I test frove an IS and now I hate my RX. The IS just rolls so nice and accelerates so quickly. The RX tranny feels so doggy and draggy and sluggish @#!$.
It feels like the brakes are always on now. I cant stand it. I want a free rolling car instead.
I have the trannny flushed every 30K.
Any suggestions or fix?

 

Compare an RX with an RX and then conclude if some thing is wrong.

If you compare "drive" of an IS with RX you may end up trading your RX for an IS.

Salim

 

Hi, I'm new here. I owned used-JDM Harrier (aka RX300) year 2000.
Very nice SUV, but I experience the following;
1) jerking tranny when drive it slowly. For fast accelaration, gear shifting is smooth
2) when driving downhill, the gear downshiftting especially when I apply light brake. is this normal?
3) previously I owned Ford Escape, auto tranny also and it run smooth when driving downhill (feel like in free gear on manual tranny), but this Harrier feel heavier & feel the "drag" when I release the accelaration pedal & the speed drop quite fast. Is this normal?

Feel floaty compare to my former Escape. Can understand as it has soft suspension.
Other than that, it is a great SUV!

 

What's the condiction of your transmission fluid?

 

The AWD contributes to the "draggy" feeling. I notice a similar difference between the RX and FWD vehicles I own. I have owned two RX300's and they both have the "draggy" feeling. I would suspect that if I did not have AWD, It would not drag quite so much.

Comparing the RX to an IS is not fair--kind of like comparing a skateboard to a bicycle. Two different kinds of transportation.

 

mine is Y2000 3.0LV6 VVTi FWD. I changed the ATF (and filter) recently, but not much improvement.

 

Check your ATF fluid levels...even if they look okay.

I added just .5 liter and my RX felt much better and gave it some real punch.

 

Procedure to check; * gleaned from various posts.

Preferrably hot transmission (you have driven it around a bit).

1. Bring RX to Stop on a level surface.
2. Keep the engine running.
3. Put trans in Park.
4. Engage auxillary brake [the third foot pedal on Rx]
5. Depress and Hold Brake pedal. [Keep it pressed till step 10]
6. Move Gear Lever from Park to R. stay in R for 15secs
7. Move the gear lever to N and then D. stay for 15 sec.
8. Go down each gear position and stay in each position for 15 sec.
9. Once you reach bottom of the gear position, move upwards to Park [stop at each posotion for couple of secs].
10. With the gear in Park. Release brake pedal.
11. With the engine idling check the transmission fluid level.
12. Wipe the dip stick the first time and read it the second time. Read the hot marks.


The 15 sec interval is only for quideline. The intent is to allow time to fill all chambers in transmission.

Overfilling is worse than than under-filling. We wont talk about having no fluid.

Salim

 

Be careful when considering adding ATF, since unlike the engine, the trani does not consume fluid.

If there are no leaks and assuming Lexus filled the fluid to the proper level, it should be constant (with the exception of engine temperatures).

You may be doing more harm than good.

I would suggest unplugging the EFI fuse in the engine compartment for 5 minutes, that helped my trani respond quicker.

Cheers,
Fern

 

Fern,

You are correct on being careful about adding.

I had my fluid drained and refilled down here and we tried to use the method of the amount that came out, that is what you put back in.

Fortunately, I don't think the containers that they used were exactly equal.

I also noticed that the line on the tranny fluid was slightly lower than before the drain and refill.

The other thing is I did not feel the same punch when I hit the accelerator no matter how many times I pulled the negative battery cable or EFI fuse (and my 1/4 mile times were down a little).

Now it feels like how I have known it before.

I made sure to use Toyota Type-IV of course.

 

Gang:

I bought a clean RX recently with 42K on it and had the tranny flushed with Type IV after I bought it, maybe a mistake to flush but I wasn't leaving anything to chance and do it with all my cars with no issues yet. The tranny in this truck just still feels cheap to me and I seriously, after owning tons of cars, feel it's mainly due to poor manufacturing. I'll check my fluid again and top it off if necessary, but doubt it's going to make that big a difference with this truck, even if I go the Amsoil/Mobil-1 route (Mobil-1 in the engine already). It feels like the trans in this truck is just too rinky-dink and unable to handle the heaviness of a truck personally.

Maybe I'll get lucky and have something miraculous happen to have it feel better, but I doubt it. And, maybe the truck was a piece of shi* when I bought it, but I doubt that too other than it's seemingly "inherent" characteristics. If I had to do it over again, I would've bought a 4-Runner, but apprecaite all who are coping with an idiosynchrosy that I hope doesn't lead into something worse later.

KF

 

It is not the greatest tranny in the world. I think Toyota probably did not have me in mind when they came out with the Harrier (noting that the Harrier/RX300 is sold in lower hp format in most of the rest of the world except in the Middle East).

I did a flush once and it felt wondeful on the tranny. Watch your levels and the color of your fluid.

 

I agree completely. We bought a low mileage very clean 99 and the tranny is sluggish even after the fluid change. When it is cold it hangs up in second for the first 2-3rd gear shift until the tranny warms up. Overall warm or cold the shift points are at best crude. Our 98 GMC Jimmy had a much better quality 4 speed automatic in it and it shifted smooth as silk warm or cold. Very dissapointed.

 

The hold in 2-3rd gear is to help engine and transmission get to the optimum operating temprature quicker. Small annoyance for being a green machine.

Salim