World Standard Fluid change.. whos done it?
09-08-13, 10:21 PM
#1
World Standard Fluid change.. whos done it?
My GX was coming on to 116k and after having done every scheduled maintenance at my Lexus dealer when it said in the manual, I could not believe that it only said at 100k to "inspect transmission fluid".
I know World Standard (WS) fluid is lifetime fluid, but does anything really last a lifetime these days? The GX is 9 years old, with 116k miles which weren't all pleasant for the car.
- Highway driving in rush hour... bumper to bumper for miles.
- 100+ temp drives through dessert to go to Vegas
- Negative temps when going to the winter cabin in Big Bear
- U-haul towing trips (not many, and all were under 200 miles in length)
- Light off road adventures
- City driving up and down hills ... I live in a hilly community.
- Etc Etc.
Therefore I spoke with my Service Manager and had the fluid replaced. Surprisingly it still had a reddish hue to it! Sure it wasn't as reddish as the new fluid going in, but still was a peace of mind item I figured was worth doing. Before we flushed the system we decided to drop the pan and inspect the filter and magnet. Magnet had some light debris, which quickly fell off when we hit it with Brake fluid cleaner and a rag. Filter was fine, but still replaced it since we were already there.
After thoughts... If your GX has over 100k and you have some money to spend, do it! The car feels a bit more lively. The spunk returned to it, and it holds the gears extremely well when climbing the rpm band. Shifts are extremely smooth (as they were prior) but what i've noticed is after a 100 mile commute the transmission doesn't feel tired. What I mean by that is it doesn't just want to get the shifts over with and slam you into 5th as quickly as possible. MPG is also up by 1.5, which is always a nice thing.
I planned on tackling this project myself, but after getting a ****ty eBay Techstream and dongle from China it never seemed to work on my computer and being that this tranny is extremely sensitive to fluid temp, and fluid quantity I didn't want to risk destroying a $5k trans.
I know World Standard (WS) fluid is lifetime fluid, but does anything really last a lifetime these days? The GX is 9 years old, with 116k miles which weren't all pleasant for the car.
- Highway driving in rush hour... bumper to bumper for miles.
- 100+ temp drives through dessert to go to Vegas
- Negative temps when going to the winter cabin in Big Bear
- U-haul towing trips (not many, and all were under 200 miles in length)
- Light off road adventures
- City driving up and down hills ... I live in a hilly community.
- Etc Etc.
Therefore I spoke with my Service Manager and had the fluid replaced. Surprisingly it still had a reddish hue to it! Sure it wasn't as reddish as the new fluid going in, but still was a peace of mind item I figured was worth doing. Before we flushed the system we decided to drop the pan and inspect the filter and magnet. Magnet had some light debris, which quickly fell off when we hit it with Brake fluid cleaner and a rag. Filter was fine, but still replaced it since we were already there.
After thoughts... If your GX has over 100k and you have some money to spend, do it! The car feels a bit more lively. The spunk returned to it, and it holds the gears extremely well when climbing the rpm band. Shifts are extremely smooth (as they were prior) but what i've noticed is after a 100 mile commute the transmission doesn't feel tired. What I mean by that is it doesn't just want to get the shifts over with and slam you into 5th as quickly as possible. MPG is also up by 1.5, which is always a nice thing.
I planned on tackling this project myself, but after getting a ****ty eBay Techstream and dongle from China it never seemed to work on my computer and being that this tranny is extremely sensitive to fluid temp, and fluid quantity I didn't want to risk destroying a $5k trans.
09-09-13, 03:04 AM
#2
The WS is never replaced. It is Inspect and top up all the way. That is what Lexus engineers determined after many miles of test, that this standard required only topping up at regular service interval if required. Now color viscosity does change over a period of time, but does it affect the performance, is a grey area still un-answered by experts. Maybe another Snake oil theory !
09-10-13, 01:11 AM
#3
I just did my major tune up recently at 112K miles. I replaced the timing belt, drive belt, water pump, spark plugs, thermostat, air filter, etc. At the same time I asked and told my mechanic to change the transmission fluid anyway. For some reason regardless if it was require or not, I just felt like changing it anyway since it wouldn't hurt. As mann777 mentioned above that color viscosity does change over time and my mechanic said it was really brown when he flushed it. Even if the WS was design to last forever, I would rather change it anyway just for a piece of mind.
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