Our 2009 RX suffered its first real issue yesterday at 97K miles. As my wife was returning from about a 75 mile trip on the interstate she pulled into our driveway and saw "smoke" coming from under the hood. Of course I wasn't at home so she called me and described what happened. I asked her to look under the car and sure enough there was a rather large puddle of liquid. She had no idea what it was. When I got home it was obvious the liquid was motor oil. I checked the dipstick and the oil level was below the end of the stick. I was pretty worried and hopeful that no damage was done to the engine.

Had it towed to the Toyota dealer, nearest Lexus dealer is an hour away. They called the next morning and said there was still enough oil in the engine so no damage was done. They installed new metal oil cooler lines along with a Serpentine belt which had never been changed, oil and oil filter change and new front brake pads and rotors. This was the only dealer service performed since the warranty expired about 10 years ago. I have performed annual synthetic oil changes and new engine and cabin filters about every 30K miles.

I have tried to convince my wife to trade for a new model but she loves this one. It is Breakwater Blue, a color not offered in many years. She also despises the new Spindle grilles.

It has been the MOST dependable vehicle we have ever owned. My wife said she is going for 200k miles.

2009 RX350
Hagerstown MD

 

Hence it is good practice to check the oil level periodically, like weekly. In addition, check your surroundings, the floor specially, look for leaks, puddles. At least this will be a good check that there are no pending disasters.

1st step it to find out if you can pinpoint where the leak is coming from. Run the engine , open the hood and observe the engine bay all around, pay attention if you can see leaks. 2nd, lay under and see if you can see drippings. Pay attention to the floor for drips. Also smoke means liquid is dripping into the exhaust pipes, causing steam. So pay attention to your exhaust pipes. Good luck. Also is the fluid water or coolant, do you know the difference? Water can only come from the air conditioner (condensate). Washer fluid can also leak. The only other fluid other that oil would be windshield washer fluid. Good luck with your hunt.

 

Had it towed to the dealer. It was the oil cooler pipe. Replaced with the newer metal ones. All is good.

 

I can hear the sigh of relief!

 

Did they do the VVT-i oil line too, or just the cooler lines?

 

Don't know. What is the VVT-i oil line? I can check my invoice and look at the parts list.

VVT - Variable Valve Timing?

 

It's the line that's attached to the top of the valve covers that feeds the valvetrain up top. This line was also rubber for the rear cover on older models and was known to burst as well. Unlike the cooler lines, this one is very looked over especially by dealers.

All info incl pics here:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...-and-more.html

 

Change oil and filters (including air) annually if you have small annual mileage (<5k miles)...

 

Wow, close call.

Thank you for sharing your story.
I have the RX330 so no cooler lines but when I was looking at the newer ones I had n idea they had oil lines that could fail until I been seeing everyone's posts about it.

Makes me wonder how many smoked engines are out there because people had no idea.

 

Our RX has the towing package. Is this why it has an oil cooler or is this standard on all RX models. Ours is also AWD, does this make a difference?