calgarylex

my moms 2001 lexus rx300 needs a new transmission, I never expected this from any Japanese car let alone a Toyota/Lexus. the vehicle has about 130,000 weird considering Toyota/Lexus transmissions never die (great uncle has 600,000 on his older lexus and still is stock)


I googled rx300 transmission and found many, many, many people are having the same problem, the lexus dealership wants 6500. (almost half of what i paid for the vehicle)

Can someone suggest me something? I dont know have any idea on such a new vehicle, yes i know its 9 years old but a 7 year old lexus is suppose to last much much much longer.


i searched and searched these forums for what people are doing and had no results. please help. this is a car my mom bought and she is retired she switched from ford so we have no trouble. we are on fixed income now so things are difficult.

bob2200

Welcome to ClubLexus.

If you lived in southern California or northern New Jersey, instead of Alberta, Canada, you'd probably have more options. A search of this forum should yield a lot of information. There was a posting a day or so ago about getting a used transmission put in at a Toyota/Lexus salvage yard for around $1,000. Over the past few months, there has been a lot of discussion regarding all the options and their costs. But, your geographical location probably limits your options.

I'd be very wary of the transmission repair chains. If you give us the symptoms, we might be able to verify whether or not things have totally gone bad.

toy4two

If you are in Southern California contact All Toyota Lexus Salvage yard in Otay Mesa, CA, that is the cheapest fix is to have them put in a salvaged tranny, only problem is for all you know that tranny could be on the way out and you only get a 90 day warranty.

mrx300

My tranny recently went out as well. I have a 2001 RX300 AWD with only about 97k miles. Total cost came out to about 2800. It involved a complete rebuild of the transmission's internals and other parts. Service was carried out through American Trasmission Exchange in Fontana, Calif. Great people...gave me the best price and service possible. A friend of mine that delivers(we work for FedEx) to a Lexus dealer in Riverside quoted me a price of $2665 for a tranny they were gonna get from another model...used, salvaged who knows...but factor in labor and who know what that would have come out to.

code58

I live in So. Cal., USA so I have no idea what the repair climate is there but I personally wouldn't use a used trans.. There have been ones that have posted on here who have had their RX trans. rebuilt by a good "Mom and POP" shop. I realize with the exchange rate that is going to be more in Canadian $ but I have seen those that have had a good rebuild job done for $1500.-$1800. I know that is a lot for your mom but if you can find a good honest small shop I think you should be able to get it done for the equivalent in Canadian $. DON'T go with one of the major chain stores!

habeeb89

iTrader: (3)

I too would go with a smaller shop, avoid the large retailers. Going with a used transmission doesn't make sense to me, you still don't know the exact miles when it was removed, it will have a higher chance of failing again.

dkpnkc

I'm new to the forum but I've owned my '01 RX300 for about 3 years now. My transmission went out the first of November at 90k miles. Lexus wanted $4600 + tax/fees after their 'discount'. I called several places & it ended up costing me $3.6k out the door for a rebuilt transmission w/ a 3yr/50k warranty.

There were no signs the transmission was going out past the few minutes it started slipping to it's final death - a matter of about a 1/2 mile in city driving.

lexus114

who rebuilt yours? a chain shop, or private shop?

dkpnkc

Mr. Transmission. They didn't do the rebuild - they had it shipped in from a shop in the southwest, I believe AZ, who had experience w/ the RX300. I have to take it back in to ensure there's no leaks & I'll see if I can get the info on who did the actual rebuild. The warranty is through Mr. Transmission.

DoctorGray

At 100,000 I took in my 2001 rx300 for sevice, including a transmission fluid change,
(It was work perfectly fine) 2 days later the transmission completely failed !! I am sure it was connected to changing the fluid,,maybe somewhere inside had an air bubble,.....after very loud complaints to the dealer we spit the cost of a new transmission,,,about $6500 @!!Be very careful about cleaning out the transmssion fluid cooling unit, if this gets clogged the transmission will over heat and die. Good luck

Indyblonde

It's disgraceful that a company like Lexus would make a transmission that fails in the way that this one, apparently, has failed. The Lexus is a relatively expensive luxury car, and NOBODY buys a Lexus thinking that they will have to replace the transmission in 90K miles!

Lexmex

It's more the fact they put a transmission that belongs in the Camry into an SUV. Instead of beefing it up for that purpose, it's been barfed up.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Around $2000 for a rebuilt tranny sounds about right in the ball park. My dad just had his 94 E300 tranny with about 140K miles on crap out we had it rebuilt and total with labor was about $2000 and change. We all know the Camy, V6, ES300, RX use basically the same tranny so the prices should be similar.

vanguy

I have a 2000 Sienna van which was going fine with 130K miles until the transmission gave out right in front of my house. It cost me $2000 to have it repaired by a local mom and pop shop. Toyota split the cost with me after I complained respectfully. Basically I shamed them. The Sienna and RX300 both use Camery derived drive train hence under engineered for the added weight of these two cars and higher wind resistence. My wife has a 99 RX with AWD with around 80K miles and so far so good. She just drives around the city and no highway or long distance driving. I'm keeping my finger crossed that her transmission would last the life time of the car.

lexus114

I`m hoping that when my trans. fails (yes I said when,not if:doh ) I am going to see if it can be rebuilt with post 2001 internals. The updated ones that don`t seem as prone to failure.