Anyone changed their transmission fluid for their 3IS?

If yes, when did you change it?
Any difference in terms of gearshifts, if at all?

Thanks!

 

What is your current mileage and age?

 

It's a life time fluid.

 

Are you seeing any issues with gearshifts, or just curious about the transmission fluid?

 

Just curious!

 

Yes. I've checked my owner's manual. However, I find that 2IS owners have flushed and changed their fluids before with mixed results. So, was wondering if anyone owning a 3IS stuck to factory filled transmission fluids or changed them out at 80k miles

 

Every 80,000 km here and differential every 40,000 km.

 

That's right I have change mine twice.

Right now 180,000 KM

2014 IS350 RWD

 

Haha this has been a debate on the BMW forums for a super long time. Life time fluids.

Long story short it's a marketing gimmick to make ones cars seem less like they don't need as much maintenance.

Yes many cars can go long, but wear will start to accelerate as the oil breaks down. All lubricating oils break down.

I have repeated this on BMW forums for a long, long time now. All lubricating fluids need changing, ALL the time. In all cars. No exceptions.

And no that old wives tale you heard of new fluid causing stuff to dislodge breaking your... no.

There's more of an emphasis on changing engine oil due to the violent operating conditions but transmission is a not so distant #2. If you own your Lexus and plan on keeping it long, change the fluid and filter.

For most though, the lease will end before fluid needs changing.

 

Thank you for speaking up. The idea of "lifetime" fluid is ridiculous. I plan to change my Trans/Diff between 60-80K. That's already giving the fluid the benefit of the doubt considering my change intervals for my Honda are half that.

 

go ahead... but be prepared to spend $$.

I know in the Audi world when customers wanted to change their Tranny fluid on their Automatics it would cost them almost a $1000 just for the oil alone.

 

For my benz the recommend Trans & Tc fluid change is every 40K miles. That service will run anywhere from $500-$1000 depending which dealer you go to.

 

Should be about $200 at Lexus, give or take. Let's say I'll plan to keep the car up to 250K miles and my change interval is 80K, simple math says i'd only change my fluid 3 times = $600 for the "life" of the car. $600 is so little compared to the cost of a replacement 8 speed auto trans (quick google says it's just about $8K for a new assembly), especially considering the cost is spread out over the life of the car.

A lot of good info here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-change-2.html

This video has a lot of good info in the comments too:
I bought a Lexus so i wouldn't be raped by Euro engineering!! haha If the dealer told me $1k for trans fluid, i'd firmly turn around and walk out laughing because that's a joke. Euro owners get ripped off all the time because they cars are "so highly engineered" that their customers are too scared to take the cars anywhere but the stealership.

Manufacturers are also always trying to figure out ways to retain customers and keep them from going to independent shops. It's absolutely asinine to think the fluid will last the life of the vehicle (not saying you do). But as others have said, Lexus is just trying to compete with the Euros so they need to start marketing similarly. Every fluid used in a machine will break down--science hasn't invented one that doesn't yet, otherwise everyone would be using it.

Not to mention Euros rarely last past 150K miles (my opinion, no offense to anyone!), so I'm sure "lifetime fluid" has worked out fine for them. Their cars either break down and get sold or get traded in because all of their cars are leases or their owners just can't drive anything past 3 years old. Plus their customers are already used to paying rape prices for any little thing. Toyota/Lexus, which prides itself on long lasting vehicles, will have quite a few angry customers in future years once these cars get older and naive customers find out that their lifetime transmission fluid didn't last 300K miles like the rest of the car did.

 

No oil is lifetime. 2IS i remeber changing gear oil and filter at 108,000km and it was black and really bad, after changing it definitly felt gear shifting alot smoother.

Same goes for differential if not changed car doesn't feel good.

 

I had mine replaced at the dealership at 48,000km. I don't believe there's such a thing as lifetime fluid and used to do drain and fills annually in my older Japanese cars. It's cheap insurance to prolong the life of the transmission, and they also put in some sort of transmission conditioner (without telling me, and charged an extra $20 CAD).