Mrfix

Got around to draining the Transmission Pan on the IS350. The 2006 IS 350 has 90689 miles on it which are all highway. There are no city miles on this car. Engine run time is probably half of what a city car would have on it. There was no problems noticed and this first drain was just preventative maintenance. I did not notice anything different afterwards either.

Some tips and pics for those who are planning on doing it.

I put the car on stands with the rear end about 1" lower than the front end. I wanted the pan to drain more completely. The car was sat over night in the garage so the transmission oil was ambient temp (90 F) The next step was removing the fill hole cover and removing the 24mm fill plug. Remove the fill plug first before draining anything. Afterwards I placed a clear little pail I bought at HomeDepot Paint department that had measurement lines on it.

2006 IS 350 Draining Transmission Oil
I let it drain for a while with the Fill Plug out of it to provide a breather hole. After about 1 hour or so it ended up being 3 Quarts as you can see from the next photo.

2006 IS350 Trans Drain after about hour.
I then closed up the transmission and let it sit over night in the garage again. In the morning I emptied the pail and continued to drain whatever fluid accumulated over night in the pan. Here is the result.

2006 IS350 Overnight Transmission fluid accumulation.
As you can see almost another 20 oz to the original 3 Quarts. So the total drain was 3 quarts and 20 oz. I then proceeded to put the drain plug back in and get the Transmission ready for the fill.

I decided to use Gravity to fill the transmission and got a clear flex 5/8 hose from HomeDepot (20ft $10 but all I needed was 3 ft of it) and fed it through the engine bay by the firewall on the Brake master cylinder side without a problem and it ended up right by the transmission fill hole. Then inserted the hose into the hole with some squeezing and made sure it went in about 2-3 inches.

2006 IS350 Transmission fill with 5/8 clear hose from engine compartment.
Making sure there were no kinks and a nice bends I went topside to fill. I had a little funnel from Harbor Freight that I bought for $1. Shoved that in the end of the clear 5/8 line and proceeded.

2006 IS350 Transmission fill.
Here is a shot of the flow into the transmission.

2006 IS350 transmission fill.
It went super quick. 3 full quarts in under a minute and then added the additional 20 oz. Sealed it up and sent off a sample to Blackstone.

Here is a photo of the color of the old fluid and some new fluid.

2006 IS350 92k fluid vs new fluid.
Don't let the color or anything scare you. It doesn't mean too much. In my experience it is the smell that can tell you more and this old fluid did not smell burnt.

Here is the Blackstone report for your perusal.

IS 350 Blackstone Transmission Oil Report
Job is very simple and straight forward. Good luck and thank you for reading.

toyotaguy

Great post and write-up thanks! Using that flex hose setup should make it a lot more convenient. My car has 160k now and not knowing if the transmission fluid was ever replaced makes me feel skittish about doing just this.

bazzle01

Well done.
Ill cross post over here
http://au.lexusownersclub.com/forums...s-is-f-is300h/

primavera

Excellent DIY, Thank you for sharing & posting pictures.
Here is another one. Different car, same procedure.

HankMoody

Good post !

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for posting. One little thing I would do different is to start the engine for about 5 seconds. The centrifugal force will dump some more of the fluid from the converter.
When refilling, add 2 qts and start it to suck up the fluid. Turn it off. Add the remaining. This way you may be able to get about half the fluid out in one change.

FlyRunRide

Thanks for this, just changed the fluid when I got a break for the holidays. Pretty quick and easy, did the drain and fill, and like yours the old fluid is dark. I drained 2.6x Liters of fluid. Doing it again after another 30K.

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

I've been doing this since 50K miles on the car. In total I have about 5 drain and fills. First 4 got all the fluid red again actually the 3rd did. When I first drained it. To my surprise it was the darkest fluid I've ever seen. Never black stoned it so it may if still been good.

In all the IS250 AWD drops exactly 4 QTS every time. So doing the drain in fill will net good results.

I plan on changing my trans filter in the spring putting me about 110k give or take. Last drain and fills was at 80k and it was still red fluid.

Notes: Try to find a 6 PT 24mm socket if you can. 12 PT will round the plug if it hasn't been removed before.

Good write up.

Moisture

What about the pan filter?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Change it. Taking note that the O-ring needs ordered and replaced too. There is currently and active thread for the pan gasket, filter AWD and RWD, as well o-ring.

Moisture

Oh no, there is absolutely no question that you should. I was just wondering why so many don't.

Also, when you install the new pan in again, make sure the mating surfaces are perfectly clean and you might want to apply a gasket paste just in case to avoid leaks.

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

Read my post again. I plan on changing it soon.

windedslot

Just did my transmission fluid for the first time on my 2010 IS350. 167k miles on it.

Questions.
- for level, is it the pan that is level or the car that is level? I have it so that the trans pan is all around level (front back, left right)
- do the wheels need to be free moving while getting the transmission fluid up to temp?
- I drained out about 4 quarts. I put 4.5 quarts back in. I moved the gear selector thru the gears and back to park. temp got to 105 and i opened the over fill. nothing came out. Do I put more in and repeat the the temperature check steps? When the car is off and the transmission fluid is cold fluid does come out of the overfill.

gs350fan

Car must be level. Just like if you were driving.

primavera