First post here so be gentle! LOL My daughter is at school in Marquette Michigan with her 2009 RX 350 that has 160,000 miles that we bought roughly 18 months ago from a meticulous owner..car was spotless and well maintained. A couple of weeks ago she experienced transmission issues where the car would rev, shudder and eventually not move requiring a tow to a local garage where they found a code indicating a tranny service which they did although they didn’t drop the pan and only drained the fluid which looked good with no metal shavings so they refilled and all worked well including smoother shifts . Yesterday she experienced the same issues so now we are thinking a transmission replacement is in order. Any thoughts on something other than a new tranny?

 

1st of all, did the garage use the correct fluid? It has to be Toyota WS transmission fluid on a 08 RX350.

My wife's 08 RX350 AWD is currently at ~135,000 miles and it shifts as good as new. I religiously have the fluid drained/refilled annually (~10K miles) since 90K miles.

 

I’m assuming they did...since it’s having the same issue as it did pre service I didn’t think to ask them.

 

Well just got the bad news from the Transmission guy that there is metal in the pan so is it worth a rebuild..Car only has 160,000 and is in great shape with no rust.

 

He is well regarded and has done work for my BIL and others I know. He ordered a Sonnax Zip Kit and was in the process of installing it when he pulled the pan and discovered the problem.

 

After talking it over with some people that have had work done by the same guy I've decided to go with the rebuild.

 

if I may ask, what is the quote on the rebuild.

 

I sent you a PM

 

in the SF Bay Area here, a transmission rebuild cost is around $5k. my wife’s 08 with 135k miles, kbb value is around $8k. If I were in the same situation, I wouldn’t go through with it. That’s why I ask what the cost is. Best of luck/wishes.

 

Makes sense and thank you!

 

So the transmission rebuild is done and we picked up the car yesterday...today I had some issues. For the most part it worked great but twice today when leaving drive thrus at the bank and one other place I experienced the motor revving and the car feeling like it was in neutral...I let off and tried to accelerate again and it did the same thing...3rd time it accelerated and seemed fine at highway speeds. I already called the tech and since it has a one year warranty it is going back in but does anybody have thoughts on this?

 

Sounds like they didn't rebuilt it right then... you're also one of the few here who's actually had tranny issues on the RX350 so it will be tough for others to chime in. good luck though. if the rest of the car is in great shape then it's worth getting this worked.

 

All good now...The shop found the issue and it’s good to go.

 

Glad to hear it works out. Do report after a while, wish it continues to drive well.