bclexus

Maybe you misunderstood. The discussion is about changing transmission fluid way, way, way before the manufacturer recommends. I'm not suggesting that people not perform regular, recommended maintenance. For example, changing engine oil and filter at 10k miles or at one year as recommended is good, but changing it at 3k miles or 5k miles is senseless. The only thing I would recommend not necessarily doing at the recommended time is replacing the spark plugs, because they will last past 200k miles with no degradation or loss of fuel mileage.

A lot has to do with how the vehicle has been used thus far in its life; such as mostly stop-n-go driving versus mostly highway driving. A vehicle driven mostly on the highway has a transmission that rarely shifts and never runs hot...and the engine is rarely put under a load, not to mention saving wear-n-tear on brakes and suspension. Compare that vehicle to the vehicle that is often only driven short distances that seldom has the engine and transmission come up to typical operating temperature, struts that are punished and brakes that are used multiple times every minute.

angar4ik

Agreed. Personally I'm going to touch trans oil MAYBE at 160k ...

drgrant

Compared to other lux brands I would bet that Lexus would have a higher % than average WRT cars retained by the original owner after 100K, plus a higher % still in service past 100K. I see things like 2nd and 3rd gen cars still in service, all the time. That's kind of the entire point of these cars. If I was buying it with the intention of tossing it or trading up, there's an excellent chance I would have bought something else instead.

Also, a lot of people buy the car used (like I did) so what is the secondary market, chopped liver? [laugh]

-Mike

praetor

Take it from someone who has only owned 3 cars in nearly 27 years of driving. 91 Camry, 2000 Camry and currently the 2013 GS350. I changed the oil pretty much once a year as I don't drive much but at most once every 6 months. The 91 Camry was gifted to my brother who later sold it to a family friend and still runs to this day. The 2000 Camry was sold to my buddy in 2013 who later sold it to his buddy a few years later. Maintenance was done by what the manual stated and never before and sometimes way way after.

All cars I know are still running like a champ to this day. The 91 Camry has close to 300K miles on it now last I heard, 140K of those miles were put on by me.

Freds430

My local Lexus Service manager when asked about transmission fluid changes refused to take my money. He said they can cause more harm than good. I will listen to him.

praetor

I've always been a fan of do what the manual says. I've never used synthetic oil until now. Back when people were near each other throats swearing that you needed to use synthetic oil if you plan to keep your car long. My 91 Camry says, no you don't.

Knucklebus

The difference in price between synthetic and regular oil has gotten closer and the performance for most vehicles between them is negligible. I would definitely use synthetics in a turbocharged or supercharged vehicle due to the extreme loads put on those motors. Otherwise, it is a preference thing, dictated by your wallet and mindset.

bearcav

digging up my old thread for an update.

I finally got around to doing the service today, Drained only about 2QT and put 2QT back in. I had 4 quarters lying around so i went ahead and did it twice. While the car was in the air, i shifted through the gears (turn traction control off to do so). First 2 qts came out pretty dark red. Next two were better but still pretty dark. Going to order 8 more quarts and do it 4 times, in succession across a few hours next time i need an oil change.

I have some pics and will post them tomorrow but the youtube video above with the dude doing a drain and fill is 99% the same. Don't mess with tape/hoses and other crap or the gravity feed, just pump back roughly the same amount. Walmart sells a pretty good pump for about $8, cant find the link to it but its a house brand and exactly like the pennzoil one at homedepot. It may look like the Harbor Freight one but its about 100x better.

The last tip I have is to give yourself enough ground clearance. I got lucky and lifted enough the first time but you want to be able to fit an old 1-gal/5qt oil jug under the car. Reason being you need to capture all the fluid that drains out of the trans and its pretty easy to do if you can put it directly into an old 1 gal oil bottle (it already has measurement markings, etc.). For me, that meant about 15 inches of clearance between the floor and the rockers, the tires were about 4 inches off the ground.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Pennzoil...6677/205092031

richard203

iTrader: (1)

I did it on sat, but I used techstream to see the a/t temp and using the overfill to check the correct level. mines drained out 1qt 1/2. the fluid is black. any 1 know the part number for the gasket for the drain,fill, and overflow?

bclexus

I would recommend driving the car ~100 miles (but a minimum of 20 miles in stop-n-go traffic with a few high rpm shifts) between D&Fs to thoroughly mix the fresh ATF with the old ATF and dissolve some tarnish and float some debris.

bclexus

Most transmissions will drain 3.5 - 4 quarts of ATF when doing D&Fs, some as little at 2.5 quarts. I don't recall ever hearing of one that drained less than 2 quarts.

richard203

iTrader: (1)

TIS even say 1.5qt. so my drain should be about right thereTransmission oil pan and drain plug removal
1.4 liters (1.5 US qts, 1.2 Imp. qts)

Knucklebus

Has anyone attempted one of those Jiffy Lube type transmission fluid changes where they disconnect one of the cooling lines and cycle the old fluid out and pump the new fluid in?

bclexus

Beware of flushing a transmission. It can cause more harm than good by stirring up debris and clogging up the valve body . Also, Jiffy Lube has been known to use a non-compatible ATF in a transmission and then adding an ATF additive that claims to make the ATF they used compatible for the transmission. I think it is always best to use the same exact ATF that the car maker originally installed in the transmission.

Personally, I wouldn't let Jiffy Lube do anything.

► Consumer Affairs - Jiffy Lube Reviews & Complaints

ItzFilyO

I heard flushing can create problems. Do I really have to do this drain and refill or flush or just stick to "if it ain't broke don't fix it"? Toyotas will run forever right? All I need is just basic oil change?