Other engine problem on the 2008 Lexus Rx350
2 fires 2 of the 14 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Lexus Rx350 report other engine problem at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 70,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 81,637 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68,800 miles | 80,000 miles | 110,000 miles | 144,000 miles | 150,437 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 28; the 2008 has 14. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 lexus rx350. The contact stated while stopped at a traffic light, an abnormal grinding sound was heard coming from the engine and the vehicle attempted to stall. The contact took the vehicle to dealer and after performing a diagnostic test, the dealer advised that the camshaft tower caused the engine to stall and would need replacing. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure was a common problem with the year, make, and model. The failure mileage was 88,000. Updated 10/17/11
At 65,000 miles vehicle had a major breakdown. Serpentine belt ruptured causing fire and smoke inside the engine compartment and both inside the cabin and outside. Gas pedal became inoperative and vehicle had to be towed to a repair facility. As further determined the cause of the belt rupture is the A/C compressor freezing stuck. Repair is extremely costly. Parts alone are close to $1500. Lexus is not willing to help in any way and all of the maintenance per the maintenance booklet is performed and on time. Additionally the maintenance booklet does not require any work other than filters, oil changes until 100,000 at which time only spark plugs are mostly due to be replaced. A/c compressor should not have gone out at 65,000 miles on a 2008 lexus. *tr
We have complained about a noise upon starting the car for the past year when having the vehicle serviced. This was the first service visit where dealer was able to pinpoint the code and they came back with the cam shaft variable valve timing (vvt) gear issue. The repair estimate was $6830. I found your recall dated september 4, 2013 # 13v395000 for vvt on lexus gs350, is350 and is350c models for the same model year and find it suspicious as the same engine is used. I am wondering if other rx 350s have the same issue and the recall should actually be expanded to include the rx350 model. At this point, the dealer says they need to tear the vehicle down to accurately assess if it is the bolts or another issue but the expense is very high. I also was wondering what the range of miles were on the recalled vehicles? Thank you for looking into this. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Lexus Rx350
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other speed control problem
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2008 Lexus Rx350?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2008 Lexus Rx350?
14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed