I have 138,000 miles on this thing. Any suggestions. I had one of the lead technicians at the Lexus dealership drive it around and he told me that it drove perfectly. I then asked about transmission fluid additives and he said that he would have the fluid in the transmission replaced if it was his car. So I replied about the transmission being sealed and having lifetime fluid and his response was that it is the same basic ATF fluid, just sealed without a dipstick as to remove any potential for error concerning fluid level. What are everyone's thoughts on this? Are there any other services you would recommend having done?

2006 IS 350

 

Dont need to replace that unless it leaks. In fact if you search someone posted the same damn question, it might even be on the first page.

 

whatever the book says. At that mileage, I personally will have my mechanic replace my tranny fluid, diff fluid, brake fluid, belt, plugs and coolant. I will not allow any power flushing, just empty and refill fluids.

 

I recently had mine done also at about 110k and it drives and shifts 10 times better. It shifts a lot smoother and grabs harder when i accelerate. Before it was kinda sluggish and didnt feel like it grabbed well. I had it done at my local Lexus dealership and it cost around $110 total. Probably the best hundred bucks i spent in a while.

 

I pretty sure I read somewhere that Lexus' definition of "Lifetime" is 100k.

 

Hey thanks. Well, I did search and read and subscribed to that thread but his was a little bit different question. I got what I needed out of this thread much better. Another question, looks like most people so far have a different opinion than you about changing the fluid. Do you have some experience that makes you feel strongly that it's better not to replace the fluid? Thanks again.



Ok, awesome. I will make sure all of that is done. Thank you.



Wow, that is some great info. Much appreciated!



Really? Ok, I hadnt read that. Thanks



Now, with all of that said and understood. How do you all feel about replacing the ATF with the Amsoil variant and possibly an additive for higher mileage cars mixed in?

 

Can you explain how it was done? It's practically impossible to change it all without a very, very specialized manner.

 

In regards to your Amsoil question. When you have the fluid drained only a small (ish) percentage of the total amount is actually going to come out. I would probably just stick with OEM fluid.

 

a car is a car. the fluids have to be drained. sealed or not. lifetime or not.

 

Its consider lifetime because there is no real way to drain the fluid. As other threads have stated, its physically impossible to drain much more than 10% of the fluid at a time, even with special machines.

Because you cant ever fully drain it, I would recommend sticking with only OEM fluid since you don't want to be mixing fluids together.

 

I am following what Lexus says in the Scheduled Maintenance Log (Page 68)

Unless I feel a change in the way my car drives or we find leaks I have no plans to replace the fluid.

 

To clear this up a bit:

What lexus and the book/manual says:

it's a lifetime fluid in a sealed transmission, and does not, ever, need changing.


What was true up until maybe 18 months ago:

It was physically impossible to change a significant amount of the fluid. Anyone paying for a fluid change before then was being ripped off by a shop that was draining about 10% of the total fluid (all that comes out if you pull the "drain" plug) and replacing that 10%, then charging for a "transmission fluid change"


What is true now:

You CAN do a fluid change now, but it requires special equipment and hooking up to a machine. Why? See below:


The unit is sealed. The 'drain' plug doesn't get much fluid out.

You can't use the cooling lines either- because unlike most cars, they contain coolant not transmission fluid.

They run to a heat exchanger built into the side of the transmission.

And here lies the trick-

A company that builds fluid exchange machines (which normally just hook to the cooling lines) designed an adapter the exact size and shape of the heat exchanger.

So to change fluids you would need to do this:

Disconnect the coolant lines from the heat exchanger
Remove the heat exchanger
Replace it with the special adapter
Connect the fluid exchange machine to the adapter
Run the machine to change out the fluid
Remove the machine
Remove the special adapter
Reinstall the heat exchanger
Hook the coolant lines back up
Top off the coolant and transmission fluid to proper levels.


All of which, again, the manual says never to do... but at least it's physically possible now.

Anyone who plans to have it done anyway, insure they're doing the above, and not ripping you off by just changing 1-2 quarts using the drain plug.

 

I got mine transmission fluid change at 140,000 miles and I cant really tell a difference in shifting. I got it done at the dealership for approximately $220. I did it for a piece of mind, but the one thing I can tell you that is my transmission do slip on rare occasion after i got it done.

 

+1, I'm interested to know what the service shops are saying about this


Thanks. Hearing that, I can't really imagine much benefit from draining and replacing just a small percentage of the fluid.


What you're saying here makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense is that the legendary Toyota would design a transmission to last only 100,000 miles in a luxury car, one that is supposed to be even higher quality than the cars renowned for reliability.


I can understand not mixing fluids I guess but I don't know enough to say. Again, I don't see much benefit in changing only 10% of the fluid. Maybe it's just my ignorance.


Well, that's the thing. How many miles does your car have? This car has a lot of miles and I don't think the transmission shifts like I would expect. It seems like it does some searching for gears, shifting around when it's not necessary. It also seems unpredictable in things like shift points and power delivery at launch.


Thanks! That is an epic post! Good info. Now, has anyone actually done the change this way? This almost seems like a "flush" though, of which I've been warned against because it may stir up debris and damage sensitive mechanisms. Again, I'm mostly ignorant.

 

good thing you wont allow the p/s flush... the p/s is done electronically.