filmteknik

2008 RX 90K miles

I was about 15 miles from home. Engine sounded and felt odd. I pulled into a parking lot and saw all kinds of oil dripping out from the underside pan around the filter area. Dipstick showed nothing. As I had pulled into a Walgreens I bought a couple of overpriced quarts and put that in and drove a couple miles til I saw a chain auto parts place and bought 5 quarts of which it took about 4 to bring it up to level. I put the other quart in on the way home. Once there it was again below the stick.

I removed the underside pan and if I started the engine I could see oil coming from near the oil filter housing but not exactly from it; almost from the oil pan. I gave the bolts in that area a slight tightening but that didn't help. I decided since I was due for an oil & filter change I might as well go through the motions in case that's the source and I'm just not seeing it. (I was careful to save the oil I drained since it was by now all new. (Glad to replace it again but no point in tossing it now if it's just going to come out anyway.) No change. It's running straight down from a point just rearwards of the filter assembly. Maybe a tablespoon or two per second.

I'm a good distance away from my dealer. I may have to have it towed there although I could possibly nurse it to a Toyota store that is a lot closer. Or have a local mechanic look at it. There are a couple within a few blocks.

Anything come to mind? I remember my one and only recall had to do with some hose that could leak oil if not replaced.

Steve

yennit

This thread comes to mind:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...-pictures.html

Good luck, I hope its not too bad!!

filmteknik

Wow....I bet that's it.

Seems like every time there there is what I think is an unexpected issue it turns out that it's a well known problem with these vehicles. I'm starting to wonder whether Lexus has a lot more than its share.

Steve

HtownBlue

I would definitely check those lines. My bet is that if you replace them, you should be good to go. Order that part, then change, then see what happens.

REPORT BACK as some do not and feedback is valuable.

Rainbird

Wherever you decide to take the vehicle for repairs have it towed. Don't take a chance on engine damage.

filmteknik

Yes, I had it towed this morning to the Toyota store (4.3 miles) instead of the Lexus store (14.2 miles). Oil cooler line diagnosis was correct though the service writer described it as a pin hole leak. They had the part in stock.

Steve

filmteknik

Planet Toyota of Matteson, IL did the work. They were pleasant to deal with and the job was done quickly. However, nothing in life is cheap so here's how it played out: $144 for the replacement tube and gaskets. $402 labor. So with the tow (separate vendor), sales tax, etc.it came to $669.

Add the oil I put in to get me home and this turns into a $700 experience. If this is a taste of things to come as my 5 year old vehicle moves into its mature years, then maybe it's time to start thinking replacement at 100K instead of the planned 150K or so. A few $700 experiences along with required maintenance will wipe out the operating-cost-per-mile benefit of keeping the vehicle longer. Must ponder.

The photo shows the new oil line in relation to the filter housing.

Steve

RX330inFL

Still, was cheaper than a few new car payments. Cheaper, perhpas, than a new set of tires if you count replacing the spare. Hopefully, this was your major issue that is now out of the way. Looks like you got the new all metal design instead of the metal/rubber combination of previous note.

shikbas

So is this the same problem in 04 330

Carver

This issue is peculiar to the 350.

filmteknik

Besides routine items like batteries, there are somethings that are not routine but to be expected on an older vehicle, like maybe a water pump, alternator, etc. I had a power steering pump go out on my Jeep Grand Cherokee at maybe 150K.

This isn't one of those you-may-as-well-expect-it things but they all are probably going to have to have a few things failing at old age where, when researched, turns out to be a known failure point for that particular model that could have been designed better and on later versions they finally fixed it.

I'll have to do some guesstimation what selling or trading it in at 100K will bring vs. 150K. And then some reasonable speculation on what sort of money I might have to put into it to get to 150K and whether it's worth it. The more miles one racks up, the lower the per mile cost of ownership. But lots of repair bills could change the calculation.

BTW, where is oil pressure being read? I'm grappling with the fact that oil was low enough to make the engine sound and act odd but no low oil pressure light came on. Yes, I know it's detecting pressure not level but if it's not sucking up and pumping enough oil to do what is needed (maybe hydraulic lifters are affected by the shortage first) then I don't know how there could be sufficient pressure to keep the light sensor off. Maybe they need a sensor at the farthest point.

I am contemplating that while my old GC had lots of small things wrong when I got rid of it, I never had to have it towed. Nor my Prelude before that. Who'da thunk my Lexus would get this honor?

Steve

tfischer

It's happened before on all kinds of cars but I would say generally, Lexus has far fewer of these issues than other cars.
Good luck.

DPJ

$750 is the $75. When it comes to auto repairs, estimate what you think it should cost then multiply by ten. It's a good thing you noticed it on time or it might have been a lot worse.

ghuns

Does the RX not have a low oil warning? Will it continue to run without oil? My poor old 1997 Bonneville tells you when it's more than one quart low on oil. Now that I think about it, my 1992 Bonneville had this. Now that I think about it some more, I had to trailer my mom's 2004 Bonneville home from the mall one time because it wouldn't start. Ended up being the oil level sensor was bad. The car wouldn't even start because it sensed that the oil level was too low

You would think that by 2008, any car should have a sensor to at least warn of a low level and at some point, shut the engine down for it's own protection.

RX330inFL

I know where you are coming from, ghuns. The RX350 does have the standard idiot light, though like many of these they are not all that noticeable unless you are paying close attention.



Why I like some of my old vehicles better. At least they came with a full gauge package. With today's NAV system and all this computer information available I do not see why there cannot be a few screens available to display gauge-like information like oil pressure and water temperature.