iGS430

Why are you tranny flushing fools flushing your trannies that Toyota motor company recommends not to do.

My 2007 GS430 has 152k and my tranny is showing no signs or wearing or slippage. It's as responsive as the the day it rolled off the lot. I aint changing it till it's time for a rebuild.

BinaryJay

Lexus Canada maintenance schedule stipulates transmission fluid be changed every 60K.... just saying.

gr8fulRed

Do the 350's and 430's share the same tranny? I've not read about 430 tranny issues but have on the 350's. I've got the 350 and want to be proactive in terms of extending tranny life. I'm certain that replacing the fluid "early" won't hurt anything...if done properly...so the METHOD is my only concern. This is why I started the "flush vs drain/fill" thread. I keep and drive cars a long time/high mileage and would much rather spend $250-$400 every 75k or so than to have to shell out $3000 at 150k miles for a new or remanned tranny. A "rebuild" like you plan on doing when it's needed...will run at least $4000 I bet...if done by Lexus. Hell, Lexus may not even DO true "rebuilds" as it's very time consuming. They may just r&r it with a Lexus remanufactured or a used tranny. I know that my local Honda dealer won't "rebuild" an original tranny...not likely that Lexus will either.

Also, to be clear...are you saying that Toyota doesn't recommend "flushing"? If so...I'd love to see where you found that info. All I can find is that changing out the fluid is not part of their factory scheduled/recommended service. My Lexus dealer here in OKC "recommends changing out at 120k", and that info is straight from Rick French, the only "Master Certified Lexus Service Mgr" in the state and in this zone.

GS350Lexus

iTrader: (5)

I usually follow schedule maintenance, if it does not state to flush or change fluid it is not required then.

Gotcha350

You do realize that they do these long intervals to minimize ownership cost right? It really depends on how long you plan to keep your car...just like when you look in the maintenance journal and it stops at 120k. I don't care what others do with their cars...doesn't make any difference to me but with the way the industry is going I will never buy a used car...just my personal choice...I keep my cars for a very long time so I will be more proactive than reactive.

BinaryJay

Follow the Canadian schedule then your car will last longer... the climate in NY is no different than here, yet somehow Lexus does feel that if you are north of the border your car needs regular transmission fluid changes.

sr20mofo

iTrader: (10)

im not a tranny flushing fool

im a drain and fill type fool

stay classy

Tantrix

One lesson ive learned with maintenance on high mileage cars is to not over do the maintenance...a lot of times the mechanic has more chance to harm to your vehicle than the maintenance itself.


Keep it simple, just drain and fill...and don't have them do a lot of things at once.

The easier u make it for mechanic, the less chance they will screw up.

This is for independent shops, I think u can load more procedures at once with dealer certified techs.

iGS430

Being a military mechanic, I myself was baffled as to why there wasn't a tranny dipstick to check the condition of the fluid, and felt helpless as to why the engineers would do such a thing to us maintenance conscious minded owners who might want to keep our beloved 3rd Generation GS beyond the 120K mark.
I guess we'll see how far this WS tranny takes us.

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

Drain and flush without adding a cleaning fluid will do nothing more than change your fluid. New fluid can loosen debris due to it's cleaning agent but the machine uses the cars transmission oil pump to circulate the fluid. Now if they add a flush agent, that can release more debris and plug up things. If you have been changing fluid regularly there should not be any issues. DraiNing and filling 4 times consecutively is essentialy the same as a flush without cleaning agents. If you want to change all your fluid at once do a flush WITHOUT CLEANING AGENTS/FLUSH FLUIDS added. if you are afraid your tranny is very dirty then drain and fill. Drive a month drain and fill again drive a month drain and fill again. This way you release some debris but not all at once. On my cars I added an in line filter in the cooling line to continually filter all the fluid. The internal screen only about 10% of the fluid goes through it at a time the in line filter filters 100% every few minutes and have a finer filter as well as a magnet. When I buy a car I always flush the tranny before 15k miles because new gears have burrs and they release in the first few thousand miles and I figure I rather not have that steel circulating in my tranny after that I flush without cleaning agents every 50 to 60k and drop pan and change filter every 100k. But that's me, I got 206k miles on my 2nd Gen gs400 and it shift as smooth as a a babies butt.


