alain173

Hello and just curious as to when most people change out these fluids? The maintenance schedule never has you replace, but only "inspect" during certain intervals. My car has 85k on it. Thanks in advance.

superdenso

every 3yrs or 36k

roadfrog

I don't have AWD, but if I did, Superdenso's interval is what I'd do as well. Plus its such an easy DIY for the transfer case and diff, it just makes sense. I did my diff myself and do it every 3 yrs 36k. Same with my trans...but I let the dealer do it, and they charge me 149 bucks. Come to think of it, I believe my brake flush is also 36k/3 yrs.

Wandl

For me trans fluid at 100k (mine is a 2010, did this early last year), diff fluids every 60k (mine is RWD so only rear diff).

Had a highly reputable indy shop do mine, I think it was ~$220 for trans, and $70 for rear diff.

alain173

thanks for replies, tackled rear diff and transfer case yesterday. Tried to access front diff fill bolt with no luck. Pretty much took all skid plates plus a crossmember, still no luck. looks like one would need a short, angled 10mm allen. This is frustrating

Wandl

Have roadfrog help you, he knows the underneath of his LS better than some Lexus engineers...

Doublebase

Just did my rear diff today, I figured 45,000 miles was about right...probably should have let it go at least to 60,000...the stuff looked clean as new when it came out. I have 134,000 miles on the car, it's my second time doing it. I use Mobil 1 synthetic.

roadfrog

The drain plug is located at the bottom middle of the transaxle and directly below the drive shaft. The fill plug is located to the left of the drive shaft. You'll need about 3/4 of a qt of fluid (Hypoid GL-5). The fill bolt should be a standard bolt and not an allen key/socket, so perhaps you're looking in the wrong place?

electro992

I had the same problem on our '09 AWD. If I recall correctly, it looked like the fill bolt was an allen key that faced the front of the car, and it was directly blocked by some part of the steering rack. Never did figure out how to access it.

Talidtb

I'll teach you guys a trick since i did this before as well and had the same issue with the rack blocking the filler whole. Get a small piece of wood and jack up the front diff case little by little. This will not damage anything as motor mounts have some free play and are not completely stiff. I did this on a lift with transmission jack under and had enough clearance above the rack to access filler hole and was able to pump fluid back into front diff case. Dealer told me a sob story about having to remove driver side lower control arms to access filler and drain plug. Smh.