fuddyduddy

Well, I'm putting together a maintenance spreadsheet for a GS 350 that I just purchased. I noticed that the maintenance schedule does not call for a transmission fluid change. Just like my prior car, a 540i. Well, I changed the lifetime fluid anyway on that car, every 50,000-60,000 miles. At 170,000 miles all is well.

Now back to this car, I have 32,500 miles. Nothing to worry about yet. However at some point it seems like a good idea if I want to keep the car a long time.

What do others think?

faifai83

If it's not on the manufacturer's suggested list, why would you replace it?

JEFFOS69

iTrader: (1)

It definately won't hurt it (if you replace with the same fluid again)

Problem is this is a sealed tranny isn't it? Whatever you get out and replace will only be a very small amount. Might be a big effort to get all the fluid out (which you may not even be able to do)

fuddyduddy

I'm not very familiar with Lexus, however BMW's approach in the late 90's was to promote a maintenance free car for marketing purposes. The transmissions on those cars were filled with "lifetime" fluid and would always last through the warranty period prior to failing. Unfortunately this strategy was not so good for those that received the car after the warranty period, or wanted to own the cars for a long time. Independent BMW mechanics always recommended that the fluid be changed periodically.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

Are you 'marrying' this car? [planning to own longer than 5yers]

Are you dumping it in 3-4yrs?

Option one, I would replace. I urge you all to read this thread [this topic comes up on every subforum once a month]: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...iy-w-pics.html *i am aware its a generation older, and older transmission, however the pictures of the fluid color do not lie*

Another thread in the HS forum; https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hs-...fluid-now.html

I'm one of those people that is a firm believer in changing this "lifetime" fluid after having a transmission fail on my old Lexus at 146k - sucks.

Now regarding the trans in these cars, its a CVT, so from my research [as I've a CT200h and will be doing drain/fills], the CVT transmissions are "easy" to change.

Unlike the standard cars that have a lot of the fluid stuck in the torque converter, what comes out of the CVT is majority of the fluid [allegedly].

Option two, leave it alone and let the next sucker worry about it long down the road.

Most advocates usually suggesting leaving it are the ones that have a leased vehicle or they change them quite early [for me that means prior to 6+yrs old, as I like to keep vehicles if they treat me well]

jkeller

I seem to remember VW coming out with lifetime radiator coolant back in the early 90's. They stopped putting drain plugs in their radiators. Could you imagine what it would be like today if you never changed it? Anyway, if you are going to keep a car past 100k change out the fluid. If you don't you'll end up changing the fluid when you replace the transmission......

Shinedown

The GS does not have a CVT transmission.

ZbynekZ

Hybrid has.

The fluid is called "lifetime" but it is always better to change it after 5-6 years or 120k km (75k miles).

mrpartsman

actually Lexus is using WS fluid , which they started using it in 2007 and up models Toyota and Lexus cars and suvs, the stopped using the T4 fluid, they say its the world standard fluid which suppose to last longer, but I still tell ppl u still have to change it, its much better for ur trans and will last u longer, unless u don't care its just a lease and u gonna return it and have the dealer worry about it.

fuddyduddy

Yes, I am married to the car, that's why I want to change the fluid periodically. Only outstanding questions are around how many miles and who will do it for me and do a good job?

fuddyduddy

GS450h does.

paul29

Most new cars do not have a provision to add the transmission fluid from the top nor a dip stick to measure the level , the vehicle can have a detailed method to add fluid from beneath and is most easily done on a hoist. Also the temperature must be monitored to get the fluid to the proper level. Most people although meaning well would just screw it up IMO.

StillLine

So, here's my question. Since there's a fill plug above the drain plug on these "sealed" transmissions, couldn't you just drain the fluid, measure that exact amount, and refill with the same amount of new fluid? I realize there's a procedure to monitor temperature for the correct fill amount, but really, am I missing something? Just put back the same amount that came out. How can you screw that up?

bclexus

I don't see why that wouldn't work...if you really wanted to do it that way. I would most definitely only use Toyota 'WS' fluid, and not anything else. When you begin your first drain-and-fill I would recommend doing two or 3 drain-and-fills, waiting a couple hundred miles between D/Fs.

Find an ATF Drain & Fill Calculator so you can determine how many D/Fs are required to get the fluid close to completely fresh. You'll just need to figure out how many quarts the transmission holds, and how much is drained out each time. If it is like most automatic transmissions each simple drain-and-fill removes about 40% of the old dirty fluid. Therefore, it only takes two D/Fs to replace 64% (36% dirty fluid remaining) of the transmission's fluid...and three D/Fs replaces 78% (22% dirty fluid remaining) of the old dirty fluid. (Two D/Fs: .60 x .60 = 36% dirty fluid remains; Three D/Fs: .60 x .60 x .60 = 22% dirty fluid remains; Etc.)

Drain & Fill Calculator Excel Download Click to 'Enable Editing' on yellow bar near top of spreadsheet. Then enter the Total Fluid Capacity & the Amount Replaced. Then click on Change #1, Change #2, Change #3 and so on, and so forth.

paul29

Yes that is what I do ,but do you think every body would do that and it only applies if there are no leaks . I just refilled a Tundra that had the transmission fluid drained by mistake instead of the engine oil. ( very easy to make the mistake with a skid plate almost covering the engine oil drain). Now in this case you have refill by the shop manual method. Your transmission fluid does not get contaminated by the combustion process like engine oil. It basically just needs to be filtered. If the Toyota engineers say it is a lifetime fluid then that is good enough for me. By the way I have a 1991 LS400 which I bought new and it has the original trans fluid in it, twenty four years in June.