There was a torn power steering boot on the rack. The torn should be there for a while. I purchased a 100k miles warranty when I bought the car but the lexus dealers never mentioned or pointed out about the damage until the 100k miles warranty ran out. As soon as the warranty ran out, I got informed that the power steering boot on the rack got torn and it will cost me $1600.
2008 Lexus RX350 steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 18 of 18, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I took my car in for a routine service; when I went to pick it up I was told that the rack and pinion was leaking, there was a tear in the boot and it was leaking fluid, after being quoted $1800 for parts and labor I declined the repair. I find it hard to believe that a 7 year old car with majority of highway miles would have an issue with the rack and pinion going bad. When I came home I did some research and found that this seems to be a common problem with the second generation rx. In my family, majority of our cars are toyotas & lexus; we have a corolla, 2 camry's, sienna, highlander, is350, rx350. One camry has almost 200kmiles, the corolla has over 150k miles. We've owned 2 other corollas, es250, celica, I've owned other brand cars too and have driven over 150k miles and never had a problem with the rack and pinion boot tearing. This is not the first time I had an issue with the rx, the last time there was an issue with a (motor) oil line bursting, the oil line that runs from the oil cooler - thank god nothing happened, the car made it home safely home (but no low oil light came on) and we had it towed to the dealership and the repairs were covered under warranty. Was told by a mechanic that the oil line bursting was a common problem, and that the newer rx models the pipe was replace with metal pipe. In my opinion about the rack and pinion, it's definitely a safety issue - the steering oil could potentially leak onto the exhaust and catch fire, and if all the power steering fluid leaks out one may not realize it and may not be able to steer the car out of harms way. We've owned so many toyota/lexus cars and we've never had any problems, we've always been an believer of toyota/lexus, but this rx has got me worried. I hope that this is not a sign of things to come. Will be thinking really hard about toyota/lexus when it comes time to buy another car.
The rack and pinion steering blew up spewing power steering fluid all over the undercarriage. Loss of the power steering resulted do to lack of fluid. No prior warning of any leaks or poor performance from the steering. No noise indicating that there may have been a leak. Fortunately, no accidents was caused. The oil got all over the catalytic converter and could have resulted in a fire. This is a very unsafe condition that could have been catastrophic.
I took my rx 350 for the 80,000 service. My service adviser called me and told me the I had an oil leak in the rack and pinion steering and it must be replaced at the cost of $2600.00 to $3000.00. I believe this is a lexus problem they should take care it.
When I was at the dealer for my routine oil change, I was told the powering steering fluid was leaking and therefore the rack and pinion steering would need to be replaced at a cost of $1600. My car is out of warranty but low mileage and so for a luxury vehicle, I thought this type of replacement this soon was ridiculous. This type of luxury car at 55,000 miles should not need this replaced. It seems like a manufacturing defect and lexus should do a recall to fix this problem for all 2008 lexus rx350.
When I brought my car at the dealer for service, I was told the power steering fluid was leaking and therefore the rack and pinion steering assembly would need to be replaced at a cost of $1602.44. My car has low mileage and so for a luxury vehicle, I thought this type of replacement this soon was ridiculous. I have researched through the internet and found same problem with this car. This type of luxury car at 81,000 miles should not need this replaced. Despite with all complaints and same problem with this lexus 2008 rx350 regarding the power steering rack assembly, lexus should recall this part for replacement with no cost to owner.
When I was at the dealer for my routine oil change, I was told the powering steering fluid was leaking and therefore the rack and pinion steering would need to be replaced at a cost of $1790. My car is out of warranty but low mileage and so for a luxury vehicle, I thought this type of replacement this soon was ridiculous. I have 2 friends with the exact same car and same year and they both had the same problem and had to have theirs replaced as well. One was under warranty, one was not. I called to complain to lexus corporate and was offered $700 to help pay half of the repair. This type of luxury car at 65,000 miles should not need this replaced.
Auto underwent routine 35,000 mile maintenance - dealer noted power steering leak, requiring rack and pinion replacement. Is the part defective? Why is there no recall? Noted large number of the same issue on the internet.
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