transmission died
CL Community Team
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 16,583
Likes: 1,397
From: Austin, TX
For RX300, (trying to keep the discussion limited to 300 FWD & AWD), the problem symptons for tranmission from posts have been.
1. Hard Shift into D or R, accompanied with a clunk. Once the transmission is engaged, then auto shifting has been correct. {may or may not lead to the catastrophic failure}
2a. Everey thing is fine and dandy and one morning/evening RX transmission behaves abnormally.
2b. Next morning/few_hours_later the vehicle refuses to move.
2c. Some say the fluid had turned brown some say it was still cherry red.
There has not been any complaints of prolong hunting between gears or surging. Although we can not exclude the pump but the sysmptoms above point to a sudden and almost complete failure rather than a gradual erratic behaviour going bust. 330 is where ppl have compalint about non-smooth shifting.
wwest was prolific(sp?) contributor who had an issue with RX AWD design. His beef was with the viscous coupling and I dont recall any posts on the regular transmission. He made some excellent points in his posts. I went on vacation and when I returned, he stopped posting in ClubLexus. Good to know that he is fine and well.
Salim
1. Hard Shift into D or R, accompanied with a clunk. Once the transmission is engaged, then auto shifting has been correct. {may or may not lead to the catastrophic failure}
2a. Everey thing is fine and dandy and one morning/evening RX transmission behaves abnormally.
2b. Next morning/few_hours_later the vehicle refuses to move.
2c. Some say the fluid had turned brown some say it was still cherry red.
There has not been any complaints of prolong hunting between gears or surging. Although we can not exclude the pump but the sysmptoms above point to a sudden and almost complete failure rather than a gradual erratic behaviour going bust. 330 is where ppl have compalint about non-smooth shifting.
wwest was prolific(sp?) contributor who had an issue with RX AWD design. His beef was with the viscous coupling and I dont recall any posts on the regular transmission. He made some excellent points in his posts. I went on vacation and when I returned, he stopped posting in ClubLexus. Good to know that he is fine and well.
Salim
Last edited by salimshah; Apr 8, 2007 at 09:11 AM. Reason: added 2c
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 123
Likes: 5
From: nj
I was told by aamco that the tranny fluid was burned in color and they would be taking it apart monday and would let me know if they had to put in a rebuilt tranny. They said worst case senario would be $3k vs $4+ at Lexus.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,754
Likes: 6
From: Colorado
While there's no fixed change interval for ATF, owner should check the fluid level and condition once a month. When the fluid color fades, have it changed before tranny parts start to wear out.
Based on Consumer Reports survey, less than 2% of the owners experience issue with RX300's transmission for each model year.
Typical reasons for tranny failure, not in particular order:
Unreliable tranny (not in the case of RX)
Owner abuse / driving habit
Owner neglect
Traffic / weather condition
Bad luck
Last edited by HarrierAWD; Apr 8, 2007 at 09:53 AM.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,754
Likes: 6
From: Colorado
I reviewed my 30/60/90K service records. They did not list the tranny filter as one of the parts used, so I assumed that it was never changed.
They did list ATF drain-n-fill.
Pole Position
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,054
Likes: 103
From: Sacramento, California
I for one changed the filter and fluid every 30k before my failure at 100k miles. Now I change it every 15k or sooner, My wife is primary driver, however the commute is under 40 to 50 mph on city streets and it does get quite hot in the summer here in Sacramento, California. Weak design and poor tranny cooling, and bad luck....
CL Community Team
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 17,337
Likes: 213
From: Miami, Florida
I for one changed the filter and fluid every 30k before my failure at 100k miles. Now I change it every 15k or sooner, My wife is primary driver, however the commute is under 40 to 50 mph on city streets and it does get quite hot in the summer here in Sacramento, California. Weak design and poor tranny cooling, and bad luck....
One of my future modifications is to strengten the tranny through some upgrades at IPT Transmissions, but this will take place when I eventually get back to the U.S.
My reason for asking about the filter is that one of the reasons for failure with trannies here in Mexico is that the filters in some vehicles can get clogged up, even with fluid changes and stifle the flow.
Pole Position
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,054
Likes: 103
From: Sacramento, California
LexMex, I put an external filter also on my RX, It is the size of an PH8 filter but is made by purolator. Adds a little more capacity to the system and hopefully adds a little better filtering to the system. I change it each time I do the fluid change.
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CL Community Team
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 17,337
Likes: 213
From: Miami, Florida
That's an excellent idea. I would be interested in seeing what kind of stuff it picks up.
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