Hi all. I own a 2000 GS 300. It has 129k. It was purchased certified at 89k. I've owned it since then. I had the transmission fluid flushed at 110k. I just decided to do a drain and fill. I drained out the fluid and replaced with T-Type IV as recommended 2 quarts. Measured the dipstick and it read cold when cold and hot when hot. Drove fine. I drove 50 miles and then did another drain and fill.

Now it is weird. I seems to shift very erratically now. The moment I pulled the the car out of the garage to drive after the second drain and fill, Reverse took a delay to get to. I placed in Drive and it hesitated. Like it had no shift capability and then landed abruptly into the gear.

I drove it for 20 miles and it shifted ok. I did notice a difference though.

At the stop sign with my foot on the brake and car in 4D, it went from 500-600 RPM to 900 RPM with a subtle shift then to 1000 RPM and then back down to another subtle shift. Like it shifting by itself.

I drove it today and it acted like that at the first few stops then it went away after 10 minutes and at a stop sign, the car in 4D it hovered around 600 RPM with no sign of slippage or shifting.

Any ideas?

I Followed the drain and fill to a T!

 

I refilled it with 2 quarts. I might be down a half quart. Should it be 2.5 quarts or 2 quarts?

 

Not sure on how much but I definately wouldnt change the fluid again. Thats just me though, that was one of the things thats was stressed to us by instructors when I was at UTI. A car with that mileage it is best to leave the fuild be, because when you drain it you also drain the debris/sludge/metal shavings and what not. These debris however, believe it or not can help the functioning of the gearbox by filling in clearances and gaps that have been cause by natural long time wear. I would just keep making sure the level is correct and not work it to hard.

 

My tranny shifted erratically for a day and a half or so after I drained and filled. I think the tranny is re-learning but why it would need to, I don't know. It has been fine for 5,000 miles now.

 

i might be down a half quart. I also didn't fill it with the car running but I started the process by moving the shifter from P to L with 5 second intervals.

 

Changing the fluid is the worst thing you could have done from my point of view, like someone mention before just top it up. You might have to get a new transmission i have seen this plenty of times before, people change the transmission fluid and It messes up. GL��

 

You consider 129k alot of miles? I just did a drain and refill on my car and it runs smoother than before. Yes the car takes 2 quarts

 

For a Lexus.., no, for a tranny.., yes. Go to any professional and ask them would they suggest draining/flushing a tranny that has 100k+ mi. And consider yourself lucky then, cause thats usually not the case.

 

Not trying to start war... If the transmission doesn't gets it's fluid changed often then I would agree. Plus it's doing Transmission Flush is bad for high mileage transmission. I simple drain and refill is only 2 quartz. I've been changing my tranny fluid every year with Toyota Type IV and have yet had any problems but smoother shifting every time i change it. As for listening to the shops' advises that's up for you to judge.

 

Same. I have 150k on my transmission and I just do a drain/fill. I did 3x drain and fill last year and my car is running fine no problems. We also had a guy on here that did the DIY for it... BananaGS and he did a drain and fill on his every 6 months to make sure there was fresh fluid in there and he had 136k on his I believe and it was fine also with no problems.

 

Added a half a quart since it read right after the cold marker on dipstick while car was in park and running. drove another 10 minutes and marker reads on dipstick in the middle of cold and hot. It's shifting beautifully and smooth so maybe that was the issue.

It appears to me that I added too little each drain and fill and that I followed the manual which says 2.5 quarts. I added two the first fill and 2.5 the second fill now so I wonder if another .5 quart is needed to replace the original.

thoughts?

 

Odd that you'd have to add another .5 quarts. I've always only done 2 for a drain and fill and never experienced anything like that.

 

It's roughly 2 quarts..Measure fluid level on your dipstick, while car is warm, running in parked (P). I've drained and refilled several Lexus/Toyota trannys with no problem or what so ever but 'flushing' tranny could definitely cause these issues. You shouldn't do it (drain-refill) that often either. Maybe every 50-60k miles.

 

for a GS430, it's exactly 1.9 quarts, but I put 2 doesn't do any harm. to check for proper level, you should drive the car around 10-15 mins, park at level spot, run through all gears, with engine on and check level. dont overfill or else it will foam up and cause damage.