I had Milton's drained and filled at 10,000 miles a month or so back but the Tech at Lexus forgot to get me a sample to send in to Blackstone for analysis. I was ticked!!!! I'm sure it would have shown high Si, Fe and other "wear" metals. Milton will get his ATF WS changed at 25,000 then again at 50,000 then every 50,000 after that.

Ohhh for those wondering Ema is now at 366,000 miles and still just burning a little oil, <knock on wood>

Happy driving,
Chris

 

I took Alexis - my 2013 RXh AWD with 34,500 miles over 18 months - to the local Toyota dealership today for gearbox oil changes.

I took three 1/2 pint mason jars (about 2.5" in diameter) for the technician to take samples of a) the front transmission, b) the rear axle, and c) new fluid.

I haven't decided to send them out for analysis; however, with just a simple attempt to shine a 340 lumen flashlight through the samples (2.5"), the light through the new fluid looks taillight red/bright; while barely any light shone through the sample from the rear axle; and no light made it through the oil sample from the front transmission/axle.

I'll open the samples tomorrow and do the drop-on-white-paper test for transparency -- although I doubt I'll conclude anything other than "...yup, it's used oil...". I'll stir and pour some through a coffee filter; but doubt I'll see any particulates.

I was a bit surprised that the new fluid was as dark as it is -- but color alone isn't cause for alarm - as the used oil could be picking up color from the insulation of the motor winding insulation.

I have no reason to suspect high temperature breakdown.

I would have liked to see whether or not there was anything stuck to a magnet on the drain plug -- and had considered buying some drain plugs and making my own for the technician to reinstall -- only, I figure that if there were any shavings that could be picked up by a magnet that they surely were securely stuck to the magnets of the motors -- and secured against going through any gear meshes (my biggest concern).

 

I'm nearing 100k, if the dealer doesn't change this Ill have to do it myself.

Just need to get the WS ATF, here is the link to change it. Pretty easy. If you click on the links off the site, it gives you many other info

http://workshop-manuals.com/lexus/rx...ons/page_3541/

 

W/s fluid according to stats provided my manufacturer should be inspected at 100k mi and if dirty then changed if not dirty change at 150k mi w/s is suposed to be changed at the life time of the component which is 150k

 

does anyone know how much comes out when doing a simple drain and fill instead of the flush? for the front and for the rear?

 

It is only a drain and fill like a manual transmission and it only holds about 2 quarts per the instructions in the link above. However that appears to be for the rear. Per the first post in this thread it holds about 5 quarts in the front. You do not do a flush on this transmission, it is not possible.
Having done the fluid drain and fill on both a CT200h and HS250h front transmission, which are very similar and may even have the same transmission, this is a very simple operation.

 

Oils will also change color (darken) from heat and oxidation. Just try it with some canola or olive oil in your frying pan and you'll see what I mean. I wouldn't suggest trying it inside with engine or ATF, though!

 

Thanks, Clutchless. Just to make things super clear....... the front transaxle deals with the PSD AND the front differential. And the rear transaxle deals with the rear differential. Am I correct on this? and if I have this right, the rear differential is not different than conventional rear differential used in non-hybrid RX's. Is this correct? I am asking because conventional rear diff's fluid lasts quite a while. As an example, I only changed it every 90K miles or so on my 01 RX300 AWD.

 

It appears the rear unit is not a differential but is another transaxle with an electric motor same as in front: See attachment

That is why it takes WS ATF. Another thread has this reprinted from the manual about fluid changes, along with comments from the poster:

Starting on page 49 is the stated maintenance for 15 K miles +.

For the rear differential oil change, there are no scheduled changes thru 150K miles unless you use the vehicle for towing or heavy vehicle loading. If that is the case, you then change the rear fluid every 15,000 miles. Thus, Edmunds is using the "severe use" schedule on their website for maintenance. I guess I would be inclined to change it at 100,000 miles if I plan to keep the vehicle for a longer time (I do no towing).

If it was my vehicle, I would do a rear fluid change when I did the front fluid change and would do both before 50,000 miles as they are simple drain and fills. Just buy about 6 or 7 quarts of WS and 4 washers from the local Toyota dealer.

 

this is good info.. I'll be doing my first drain and fill this fall (2010 rx450h) along with a whole bunch of other maintenance to prepare for the upcoming winter.

 

and making this even clearer I found this definition of Transaxle vs. Transmission Vs. Differential. it states:

..... a transaxle performs both the gear-changing function of a transmission and the power-splitting ability of an axle differential in one integrated unit. A transmission performs the gear-changing function only, delivering power via a single output shaft at the back of the unit. Although both perform gear shifts in the same fashion, there's often confusion about these two terms because the word "transmission" is sometimes used as a blanket description to include transaxles when it should not be.

So, in this case, it's right that both the front unit and rear unit be TRANSAXLE. Not transmission and differential for the front and not differential for the rear. Since the front MG is hooked up to the PSD and power is sent out directly from that unit it would be the front transaxle. For the rear, there is no center shaft connecting the front and the back. Thus, the rear MG would need its own transmission and differential. Or simply put, a transaxle.

To make a long story short, the correct term I should have been using was: TRANSAXSLE FLUID. Of course, this only applies to AWD hybrid drivetrain.

 

I just did the transmission oil change. The old oil was not looking good after 106K miles (172000km). No service record that it would have been changed by previous owners.

How much is the remove and refill capacity? Initial capacity is mentioned to be 4.6 litres but I refilled only 3.8 litres. I did not measure how much came out old oil.
Update: Now I found on the forum this document that tells to set it in Fwd maintenance mode before 2nd checking of the fluid level.
This I did not do as I did not see that kind of step in the online manual available.

 

The key is you fill it till it overflows. The level is to the top of the bottom of the fill hole. Real simple, I prefer to put plug in run the transmission into drive and park and then re-check the level at the fill hole.

 

Thanks but that's how I did it and when I managed to fit 3.8 litres of fluid.
Today I checked again but after keeping car about 2-3 minutes in Fwd maintenance mode. There fit 0.2 litres more until it flew over.
So based on this it takes about 4.0 litres to refill it.

 

I have the RX400h and mine always takes about 4 liters....Have done this change about 5 times. I now have 200k miles on the ride.