Jazzer

What color should the factory transmission fluid be? I'm driving a 2000 es and haven't had any problems with shifting, but was probably going to get a flush soon. When I checked the fluid today (146k miles) the level was good, but it looked a bit on the brownish red side; it didn't have a burnt smell either. I thought it should be more of a reddish color, but I'm not familiar with the oem fluid enough to know. Also, what should a flush cost me at a Lexus or even Toyota dealer (approximate, of course)? I usually don't go to the dealer, but certain things I would feel better about them doing (as long as it's not too outrageously overpriced).

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

No toyolex dealer "flushes", those can actually harm your car.

What they will most likely do is change the filter, gasket, and fill the trams with new fluid. New fluid is pure red when new.

canucklehe

smell is usually big indicator. red is color of new fluid. isn't there a drain plug on bottom of tranny? you could change it a few times yourself and eventually you'll get tot he point of it being mostly new fluid. even fluid exchange machines don't get 100% of the old stuff.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

^ true, however, on a 'serviceable' transmission I'm of the belief to change the filter. Many cars like the RX/late model toyota are limited to drain & fill since their filters are built in and non-serviceable.

Of course, a new gasket/filter in the aftermarket is under 20$ for WIX which makes the best filters out there.

navdeepasi

the older es300s dont have filters, just a metal screen which doesn't need to be changed, as far as i know.

msekanha

you CAN buy a cloth filter for the earlier model es300s. I changed my '97 over to the cloth filters rather than just the screens