RhoXS

Our 2002 RX300 is covered under the Lexus Certified Preowned warranty until 100,000 miles. That is about 60,000 miles away. If I use Amsoil ATF, will I void the warranty?

I would prefer the better fluid but not at the expense of voiding the warranty.

TunedRX300

Take a poll and you will see a majority of Lexus owners believe Lexus has the right to deny your warranty if you don't use OEM parts or have service done at Lexus. If fact, the practice is illegal.

It is against U.S. federal law for Lexus or any automaker to void warranty because service is not performed by the dealer or using aftermarkets parts.

Direct quote from http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=8128

RhoXS

TunedRX300, thanks for the response. I strongly suspected that is the case but I was not sure.

The Amsoil product and the Toyota product are not identical. Without a written statement from Toyota, it seems this has the potential of becoming an arguable issue. If this would occur, I do not begin to have the resources or interest to take on Toyota in the legal arena. Therefore, against my better judgement, I think I will stay with the Toyota branded ATF.

Thanks again.

Tammy

And your dipstick says Use Type IV... especially if yours is AWD .. Drain and Fill every 15K at the most, I do mine every 10K. Type IV at a Toyota dealer is $5 a quart; 3.8 qt FWD, 4.2 qt AWD.

TunedRX300

Lexus plays this card very well because it knows Lexus owners would rather folk over $5 per quart than going with another product, quality and price is rarely a factor, branding is everything.

In case you don't know, Amsoil Universal ATF is T-IV compliant.
http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/atf.aspx
T-IV is a Toyota spec, but Toyota itself does not make this fluid. It outsource to multiple supplier, depending who will offer the cheapest price. In another word, it is perferectly OK for Toyota to use multiple suppliers, but it will put the psychological burden on us if we decide to use another supplier.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=194850
Your powertrain warranty will expire in two years. I was in the same dilemma but figured by not using a superior product, I am COSTING myself the opportunity of extending tranny life because synthetic's higher temperature tolerance. AWD's tranny is a > $5000 item, and higher than designed heat is RX tranny's primary killer.
Search Club Lexus forum and you will see many owners use Amsoil ATF, let me know when you find a case when the owner reports a tranny failure caused by Amsoil. When I searched, I could not find a single case but many owners reported Toyota T-IV ATF burned after 15K of usage.

Lexmex

I still use Type-IV down here in Mexico, only because Amsoil does not have a distributor and it is a PITA to import any type of liquid down here without getting grossly overtaxed by Mexican Customs.

I have known people (going a few years back in some of my first postings in this forum) who have used Mobil 1 ATF without issue.

Like TunedRX300 mentions, I kept reading all reports of people using Amsoil ATF for least 15K and going through a second drain and fill without issue. I gladly plan to switch upon return to the U.S. and go from Mobil 1 to Amsoil for my oil.