota brands only, which is nice. I owner is a Lexus master tech. I will get them to perform a transmission drain/fill.

kalali

One owner cars usually have records for maintenance history so that should give you an idea what the car might need next. Some here will recommend timing belt service at around 100K miles so see if that's been done. You may also want to replace transfer case and differential fluids while doing a transmission service, assuming you have an AWD model.

Piece350

Getting that taken care of on Wednesday...

matts6887

That reminds me too; I need to try and find out when the differential fluids in my rx were drained and refilled as well. Unfortunately for me the dealer i got mine from didnt have any service records from the previous owner(s). So; with that said is there a easy way to check the condition of the diff fluid without having to tear too much apart?

VegasRX300

Matt, join the Lexus Drivers Club if you haven't done so already. You can see anything that was performed by a dealer on your Lexus.
You can add anything that you do to the car onto the site so you can see when the last time you changed the oil etc., but when you sell the car the site only keeps what the dealers have preformed.

As for your question, there is a drain plug and a fill plug. Just take the fill plug out and stick your finger or a small hose inside and you can check the looks of the oil.

As your already there, you might just drain it and refill it.
I did mine myself. (Actually did it twice, wanted to be sure it was flushed, just drove the car for a week and did it again) The refill part is a little tricky. I used a hose to fill the gear oil and fed the hose from the top though the engine.

When I did my rearend I used the same hose and fed the hose from outside by the rear tire.

Can be a messy job, so use a oil drain pan under the differential or rearend.

matts6887

Well actually i did join the lexus owners club. As for the the diff fluid; well; it sounds like it might not be the job for me so I may wait to have it checked the next time I am in for a oil change because as i mentioned before several times; I do not have the means to get under the vehicle to check it; and also i dont even know where the 2 plugs are at.

Piece350

Check the DYI section. The information is there along with illustrations...not that difficult of a job!