I have been getting an occasional hard downshift when my 2000 ES is coming to a stop - for about the last 5k or so. This happens more often in city traffic when you are braking quickly from a higher speed - but I have had it occur at other times.

Did not see anything when I did a forum search. The car has a lot of miles on it 205k and has been unbelievably reliable. Fluid has been changed using the drain and refill method at 100k and again at 200k - after I started getting the shift problem.

Other than this occasional problem the transmission works as it always did -- I bought the car with about 10k on it back in 2001.

Thanks for any help.

 

One possibility is a worn out transmission mount. A worn out engine mount may also create such symptoms occasionally.

 

You're doing a drain and fill every 100,000 miles?

 

I did have the mounts checked and they said they looked OK -- but I am going to have them checked the next time it is in for a change. Because it could be part of the problem.

I can not remember what Lexus says on the trans fluid -- Is it 90k or 120k. It was actually done at the 90k major service at 95k.

The fluid was surprisingly clean at 95k -- I believe the major service was just a fluid change -- no cleaning the filter screen.


For about the last 15 years our company cars and fleet vehicles never have the transmission touched unless they are low or the fluid looks funny. They all go out to 200k with very little maintenance. We had more trouble when we played with them.

 

If you say so. But the #1 failure of an automatic transmission is lack of maintenance. Especially the later Toyota/Lexus units they are hard on fluid.

BTW, doing a pan drop, replacing the filter, and flushing and replacing all the fluid is not "playing" it is a proper maintenance procedure.

 

I can't really comment on the Toyota products being hard on the fluid as we only have four -- two of the 300 and two of the 330's. We have not had any issues with them. That is why we still have the old 300's


As long as all of the procedures are followed I agree that additional maintenance will do no harm an may provide benefit-- unfortunately assuring that this is accomplished is often difficult.

Our maintenance procedures are not industry unusual and prove to be very cost effective. We do monitor the fluid condition and its level. Same for the other fluids.

 

I checked my owners manual, the fluid change interval is not what Toyota told you, it's 60,000 miles which IMO is twice as long as it should be. The RX especially has seen more than it's fair share of tranny failures due to cooked fluid.

 

I kind of notice a "thump" when the car is slowing down as well, when going down back to first gear. Didn't think much of it, but I'm not freaking about it now either. 207K miles on mine now.

As for the tranny fluid.. If the 90K or whatever has worked for you, and it still runs good, I see no harm.. I'm more paranoid so I would switch it out sooner.

But- I would say the Toyota trannys are not any worse than whats seen elsewhere. Sure, the RX, a heavy SUV would see its share of failures if not maintained properly. But that's what I would see with ANY older truck/SUV's- they all eat up their auto trannys. The Honda/Acura trannys set up with the V6 are terrible, as in they completely go out. ('98-02?) I would say if a lot of HWY driving is done, the fluid doesn't really wear out either..

 

Looking over the US manual that came with the car -- they only recommend changing the fluid if you are towing or using a carrier. I thought they had it as "required" at the 90k timing belt service. The two dealers we go to and the one that we order parts from just do a fluid change -- they do not drop the pan. I went to order the filter for the 2000 years ago and he ask me "why ... we never touch them" ??

I have to order 330 F/R brake pads and wiper inserts and a few other things -- I may do a another partial fluid change at the next oil change -- so I'll order in the fluid and the plug seal.

Unless the transmission gets worse I'm just just going to leave it alone. I was hoping to get lucky and this was a known problem with an easy fix.