Two problems related to engine and engine cooling have been reported for the 1999 Lexus RX300. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
On January 17th, 2016, I took my '99 Lexus Rx300 to church, parked the car, and joined the Sunday service. An hour after parking the vehicle (during which time it was not running or in use), I was told that there was smoke coming from it and went outside. Within minutes, the front end was bursting in flames. The fire destroyed the entire front portion of the car, including the engine, transmission, tires, and dashboard. I don't know what could have been the cause; it was seemingly random.
I have read as many of the owners of 1999 Lexus Rx300 SUV , I am not surprised to know that I am now a proud owner of a brand new transmission that failed on my wife while returning from greenville to columbia SC. The transmission was indicating problems by shifting slow as many other complaints that have been filed . When these transmissions start to fail you experience slow shifting when the car has been sitting , even if you let the car warm up first before moving into any gear drive or reverse. When you try to back up in reverse the transmission will not shift into gear, then jumps into gear hard. I have been in the mechanical field for 35 years working for bridgestone/firestone ias a managing partner of retail locations and know this is the signs of transmission problems. This vehicle has been serviced only by Lexus only. Also are severe oil sludging problems, have serviced hundreds of these models and every horror story is the same . Oil sludging causes severe engine damage restricting oil flow through out the engine. When is our rights as consumers going to be upheld by our government . I don`t think I want to buy other new transmission from Toyota corporation or another Toyota product . The cost to repair was $4075. 00 and the only transmissions available are thru Toyota with apparently with the new design . These problems were corrected in 2002 with the new design, what about us the owners of the defective ones!!!! chapin s. C.