We all know about the problem with the transmission on the early model RX.

I wonder how many miles can we drive before the transmission dies completely.

starting with me,

2004 RX330
60,000 miles
transmission still going

 

This may be a good topic to set up a poll on. I have the same mileage and year as you with no problems.

 

2005 RX330
82k
tranny still going BUT still jerks at times when shifting

 

2004 awd RX330
104,000 miles. Original tranny, but its on its last legs

 

I think it adds additional information to state if you have AWD or FWD. It seems in the 1st generation RX's the AWD versions had significantly more problems. My wife had a 2001 RX300 with FWD that we passed on to our daughter that now has 114,000 miles on it with, I'm not proud to say, nothing ever being done to it in the way of transmission service.

 

Well Im brand new here. I have a 2004 rx 330 which i bought new back in oct 2003. I currently have 170,000 miles on it. i never did like the transmission from day 1 but it is still running strong! i did get the TSB done on the tranny which seemed to help somewhat but still not perfect. Wonder if they fixed this issue in the newer models?

 

2004 AWD, 144,000 KM = 90,000 miles

no issues at all, smooth as silk, with no TSB reprogram applied.

 

Amsoil baby!! if you want it to last. Basically any Synthetic for longevity. I dont think Synthetic oil in the engine is as important as in the drive system.

 

If you don't want tranny problems why would you not change the oil for sure & then switch to synthetic oil? It lasts much much longer then dino oil. I will change oil around 50K & go with AMSOIL. That is what I did on our '03 RX & run it to 75K before we traded it in.

 

Because I have yet to see any real proof that spending the X-tra money on Synthetic engine oil is worth while. Your engine will out last the rest of the RX on a good conventional oil changed every 3 to 5 thousand miles. I am not a believer in that longer oci stuff. MAYBE in German cars because they hold 8 to 10 qts. of oil and use fleece filers. The reason I recommend Synthetic in the drive system is it is simply the weakest link of the vehicle,and you dont want to fool with it any more than you need to.

 

thats what I`m saying,change it out,and change to Synthetic.

 

Just changed the oil in my dads RX330, 2004 has 103k KM's, so like ~63k miles.

Changed the oil to standard Toyota Type IV, what i find shocking is that there was no filter... ? Oh well. It does 'jerk' when it is cold, i do not understand how Lexus did not notice that the trans would jerk when shifting gears? How do you miss something like that?!

Probably going to make the change to synthetic for next year or so.

 

It`s a screen isnt it? was their a lot of silt on the bottom of the pan? I changed mine to synthetic two months ago to Amsoil. Not any huge difference,just piece of mind really. But what concerned me is,the other day (Saturday) it was a high of 19 degrees here. And my trans was acting real strange,slipping from 3rd to 4th gear. I dont know what that was all about unless the Synthetic is cleaning things up in their. (yes the fluid level is correct)

 

Is it true that the 2010 Lexus's come with synthetics?

 

Honestly chief, I dont know. Are they still gear trannies,or CVT?