Baetke

I have a 1999 RX300 coming up on 150,000 miles and wanted to do my own fluid/filter change. I've had Lexus to a drain/fill every 30,000 miles and have had no problems at all. My question is....it appears that the transmission, as originally built, has a "screen" type filter (which Lexus never replaced) and all the replacements are paper filters. Lexus told me I could just clean the screen and put it back in. What are the pros/cons of cleaning and re-installing the screen vs. replacing it with a paper filter?

salimshah

Sceen has larger holes while the element can stop finer particles.

With screen you can do a number of drains without dropping the pan.
You will need to replace element more frequently and will have to drop the pan.

Salim

trhs75

My dealer says they've never sold a filter, always reusing the screen after cleaning.

salimshah

My understanding is (which can be flawed) the first few models had screen and then some times later the screen was replaced by an element filter.

Screen filters are no longer available through parts.

If you have a screen and you have a choice. Clean it and reuse or get a throw away element filter. If you have an element filter, you have to throw it away.

As a filter, the element will filter better, but it will increase your maint cost.

Salim

hypervish

+1. <filler> <filler>

Baetke

Thanks for the clarification guys, very helpful.

I'm thinking now that maybe I will just do a drain and fill and leave the original screen filter alone. It looks like this is all the dealer did.

At 150,000 miles does anyone think it would be worthwhile to drop the pan and clean the magnets?

Fluid looks clean and red and has no odor.

thomas1

If you are not original owner, beware, you might not have a screen. Whatever you do do not do a flush. I personally would drop pan and see how much metal debris is on the magnets. Good time to make that investigation and see which filter medium you have.

mckellyb

My wife's 2002 has the filter, and I've considered going 'backward', and getting a screen filter for it.

I change the transmission oil every 20K-30K anyway, but like the indefinite-use logic of the metal screen.

Baetke

Thomas1,

I am the original owner so I should have a screen filter.
Why do you recommend avoiding a flush? Have you had some experience with this?

-Baetke

JohnLX300

iTrader: (2)

I know somewhere in this forum someone added a perma-cool external transmission filter. Probably the greatest idea for this transmission. I was going to install it on my 1999 RX300.....never did and ended up trading it in.

thomas1

We (lots of folks on this forum as well as the Lexusownersclub) feel the flush will push particles into the valve body causing premature failure. I personally have taken the valve body out, and it was full of metal debris after a flush. And yes I was the crazy guy adding a perma-cool external filter. The car exhibited no problems with this setup. The filter was crazy huge (ph8) and probably added about 1 quart to the capacity. I did this at 104k miles and it was still on the car when I sold it at 187k miles. As for flushes another method would be a fluid exchange and this procedure would use the tranny pump to pump the fluid through the transmission....probably very safe method.

Baetke

Thanks for the advice on avoiding flushes. Makes sense to me.
At this point I plan on dropping the pan, cleaning the screen and re-using it. Then use the tranny pump to flush out the extra 2 qts from the transmission cooler then re-fill. This seems to be the low risk option and since the screen has worked fine for 150K miles, I don't see any reason to replace it with a filter.

thomas1

good choice, best of luck in your car....enjoy.