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Easier

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alredxiii

iTrader: (13)

I just picked up an 08 gs460 and it has an eight speed tranny I don't think the gs 350 has eight speeds chime in If I am wrong

warandcar

yes the GS460 has the eight speed and the 350 has the six speed...

kuWuPt

iTrader: (13)

You change it to lessen your chance of a 'rebuild'. Oil's do break up over time along with the introduction of moisture can change the oil's characteristics. I've done a tranny flush on my 2nd gen GS300, 3rd gen GS430, IS350 and SC430. Apart from smoother tranny shifts I've had no negative issues.
Toyota doesn't state not to change the oil btw it's just not there in their scheduled maintenance. Just like how a wheel bearing, ball joints, tie rods etc are not in their maintenance schedule. Nothing you can do however to prevent parts from wearing out, a transmission is far more expensive and changing the oil to increase it's longevity is a fraction of the price you or rather the 'tranny flushing fools' will pay for that peace of mind.

Jontay

My recent experience with the transmission service on my very newly purchased 2010 GS350 AWD with100k miles. After reading many of these threads about tranny fluid flushes, maintenance, etc. I decided it was a good time to change the fluid since my intent is to keep the car for probably another 100-150k miles.

So, I just paid 250$ to the local Boise Lexus dealer (Peterson Lexus) for what I thought was going to be a "flush"....at least that was the ONLY terminology that was ever used in any of our prior phone conversations. At NO time did the service writer or myself talk about OR use the term "drain-n-fill".

When I picked the car up, I noticed a quantity of "4" listed on the invoice and I inquired as to what this meant since I felt it was most likely 4 quarts since the unit price was listed on the invoice @ $9.10/ea.
This same service writer and the actual mechanic who performed the work, both INSISTED that the quantity flushed was 4 gallons.......which would be 16 quarts total and that 6 of those quarts used were the quarts that became dirty from the actual "flush" procedure and that the other 10 quarts would have been the amount of new Toyota World Standard fluid that was replaced. Hmmmmmm.

So, I then questioned the invoice unit price of just $9.20 (sum total of $36.80) and told the service writer that this story about what service was performed was all bull**** and that I felt the invoice was actually for 4 quarts that was used and that they had just charged me $250 to "exchange" 4 quarts (ATFWS World Standard) of the 10.6 quart capacity of the transmission. In other words they exchanged 40% of the total tranny fluid.

Just a few moments later, the senior service writer/mgr. walked in to our little office and before anyone could say anything I quickly pointed to the invoice and asked him "what that quantity listed on the invoice represented"? He immediately, without any hesitation, stated the number represented quarts. I asked him if he was sure and he said he was 100% absolutely sure of it and that the drain-n-fill" method is the one they use. Again, this was the senior service writer/service manager saying this and this was in complete conflict with what was stated by the original service writer and the actual service mechanic.

I also told them that I thought I had read somewhere (I thought somewhere in this forum actually) that an actual power flush could ONLY be performed at the dealer due to a special type of too/pump (hence the $250 price) that is attached to the tranny to perform this task. No one there seemed to have any idea of what I was referring to. Does anyone on here have any idea if I did actually read something of this sort or have I misunderstood something?

Bottom line, they only exchanged 4 quarts and charged me $250 and flat out lied to me (and my co-worker witness who was with me) about the invoice, how many quarts had been used, type of work performed, etc.

If it matters.....the dealer also charged me $90 to change the rear differential fluid (3 quarts) and also $90 to change the front differential/transfer case (2 quarts). In both differentials 80W90 was used.

Total bill for all this was $438.17

I like my car and was wanting to protect my investment in it. I've ALWAYS hated dealers and once again I feel my thoughts and opinions about dealers are justified and confirmed....AGAIN!

rx350lover

FWIW, I recently bought a 2007 GS 350 AWD with 36,000 miles and had the brake fluid, tranny, front and rear differentials liquids changed.

Regarding the tranny, I was told that for other models like the RX, ES, ..., a drain and fill is the way it is done. But for the LS, GS and other models (I don't remember which ones), it is a totally different story. First they need to have the tranny cool off. Second it takes apparently two technicians and they connect a computer(?) to the car while it is done. The Lexus dealer I go to is a good one (a rarity nowadays). They don't try to screw you. They will do what is needed and that's it. They even informed me of problems to come, like the front exhaust getting thin, for example. They don't force anything on you and keep you in the loop.

P.S. I know two ****ty Lexus dealers I will never go back to. Once was enough for those two.

P.P.S. The tranny fluid was changed by the previous owner in early 2012 with 19,000 miles. I was told 4 years or 60,000 miles is when it should be done. Reasonable preventive maintenance is a positive in my book. Beats being stuck on the road with a broken vehicle.