Has anyone used the Lexus roadside assistance? I did a search and couldn't find anyone that posted they did or about it....I guess that means Lexus rarely needs roadside assistance?


Also my 30k is about to come, anyone recommend doing service AT 30K?

 

Only things you need at 30k:

Change cabin and engine filters (you can do these yourself in about 5 minutes)

Change oil (as normal)

Change brake fluid (probably worth having a shop do if you don't normally do your own car work- should be about an hour of labor, so $100-120 at a dealer, bit less at a local shop).



Just get THOSE things done. If you instead ask the dealer for the "30k service" they'll charge you 2-3 times as much and still only do the above.


Oh, and nope, never had any need to call Lexus roadside. Still, was nice to save me 4 years of paying for AAA

 

I used it once. The original battery died and I needed the car towed to the dealer so they could replace the battery under warrany.

 

I was paying for AAA and just wondering if its the same for Lexus Roadside. Good thing I stopped! As for the service, I purchased the car used at 27,000 miles last month or so and it's about to hit 30K. First thing I did, because of that funky AC smell was change the cabin filter. I'll do the air filter in the engine next. As for the oil change, just waiting on my Sewell parts to arrive. I'm about to lower it soon so i'll be getting an alignment and a rotation soon.

Aside from the brake fluid, is there any other fluids that need to be replaced? Also is there any brake fluid that's recommended?

 

does the roadside assistance work if your warranty is up? I may switch from AAA. my car is still under powertrain

 

No other fluids... the 2IS is very low maintenance. The coolant is changed every 100k, and is the only other fluid besides engine oil ever called for to change in scheduled maintenance.

 

Get roadside assistance through your insurance company...cheap as HELL!

 

I'm on sewell now, what about the Automatic Transmission Fluid? Any recommendations on when to change that?

 

ATF isn't changed

 

Never. It's lifetime fluid thats contained in a sealed transmission unit.

 

Well not a full flush but a drain and fill? I'm trying to get fluids and oem parts to do a 30k service. I figure the oil filter, brake fluid, and the tran fluid would be a good purchase, unless I'm wrong?

I was planning on doing 3 x 12oz brake fluid bottles, 1 ATF, and 2x 12oz Differential fluids.

Yeah?

 

It's a sealed unit and does not need any maintenance.....leave the ATF alone.

 

This transmission fluid discussion comes up all the time. The Lexus documentation on the 2IS (in the US, at least) states that the transmission is a sealed unit and the fluid never needs to be changed. You'll notice in our scheduled maintenance guide that it's never listed at any interval that you should change your transmission fluid or even do a drain and fill.

Somewhat recently, a thread came up about this and I believe it was discovered that there's now a way to actually change the transmission fluid entirely on the 2IS with some new machine or technique that's recently become available. I would search for it on CL, or maybe someone else can point you to it. In any case, there was no indication I recall made on the thread about 1) the cost of this service, or 2) the availability of the service at dealerships.

However, regardless of what you choose to do, according to Lexus and their maintenance recommendations (who I trust over anyone else frankly, since they built and warrantied the car), you never need to do anything with the transmission fluid.

 

The transmission issue in detail-


The US owners manual states, very clearly, that it is lifetime fluid in a sealed unit and never required any changing.


Up until recently it was physically impossible to change it anyway.

The best you could ever do is remove the plug and get maybe 10% or so of the fluid out of the system, which would be fairly pointless.


Recently it was discovered that someone had invented a part that essentially allows a fluid exchange (albeit with considerably more labor than on older systems) but you'd need both a fluid exchange machine and the special additional hardware to accomplish it... and nobody has yet to show why you ought bother on something even the people who make it say doesn't need it.


The reason fluid exchange is so difficult is the cooling lines do not contain any transmission fluid, they contain engine coolant that runs between the radiator and a heat exchanger built into the side of the transmission.


The way the 'new' system works is someone made a part that is the same size/shape as the heat exchanger, that attached to their fluid exchange machine.... so you have to physically remove the OEM heat exchanger and cooling lines from the transmission, slap this replacement bit on, then run the fluid exchanger, then take the part back off, and reinstlal the OEM heat exchanger and lines.

Certainly not a DIY operation unless you happen to already own all that equipment and a lift.... and again, even Lexus states you don't need to do it.