2001 Rx300 Gearbox Issue

[JoJo28]

I have had my 2001 RX300 (auto) for almost 5 years with no issues. As soon as i started looking at trading it in for something newer, it broke down!!

Was driving absolutely fine and all of a sudden began revving up to 6-7000 revs! Once the ignition was turned off and restarted, it run fine for a couple of miles, before revving up again and losing power.

The AA came out and advised that my gearbox oil was sitting much higher than the limit on the dip stick and i have never topped this up! The AA technician advised it must be clogged and that the filters etc may need cleaning.

I was towed to my local garage and advised that as the gearbox oil was thick and black, so the oil was contaminated and therefore a box rebuild would be required costing £1700 plus £600 labour and £100 sundries plus VAT.

Absolutely gutted - just been offered £900 from scrap company!

Is it worth repairing?????

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Many Thanks,

[paolo137]

Hi JoJo,

if you care for my two pennies, the answer to your question is...it depends!

I mean: why did you want to change the car? If that's because it does not suit your needs anymore (i.e.: you don't really need such a large car, for instance), and/or because you're "bored" and want something new, then go on and trade it. I doubt you might get more than 5K quids for a "perfect" 11 year-old RX300, and that would be for a trade on a new and expensive car (say, a Merc ML). So, basically, you're facing a "loss" of value of, say, 3 or 4 thousand pounds, which is, roughly, what you would pay to repair it. So, if you don't want the car anymore, for whatever reason, go on and trade it. Maybe you'll get a better offer from a Lexus dealer.

BUT

if you still like the car, and, apart from the gearbox, it has no other issue, then you might invest 3k pounds and drive it for another couple of years. Two years from now, its trade-in value will be more or less the same as today, but you'll have postponed the expense of a new car, which I believe would be in the tens of thousands. If the car is still reliable (and safe to drive!), I see no reason to "save" 3 or 4 thousand quids just to pour 30,000 on a new Rav4 (or whatever). Even if you traded it for a bubble car, it would still take many years to break even the savings in fuel and taxes and the initial cost of purchase of a new car.

My 300 is 11 years old, just as yours, with some 70,000 miles on the dash. I still like it, and honestly I doubt I will ever manage to buy another car as luxurious as the Lexus. So I'll stick to it as long as I can, and face the maintenance costs if and when they arise (btw, last year I had the gearbox oil changed, along with the timing chains and some other minor stuff, and paid some 2,000 euros...)

Cheers ;)

[mikeyv]

If it'll run, stick it in the auctions.

You won't get top dollar obviously, but it'll probably be the best solution financially in your situation.

Oh, if you do decide on the auction route, get it as clean as possible, under the bonnet, in the boot area, inside the door frames, and of course the interior.

Takes a few hours, but costs nowt and pays off at sale time.

[Boxbrownie]

Of course if you enter it into an auction you either have to declare it free of major faults or "sold as seen" which obviously will put the traders on a weary foot, unless some poor private buyer thinks he has bagged a bargain, then I guess we will be seeing a new member here soon with a question "I've just bought...........

Good luck which ever way you decide, I myself have a 2003 RX300 with 100K on the clock which I am now beginning to feel might benefit from some kind of insurance warranty at about £500 per year, I plan to keep it for a couple of years more then buy something else when I retire, I just am weighing up the risk vs benefit of a plan now. Having said that it has been virtually perfect with only service items required so far during my tenure and one O2 sensor, pretty good really.

[EMDG]

Before letting your garage loose on the auto box, look up the local automatic gearbox specialist in Yellow Pages. Get a quote from them (not an estimate) then if the price is more in line with your bank account, give the job to them. Its what your garage would do, plus adding their percentage on! .