Five problems related to automatic transmission have been reported for the 2002 Lexus RX300. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Started to notice oil on the floor of my garage. Upon inspection found to be transmission oil. Transmission oil cooler lines going to transmission cooler had rusted through with pin holes. Seems they are low enough to receive road spray. Had to replace steel cooler lines.
The contact owns a 2002 Lexus Rx300. The contact stated that the vehicle consumed oil excessively. While driving 55 mph, the vehicle suddenly slowed down and began to sputter. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where the contact stated that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The transmission also became stuck and took an extended amount of time to shift into gear. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where the contact was informed that both the transmission and motor needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The current mileage was approximately 140,000. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.
2002 Lexus RX 300 stopped dead while owner was driving the vehicle. We learned that the transmission on the vehicle complete failed. Vehicle had approximately 65,000 miles on it at the time of the incident.
I own a 2002 Rx300 by Lexus. This has in general been a good vehicle, until the transmission went out when I was 350 miles from home. The independent transmission shop that I took the car to showed me information that indicated the Lexus vehicles from 1998 - 2002 have a history of significant transmission problems. These problems include the premature failure of the transmission and the inability in some cases of getting a new "rebuilt" transmission to sync with the vehicle computer. The information I read indicated that up to 25% of vehicles in these model years have failure. This is unacceptable. Can you please investigate this.
A total failure of my transmission left me stranded on the highway, no warning, no signals, just quit. I've driven Toyota products for 30 years and several over 200k miles and I've never had such a catastrophic failure. The cost to repair is $4000 from the dealer. The sad thing is that I just paid this vehicle off less than a week ago. After searching many forums of Lexus owners I have found out that the early Rx300s were all susceptible to this failure. , why hasn't and doesn't Lexus admit this failure. Lexus has just lost loyal customer for them and Toyota products.