My Wife's '02 AWD had some funky....and kinda scary...behavior back in 2013. No movement when the gear lever was moved to R after being parked, but not every time, then it would SLAM into gear after creeping a little, after I brought the RPM up to only 1,200-1,300.

I changed the fluid, per Hypervish's recommendation, and kept a very close eye on level for about six months, and not only has it not happened again (I'd read this was certain transmission death on the near-horizon), but it was also 11,000 miles ago.

Yeah, I know...11K miles in about five years. My wife doesn't drive much, obviously. She's been retired since 2001 (but just turned retirement age...I treat her right :-D).

Now that I've done a 100% fluid exchange on my '09 LS 450 L, I'm going to do the same on her RX, but synthetic Transmax is going into it, instead of dead-dino T-IV.

Bonus points for said synthetic being on sale, locally, 2 for $10, and I'll wind up getting store credit of $20 after spending just a little bit more.

I have a replacement filter, but this will be the last time I change it. At this rate, the car will never reach 200K miles. She's been kicking around replacing it in a few years with a used 3-5 year old Range Rover/Jaaaaag F35/Grand Cherokee Overland/RX350L.

However...this car is a big reason I replaced an '05 Cadillac STS V8 (RWD one) with an '08 LS 460 L with the Levinson, air-ride, and the sport package (larger brakes/wheels/different suspension computer). The LS is an easy million mile car (see Matt Farah's million mile Lexus, it's an LS400). I figure, as I turn 50 this year, it's my last daily-driver.

 

Glad to hear it's still going strong!