texas008

2009 LS460, 72k miles
got a quote from a reputable indi shop in Houston,
rear differential fluid change: $140
transmission drain & fill: $165

CRowe14

Why so much for the rear diff I wonder?
I understand the geographic difference here, however my closest Lexus shop charges $98 for diff fluid change, and about $120 for a trans flush, and the dealership uses Techstream.
Oddly enough though, I called my local Toyota dealership, and they wanted $230 to change out the tranny fluid in my LS.
I asked her if there was a reason as to why they were more expensive than the Lexus dealership about 13 minutes away, and she was not only surprised they, Toyota was more expensive, but she had no idea as to why.

roadfrog

Agree with CRowe....the tranny fluid change is what my dealer charges, but that price for the diff is double what my Toyota dealer demands. A liter of fluid and a half hour labor doesn't add up to what you were quoted.

texas008

Thanks a lot for the feedback

texas008

called Lexus Dealer,
the agent mentioned that transmission drain & fill is recommended every 60k miles, price: $140,
rear differential fluid change price: $91

sounds good price for Lexus dealer service, and loaner car.
made appointment to get these two service done tomorrow.

Doublebase

Yeah it seems reasonable, I'm just surprised the dealer even recommended a transmission service interval....most of them still pretend it's a "lifetime fluid". Which I obviously never agreed with.

Javelin343

I was quoted at $429 because the unit is sealed and has to be "purged". I guess I will shop around for that service. My car has 80k on it.

Lexuslsguy

The transmission is not sealed. It has both a drain plug and fill port. Anything over $150 for a drain and refill is a ripoff.

roadfrog

This. "Purged", my butt.

Wandl

My Lexus dealer (Park Place Lexus, Dallas) would not do a tranny flush said they recommended against it and "sealed" unit on my 2010 LS with 100k miles. Independent Lexus shop (Davenport Motors) quoted $250 but they use BG which from what I've read is a common "regular" trans flush & fill system. rear diff was $80 however. I ended up doing only the rear diff.

roadfrog

Bring them the WS fluid purchased from your Toyota dealer.

texas008

The lexus service manager here recommended against servicing the transmission:
it is lifetime transmission fluid, it is supposed to age together with the transmission. how long you want to keep the car?
half million (miles)
no you are not ...

Wandl

yep same reaction my service advisor said in dallas

roadfrog

I've mentioned this in other threads, that "lifetime" fluid is a term only used in the US market. Here in Canada and other markets, you are REQUIRED to change the fluid every 96k kms. It's stated as such in my manual. MB,BMW, and other makers used to use this marketing stance as well, but companies such as ZF which manufactured their trannys, stated that their transmissions needed regular servicing...to the tune of about 60k miles, and went public with the information, so BMW (and others), revised their service schedules to reflect changing the fluid at specified intervals. What does "lifetime" mean anyway? Your lifetime? The cars lifetime? The lifetime of the transmission that eventually fails because the fluid has lost it's additive pack? If you can go 500k miles on the car, do you want the fluid still in there after 2 or 3 hundred thousand miles? All to save a 150 bucks every few years? The "lifetime" of a car is exactly as long as you keep fixing it.

Doublebase

While we're on the topic of tranny and diff fluid changes, for the people that DO service their transmissions and diffs, what are your service intervals? I'm dumping my tranny fluid every 40k and the same for the differential.