Jayson

Our 2003 LX is at 69k miles and I wanted to ask you all, is this the time to have the transmission serviced? I have looked through the manual and it says to do it only if we operate the truck under other than normal conditions, which we don't. With that said, is this regular scheduled service better to be done at 60k, 75k, or 90k miles?

Many thanks!

V8_Fan

Tranny fluid should be changed every 30k mi with Toyota T-IV. Yeah, you can run it longer, but the longer you run it, residues builds up in the tranny (worn clutch particles, etc.) over time. Then when you finally do change the fluid, the new fluid breaks the residue loose, causing tranny problems. By change, I mean all 12 qts, not a drain & fill of the ATF pan (only 3 qts). They should use the machine that connects to the input/output hoses of the ATF cooler. You then dump the new fluid into one tank, start up the car, and the tranny sucks in the new fluid. The old fluid that normally would have gone to the ATF cooler then to the drain pan dumps into the empty tank on the machine. Make sure the dealer doesn't put any additives into the ATF. My Toyota dealer does this, lexus doesn't.

FYI, Lexus (at least in AZ) recommends a complete ATF fluid change every 30K mi, then a drain & fill at 15K mi increments. My local dealer admitted to me that their normal fluid change is only 8 qts instead of 12 qts to keep the price down, which is also why they recommend the interim 3 qt drain. Of course, they'll do 12 qts, but you have to tell them to (and pay the extra).

Jayson

That is very good to know Jim. The LX is already scheduled to go in this coming Saturday for normal servicing, so I'll call on Monday and have this service added. I'd rather pay cheap service costs now than $8k for a new transmission 5 years down the line!

V8_Fan

Make sure they DO NOT use any "flushing" agents in the tranny. They should merely be replacing the old fluid w/ new, nothing more, no additives to aid shifting (my local Toyota dealer does this), etc. Nothin' but Toyota type T-IV. Make sure you know how much T-IV they're using. A full change is 12 qts.

Jayson

Jim,

We lucked out. I had our service writer look at the history of our vehicle and the previous owner had it done at the 30k and 60k services. He recommended the service again at 90k, so we're good. I think at the 90k I will definitely go ahead and spend the big bucks to have the full change of 12 quarts.

platinumLS

2004 and up lexus are to be changed at 100k but if u want u could change it at around 80k any earlier ull just be throwing away ur money

Moisture

Doing a drain and fill at any mileage is throwing away your money, if you saw what the bottom of your pan looks like after only 60k this might give you a better understanding as to why simple drain can very well harm your transmission, not help it.

hankinid

As expected, you have no idea as to what you're posting...I trust Toyota a lot more...
Which is exactly why you pull the pan and clean it and the screen filters inside, just as your shop manual advises.