Powertrain is 6 years or 70K, whichever occurs first. The clock started ticking when the car is first sold. As I said, warranty already expired more than one year ago unless you bought CPO.

 

The hesitation going into reverse that you describe was the very first sign I had that my transmission was failing, which it proceeded to do at about 105,000 miles. 1999 RX300. You might avoid (or at least delay) total failure by a thorough drain and refill of transmission fluid, but I doubt it.

 

I just had my transmission flushed on my 99. No problems so far, but do you recall how much the transmission work was? Also, did they replace the whole thing, new, or rebuilt? Thanks!

 

Yesterday I got in my wife's 03 RX300 and was backing up the driveway when I heard BAM and it shifted into neutral for a second then BAM again and right back into reverse. Scared the heck out of me. My wife said it had done that a couple times with her but she forgot to tell me! Anyway it shifts perfectly in all forward gears and she said it never has given a problem in reverse unless she's backing up a hill which is what you've gotta do to get out of our driveway. The fluid was just drained and refilled about 1 month ago(when I bought it). It's got 105K miles on it now and I bought it from the original owner. I used Valvoline Maxlife ATF which according to the bottle is approved for Lexus and Toyota transmissions. Should I drain it again and buy some Toyota fluid?

 

this is the fluid I used

http://www.valvoline.com/products/Maxlife%20ATF.pdf

 

When did this problem start occuring and how long do you let the vehicle warm up before pulling out?

 

The new battery and tranny drain/refill of last month appear to have significantly reduced the tendency of the tranny refusing to shift into reverse gear when the shifter is moved from Park to Reverse. The wife reported only one reverse incident in the past month, and the original "thud-clunk" of the first incident has not repeated. The symptom is warm or cold vehicle, start engine, shift from Park into Reverse and the Reverse gear does not engage, although the shifter is positioned on Reverse.

The forward gears appear unaffected at this point, and I cannot imagine a scenario of driving down the road at speed and suddenly having the vehicle shift into another forward gear, or even worse, Reverse.

I have read elsewhere that rebuilt transmissions are available, reducing the repair price below the estimated $4,000+ for transmission repair. One can file a formal compaint with the NTHSA Safercar.gov website: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ Perhaps if enough unhappy owners reported their RX300 transmission difficulties to this Safercar.gov website, Lexus would offer something better to the victimized customers.

 

Another one-size-fits-all ATF. Great.

Use only the Toyota Type-IV ATF. I have over 110K miles and zero problem. It's driven hard in harsh Colorado mountain terrain and weather.

 

Anyone wanting to read some of the tragic stories regarding RX300 transmission failures should check the http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ website. You will need to search by model and drivetrain, but once your search filters are in place, you will see plenty of reference to expensive repairs not supported by Lexus, such as the following.

Make: LEXUS
Model: RX300

Year: 2000
Complaint Number: 10199689
Summary:
CAR HAS 94,000 MILES AND HAS RECEIVED ALL SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE, INCLUDING COMPREHENSIVE 90K SERVICE TWO MONTHS AGO. NO IMPENDING PROBLEMS WERE REPORTED BY DEALER. CAR MADE CLINGING/HESITATION WHEN LEAVING STOP SIGN 2-3 TIMES. PARKED CAR AND STOPPED ENGINE. CAR WOULD NOT MOVE IN REVERSE. SHIFTED TO DRIVE - CAR MOVED FWD AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE (LIMITED SPACE). TRIED REV AGAIN - CAR MOVED 12-18 INCHES AND MADE VERY ABRUPT STOP. COULD NOT SHIFT TO NEUTRAL. TOOK CAR TO DEALER WHO RECOMMEND COMPLETE TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT. DID SEARCH FOR "RX300 TRANSMISSION FAILURE ON INTERNET - FOUND DOZENS OF REPORTS OF SIMILAR PROBLEM - COMPLETE TRANSMISSION FAILURE, WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARNING, ON THIS MAKE/MODEL OF CAR WITH SIMILAR MILEAGE. I BELIEVE THIS IS A MANUFACTURING DEFECT THAT SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED.*JB

 

Warranty starts at date placed in service (sale date), so an earlier date of manufacture wouldn't affect things. Good luck with the problem!

 

Consumer Reports owner survey shows that the RX300 tranny is among the most reliable. With over 370,000 RX300 on the road, there are bound to be a few complaints.

Just because a vehicle receives "all scheduled maintenance" doesn't mean anything. Some rogue shops put cheap Dexron ATF in every car that comes through the door. That's enough to break the tranny.

Owner abuse is also among the most probable cause of tranny failure, though my own daily mountain driving is borderline abuse.

 

Harrier,you brought up a very good point! If people(or shops) are using dexron,or fits-em-all fluid,this could very well be the problem going on here.As I mentioned on another thread,If you own a Chrysler product,You better not use anything but + 3 or 4 fliud, or all hell will break loose too.

 

Toyota T-IV is also an one size fit all ATF.
Please stop spreading the mis-information. ATF is made for one specification, if multiple car makers use the same specification with the same friction modifiers, the same ATF can carry many brands and uses in multiple car models.
Please Read this official Mazda Technical Bulletin, as I have posted previously in the RX300 and apparently conviently forgotten by members who have beef with Amsoil.


Mazda is saying identicial ATF are used by Ford, GM, Volve, Toyota, Mazda and Mobile 3309. Remember if this is not true and Mazda are looking at huge warranty repairs when Mazda6 owners take the TSB by heart.

It is wrong and purposely misleading to say a certain ATF is made for just one brand, here Mazda officially endorses other automaker branded ATFs: two American, one German, one Japanese and one aftermarket. Reason, because they follow the same spec!

 

Oh man, this issue is too much, we need a transmission specialist on fluids to decipher the what is and what is not. God the internet is dangerous.

 

Lets not get anyones hair raised up....

Till Lexus changes the requirements [at times it happens] the prescribed fluid is "Toyota Type IV" (which is different from Dexron numbering system).

It is all up to the user to use an alternate (hopefully equal or superior).

My issue is that people have jumped the gun and feel that their odds of preventing any transmission failure (lets not get into how prevalent the problem is) will be improved if they use superior or frequent transmission fluid change.

This is not based on any data or fact. But if it makes you comfortable, go ahead.

Salim