My 2002 ES 300 needs transmission flush. What is the best way to do it?
Lexus dealership near me doesn't have the flush machine, they drain it for $120. I read that some dealers don't always do it properly by not draining the fluid completely?
Would it make sense to buy the fluid (T-IV) from Toyota and have my mechanic drain it and replace it? How much fluid would I need to buy if that's the case?

Thanks

 

Your are speaking of the "drain and fill" method, rather than the "flush". If the fluid is black, check with a Toyota dealer rather than Lexus, for the flush. Toyota uses Type IV fluid; what your's uses.
If you decide to go the drain and fill, purchase at Toyota the Type IV transmission fluid... Four quarts per drain and fill. About $5 per quart. Your's is about 3.8 quarts. Think about changing the fluid at 500 mile intervals. This allows the new fluid to mix with the old. I did mine two or three times till the color is about right, close to new color from the bottle... cherry red.
My understanding is that Lexus is shying from flushing, since the fluid is changing to the world standard (WS). The transmission capacity for the RX/ES two wheel drive is 9.5 quarts when dry.
When you drain and fill, you do not drain the torque converter.

 

Lexus uses the Type IV fluid just like Toyota. Pretty much every Lexus maintenance part is a Toyota part.

 

simple tranny drain and fill can be done in the driveway for less money than an oil change.

here is a thread I posted on LOC a while back with pictures.

2002 ES Tranny Drain & Fill

I hope it helps.

steviej

 

Drain vs flush. Which one is better for the car?

Kate

 

When I bought my ES . I flushed it . And then now I do just drain and refill .

If your car has lot of miles then try not to flush it . Just Drain and refill with less intervels untill your trany color don't change .

Flushing a trnay with many miles on it can end up in junk yard . So to be on safe side just do drains. You should be ok . It is safe and easy.

 

that is a loaded question. Alot depends on the car, how many miles, how often the tranny fluid has been serviced either by drain & fill or by flush. To go further, some will say don't flush with a machine, but rather use the tranny fluid lines from the cooler to run large quantitiies of fluid through. Some believe the flush machine uses to much force for the toyo trannies.


Personally, I have been doing drain and fills every 15k miles and will drop the pan and clean the magnets and mesh on the 75 or 90k drain & fill.

steviej

 

For my '01 ES, the only time I had to do a complete flush of the tranny system (including the torque converter) was when I had the transmission replaced about a year ago. The previous transmission was undergoing terrible symptoms of mis-shifting and at times lack of gear recognition. Turned out that one of the transmission solenoids was malfunctioning, making my car unsafe to drive. Fortunately I had extended warranty to back me up for a tranny replacement, and I decided to go for more than just a tranny fluid drain-and-refill on my car.

IMO this would probably be the only time when it's necessary to do a complete tranny fluid flush. All other times, just rely on the simple drain-and-refill method (see steviej's writeup above)

 

Nothing beats a flush. I say either completely flush it every other year, or flush it now, then drain the pan & fill with every oil change. Even then you still need to flush it every few years.

Just be sure it's Toyota Type IV, anything else might kill it. Then again nobody knows. Maybe transmission can shift smoother, or quicker (Sportier) with different fluids & different fluid levels. I wouldn't want you to be the person to find out tho...

 

My ES has 60,000 miles (bought it used), the fluid is very dark brown color. My mechanic says it needs to be flushed but he doesn't have the machine.
With all the controversy I am afraid to do it.
I made an appointment at Toyota dealer, I hope they know what they are doing...

Kate

 

As far as I have been told, Lexus/Toyota has been flushing the Type IV fluid and replacing it with the WS fluid, I really don't know if all dealers are doing this but the 2 dealers I deal with do it this way and they informed me they nolonger carry the IV stuff they only order it if customers really want it price wise over the WS, 1 service writer even informed me that Toyota will stop making the IV stuff cause the WS is replacing it, I don't know how true that is

 

EDGE2, help some of us out here.
WS = ????

steviej