MattRX

Nicely done! For me, my t-case oil was a lot cleaner than my rear diff oil.

pencap75

For me, at 80k, tcase and rear diff oil looked like new when I changed it. Auto trans "lifetime" fluid looked horrible with thinned out black water. I wonder if my car even goes into AWD mode.

ellocovg

iTrader: (1)

I’m expecting mine to look just as bad with 90K. Did you do the drain and fill? If you did the drain and fill did you just match what came out? I’m thinking of getting up before the family tommorow to do it. I’m a little nervous of the add three bottles and remove the plug afterwards technique. I did this years ago on my 07 camry with the same transmission but I had it since new and it only had 36K on it when I did it. I bought two painter buckets and dumped out the old oil matched the other bucket evenly with new fluid and then pumped the same amount of fluid back into the transmission.

pencap75

QUOTE
Cold drain and fills. Did it twice a week apart. About 2.25 quarts come out each time and replaced with same amount of fresh atf. Really easy, I didn't even need to jack the car up or remove the wheel (just turn the wheel to the left). I was getting transmission flares whenever I gunned the gas, but it's totally smooth shifting now. Not sure why Toyota/lexus claims it's lifetime atf.

MattRX

Did mine yesterday. I was surprised to see that at 120k the fluid was reasonably red-coloured. Before anything, I would make sure you can get the fill plug off first. It's a 24mm hex head like the transfer case, except it uses a flat crush washer instead of a concave one. I jacked up the car on the subframe and took the wheel off for more clearance. Two 10mm bolts for the splash shield need to be removed for access. I had a hard time fitting my 1/2" breaker bar in there.

For the trans drain process: Torx T40 to crack the overfill plug open, let that sucker drain until you can get a 17mm allen on the main plug and break it loose. That one was ON there and beware that the fluid will come shooting out like mad after you open that plug up (warm drain). For me, around 3 L / 3.17 qtz of fluid came out, but I have the 8-speed that comes with the F-Sport. Apparently that one takes a little more fluid than the 6-speeds on normal RX350s. I doubt the procedure is any different on the normal RX. However, if Pencap75 was able to remove the fill plug without taking off the wheel, there's a chance that the fill process may be different.

ellocovg

iTrader: (1)

The actual meaning of “Lifetime” is not clear at all. The automotive industry considers 100,000 miles as lifetime, not what we consider life time but even that’s debatable.

“While these fluids carry the name “lifetime,” manufacturers and companies do not specify which lifetime these will last through. According to Central Ave Auto, claims behind lifetime fluids “do not specify that the fluids are meant to last “their lifetime,” not “your vehicle’s lifetime,” “your lifetime,” or “the lifetime of your engine and/or transmission.” Simply put, what’s designated as “lifetime” is designed to last the lifetime of the fluid until it needs to be changed.”

RX in NC

Yep, no such animal as "lifetime" fluid of ANY type in ANY vehicle. Change intervals can vary widely, but fresh fluid at some point is always a good idea.

MattRX

Finally got my allen diff plugs out of my Highlander. I was able to break both of them free by going for a drive to warm up the diff, then some penetrating oil and some massive, constant hammer hits with a big chisel. My trick was to cut a big groove in the plug, then whack that with the chisel facing vertically to put some serious counter-clockwise force onto the plug without the chisel moving.

Taking little hits in a smaller area would just lead to chips of metal flaking off the plug. I used my old RX plugs on the car because the 8-year-old Highlander fluid looked almost new compared to my RX’s 1-year newer fluid. Anyway, I figure I won’t have to go in there again for the life of the car (unless I want to put in an RX300 limited slip differential &#128521.