Hi guys, I just bought a 99 ES300 a couple of weeks ago. I've driven it for 300 miles so far and it's a great car. It's just about to roll over to 150,000 miles. Anyway, I'm going to start performing some maintenance on it. One of the first things I want to do is a tranny drain and fill, since the fluid looks pretty old. My owners manual says to use Dexron III, but the dipstick says to use only Type T-IV fluid. Which should I go with? Thanks.

Dan

 

Count the bolts on the transmission pan to be sure what you have. First uses Dexron, second uses T-IV.

Attachment 496475

 

Thanks Lexus2000! I have Dexron III on hand, but I went ahead and bought some Castrol Transmax High Mileage fluid, which is supposed to be compatible with Type T-IV. My guess is that I have a late 99 and it has the later transmission that requires Type T-IV.

 

Don't guess! Count the bolts to be sure. If you have the U series tranny, consider dropping the pan and cleaning it up along with the magnets and also replace the filter.

I run Royal Purple ATF in mine, expensive but I've found the fluid stays perfectly clean for much longer periods so in reality I'm at worst breaking even and protecting the transmission at the same time. IMO the U series transmissions are not as good compared to the previous A series.

 

Not as good as in reliability or shift quality? Looks like A series has 17 bolts and U series has 18 bolts. Is that right?

 

More on the reliability side. I'm not saying the U series are terrible, but they are not as bulletproof.
Yes, and as you can see the pan is shaped quite a bit different.

 

I have the U140E. Changed the filter and added 4.5 qts of Castrol Transmax High Mileage. I also changed the PCV valve and the spark plugs. I know some people are going to think it's sacrilege, but I put in some NGK V-Powers. Bought six of them for $9, just can't beat that price, and they really weren't that difficult to change, even the back three. Replacing the PCV grommet was a pain the butt. Ended up having to destroy it to take it out and at one point it fell into the valve cover. Real pain fishing it back out. Also rain some Seafoam through the intake and put some of it in the crankcase. We'll see how it runs tomorrow. Thanks for the help Lexus 2000.

 

I have to say, the new fluid and filter improved the shifting quite a bit. The old fluid was pretty gray and the magnets at the bottom of the pain will full of shavings. And, there was a gray film all along the bottom of the pan. Just nasty. The last drain and fill and filter change must have been a long time ago.