Hello everyone, new member here. My wife purchased a new RX 450h a few weeks ago and joined this forum. She loves Milton so far although the Lexii NAV is lacking in A LOT of areas but that is another thread subject.

I did some searching on here and generally found that most members believe the ATF WS fluid is "lifetime". Unfortunately this is definately not the case and after extensive testing of ATF WS it is generally agreed that an initial change should occur around 10,000 miles with additional changes every 50,000 miles or so. Some people like to do 30,000 mile change intervals.

http://priuschat.com/threads/transax...nalysis.38524/

Anyway, I was hoping that someone on here could answer the question if it is a simple drain and fill like in Prii?

In the owner's manual it list 4.9 qts for the front and 1.9 qts for the rear. So you are looking at 7 qts of ATF WS at each change. Very cheap insurance for the high metal wear that can occur in the tranny. Since the manual considers it "lifetime" there are no instructions other than "Call Lexus", LOL.

Looking forward to this forum.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

I was going to do it at 40K, but I ran out of time and I didn't find the drain plug in the one time I was under the car. Let me know if you see the drain and fill plug. I did my Prius at 40K and it had noticeable wear from oil analysis

 

Chris
On the RX450h with the CVT tranny, there is no scheduled change for the life of the car. That's why there is no reasonable way to drain/flush and fill the transmission. My guess is because there are fewer moving parts. The other good news is I've not heard of any issues whatsoever that could possibly be lubrication related. If you're anywhere near as old as myself , you'll remember the days when we packed wheel bearings at routine intervals. When the 'sealed' bearings came onto the market we were still trying to figure out how to lube them thinking it just had to be done . Turned out to be a good thing and cut maintenance.

Welcome to the forum, this is a great place to talk to other owners and share experiences and knowledge.

 

Jim,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I have been a member at PriusChat since 2007, I think LOL. I'm hoping I can gain as much insight and knowledge about Milton, wife's RX 450h, as I have about Ema, my 2006 Prius, and Myrtle, her former 2007 Prius.

Its true that there is no "scheduled" change for the ATF WS for the RX 450h but that is also true of Prii. And as I mentioned in another post there are mountains of data from BlackStone Labs supporting the need to change the fluid every 60,000 miles or so.

Ema has had hers changed every 50,000 miles and now that she is over 340K the transmission if probably in the best condition of the 3 major components (hybrid battery, engine, tranny). It's actually the engine that is the weak component of the 3 beleive or not. I expect the RX 450h to be the same.

For more information on ATF WS fluid feel free to check out any of the following:
http://priuschat.com/threads/transax...nalysis.38524/
http://priuschat.com/threads/draft-t...results.38609/
http://priuschat.com/threads/transmi...iented.127512/

Happy driving,
Chris

 

Chris,
Glad to see you name your cars . With all of it's technology and a suggestion from a friend, mine became known as 'Watson' . RE:Blackstone, I have experience with them and all good. I've had my (h) oil examined at 30K and it was great. I'm pretty sure the engineers at Lexus wouldn't recommend 'never' if they didn't think it was justified. Last thing they need is a certain percentage going south at 130,000 or some number due to just used up lubricant.
And just me tappin on the keyboard, if you didn't change it, then Blackstone would never get your money for checking it .

Enjoy your car

 

I read somewhere that the transmission is sealed, almost impossible for DIY unless someone found a way ?

 

I found the drain plug, but couldn't find the fill plug as I didn't have enough space to get under the car. You should be able to do it like a manual transmission

 

I remember this coming up in the Camry Hybrid forums too, the US model had a lifetime rating, but the Canadian model had a change interval of 80,000km. Someone somewhere just flipped a coin. You could say a Canadian model has more weather extremes, but this is not really true, there are plenty of places in Canada that are warmer in the winter than some places in the lower US. The easy answer has always been, just change it if it gives you peace of mind, but just from a discussion point of view, is it the right answer, the most efficient cost effective answer, the necessary answer?

Are their failure reports that clearly indicate an improper lubrication issue, or failure reports that people just assume are resulting from the notion of lifetime lubrication and are really defective design/materials/workmanship? Does changing the fluid increase the typical service life of the components from 150,000 miles to 400,000 miles or from 400,000 miles to 1,000,000 miles? Does breaking the seal and stirring up the original fluid to change it do more harm that good? (Back in the day, the easiest way to wreck a mid-life Chrysler mini-van tranny was to change the fluid). When oil analysis is done, are the results interpreted simply as a measure of impurities and a general pronouncement of doom when a certain level is reached, or is there specific reference to the application (the specific metals, tolerances, loads, particle sizes involved, etc.)

 

Lots of questions there ... Yes there have been reported failures due to improper lubrication. Some with little to no ATF WS present at all but no leak points visible. Since there isn't a dipstick to make checks this is an issue, LOL.

No design defect, any lubricating material will break down given time and exposure to heat, wear, etc...

Yes, regular changes increase the life of the transmission. Ema's 340K+ can attest to that and there are others.

No stirring things up does not make a difference as long as you plan on replacing the fluid. And since as mentioned above there is no other way to check the fluid level you don't really have a choice but to "stir things up".

When an analysis is done various materials are measured and listed next to industry standards for reference. This is all noted quite extensively in all the threads about ATF WS I posted above from PriusChat. Oil/ATF analysis is a VERY valuable tool. Please check out the links provided for more information.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

340k?! Wow! Still on the original batteries?

 

I believe someone found that the batteries are made by panasonic. IMO thats the best batteries you can buy in the world. We have thinkpad laptops from 2005 that still holds 95-98% battery that is made by panasonic. Sony and Sanyo laptop batteries only last 1.5 years.

 

Yes, Ema is still on her original batteries <knocking on wood>. There have been a lot of discussions on hybrid batteries and their life on PriusChat. The consensus seems to be the 2 major contributors to battery failures are Heat and Discharge Cycles.

Since Ema is driven almost exclusively on the highway she rarely if ever goes through multiple deep discharge cycles. Heat can be an issue in NC but I am a big fan of AC and don't have pets. So don't have to worry to much about the hybrid battery cooling fan getting clogged with dog hair, lol. Some interesting stories on that as well.

Ema's biggest issue now is she burns about 1 quart of oil every 1000 - 1500 miles or so. Tried a lot to help that but it basically comes down to engines begin burning oil after 343,000 miles, LOL.

If you want to learn more about Ema this is the link to my 300K post:
http://priuschat.com/threads/300k-mi...-owner.113834/

Happy driving,
Chris

 

Well, I had to look it up, but for others who didn't know, "WS" stands for World Standard. Pretty presumptious, I guess that's why Toyota thinks it never needs changing.

Jonas

 

I don't know about the RX450h but I have changed mine 3 times on the RX400h. The fluid first change was at 87k miles and it was quite dirty. (Brown in color). The rear tranny was relative clean. I have now made it a scheduled item at 30k miles. The Rx400h has both drain and fill plugs on the CVT. Personally nothing is lifetime, that is not engineer agreed upon but more likely a marketing theme. Unless of course lifetime is when the tranny fails.....just my two cents. By the way On the RX400h forum I have posted pictures of the Drain plug locations and sample pictures of the fluid when changed.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/hyb...ial-plugs.html

 

We've got an 06 4Runner that's just hit 80K, and I plan on checking out the ATF soon.