A lot of different opinions on flushes. A lot of people swear they can mess up a tranny. The drain n refill procedure is really easy on these cars, I did one about a month ago for about $120 all in. $80 in labour and $40 or so on fluid only because I switched to Amsoil ATF instead of Toyota WS fluid. Toyota fluid is cheaper, like 8$ a quart.
Find an independent mechanic and save your money, do a couple drain n refills and you’ll be fine.

 

My Lexus dealer did a "fluid exchange" for $300, all in. Shifts like butter.

 

Any good mechanic would tell you not only to replace the mesh filter strainer, but to clean the magnet found inside the bottom of the pan. Whatever metal shavings make it past the strainer are supposed to be caught by the magnet at the bottom of the pan. Once the magnet cannot hold these shavings anymore, it starts to mix with the rest of your ATF and turn into sludge at the bottom of the pan which will eventually lead to solenoid/valve body replacements down the road.

Telling somebody they don't need to drop their pan (to replace the mesh filter and clean the magnet) is just plain bad advice.

Do you actually have direct experience replace your own filter strainer? Because when I dropped the pan on the Aisin transmission in my Mazda at around 100K miles, it looked very dirty. I wouldn't want that to stay inside my transmission for 60k, let alone 100k. At least I know that the bad advice is associated with Lexus's poor decision to suggest that you don't need to replace the filter.

I made my own thread detailing the pan replacement service with an Aisin transmission. Keeping that magnet clean is critical when it comes to the longevity of your transmission. As you can see in the last picture where I zoomed in on the filter element inside the strainer, it looks very dirty. And look at the sludge at the bottom of the pan. Some other cars past 100K miles look far worse than that. Do you really want to leave all that crap inside your transmission? Most of those metal shavings caught by the magnet actually break off early on in the transmissions life while it is still breaking in (or from abusive driving)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...er-change.html

 

Appreciate these replies and info. I've been debating on getting my fluid changed (120K on the car) but recall hearing very mixed views on why one should or shouldn't. The should is obvious enough to me...fluid only lasts so long. But why shouldn't you? Is there concern about getting a new gasket on just right?

 

There are many threads across several Lexus models on here extensively exhausting this topic.

It's quite simple. At your mileage, depending on how hard you drive the car you're getting close to the point where doing a simple drain and fill or full atf fluid flush increases the chances of metal shavings/sludge breaking loose and clogging one of the transmissions many intricate passageways. As you continue to drive on the original filter and magnet which is far too dirty to do anything eventually your clutch packs will rely on the added viscosity of sludgey ATF fluid in order to press together and function which = impending or even instant failure when the crud breaks free. This is why a drain and fill is never a good idea unless you know the magnet/filter is in a clean state.

do you plan to service your transmission yourself? You must ensure the mating surface between the pan and transmission unit is clean of old gasket paste and a new one must be applied carefully, unless your new pan already comes with a physical gasket.

If you drop the pan to ensure the filter and magnet can at least continue to do their job then there is zero risk in doing so even at higher mileage than yours. If you care about the transmissions health, which you should even if you dont plan to keep the car as they are fine quality units and will last the life of the car when regularly maintained. Your transmission will shift noticeably more quick/smooth and youll also be doing the the torque converter a huge favour at parking lot speeds.

My suggestion is to just find a reputable transmission shop in the area who do things like this on a regular basis and are usually quite knowledgable when it comes to this sort of service. Any good honest mechanic should do a fine job like in my case.

note that if you're going to be hard on the transmission, especially the first 3000 miles of its initial life you are increasing the amount of metal shavings breaking free from the unit, filtered through the box and caught by the magnet. As long as the transmission was not abused when new, you will never need a valve body replacement/rebuild or be dropping the pan to replace stuck/clogged shift solenoids which luckily arent too much of a pain to replace but will eventually destroy the rest of your transmission when left neglected and unserviced.

 

Did they removed both oil pans, clean and replaced the gaskets? I know there are two transmission oil pans (at least on an AWD, not sure about the RWD).

 

At what mileage did you do yours at?

 

Changing my ATF fluid has been something I've been meaning to do. I was just going to do the drain and fill several times over, but based on what info @Moisture has given, I might as well go all the way with it and drop the pan and clean the magnet and replace the strainer.

I plan on keeping my car until the day it dies, so I want to get on top of this asap.

What I am asking for is help on what all parts I need to order to do this job right..

I know the model # of the strainer, know what fluid to get. But does anyone have part #'s for everything else required? Gaskets, O-Rings, Bolts (I read not to re-use the pan bolts if you can help it), or any other part required to do this job right.

Anyone who can provide me with help on this is VERY much appreciated. I have access to a lift and am capable of doing this work myself, my issue is the lift I have access to I need to drive and hour to get to it, which I don't mind doing as long as I can complete the job properly and not be missing any parts I need.

 

Thanks for all that info! No way would I try this myself. I do simple stuff like oil changes but that's about as far as I go.

So if I understand you are suggesting a drain and fill with a new (or cleaned?) strainer/filter vs not doing anything?

I know a mom n pop shop who have been good to me and done simpler stuff for my car, but I wonder if I should go to a tranny expert or even a Lexus dealer for this, even though it will cost more. The tranny is not something I want to take chances with and I would like to have the car as long as possible.

 

No, tell them you want to drop the pan to replace the filter and clean the magnet. I'm not sure if they can order just the new filter and clean out your old pan. Usually they just replace the pan too. Simply draining and filling the trans is a different thing which I cannot recommend ever.

 

so you’re suggesting to replace/clean the pan, the magnet, and replace the strainer but keep the same ATF fluid for the life of the vehicle?

or are you just suggesting only that due to his mileage?

what about a in my case, a 2014 with just under 70k?

I appreciate your and anyone who has the knowledge insight but these threads continue to pop up because everyone is always disagreeing on what should be done. Every single thread is full of conflicting advice

 

Clearly you have some idea of how a tranny works, unfortunately it's clearly backwards.
The strainer (not filter) is a pickup point for the fluid, not a dispel point..meaning that it stops any metal filings from entering the transmission as the fluid travels up into the transmission, not downwards into the pan...that's why the tranny has a pump, to pull the fluid up into the tranny. Do you know where the pump is? Probably not.
When the vehicle is at rest the filings fall from the strainer and are then stuck to the pan magnets.
Please don't suggest I'm giving bad advise, that I take exception to and will not tolerate...simply suggest you have a different opinion.
I can appreciate you changed the filter on your Mazda Aisin transmission...to be honest I don't know if the Mazda uses a strainer or a filter, nor do I really care cause that's not what we are discussing here...it could have a filter and it was dirty...so you changed it, gold star for you!
Do i have experience changing a strainer on a Toyota or Lexus product? Likely all those transmissions I've rebuilt would suggest the answer is yes...and that's the only time I would change the strainer, if rebuilding the tranny, as likely it had some catastrophic failure that would have produced more than the normal amount of debris you normally find in the tranny from regular wear and tear...and could have damaged the strainer screen.
There's nothing wrong with dropping the pan and cleaning the magnets...and if you want to change the strainer, knock yourself out...what I'm suggesting is that the result isn't going to be what you expect from dropping the pan and changing the filter on a vehicle that has a filter...once again, Toyota uses a strainer, not a filter, as I've explained already...the strainer doesn't trap anything, so when you discard it, the only thing you are discarding is the strainer...any contaminants will either be trapped by the magnets (metal) or drained with the fluid (clutch material).

 

Who in their right mind replaces a transmission pan during a fluid change?
Do you replace the engine oil pan when you do an oil change? Cause I fail to see the difference here....good grief!

 

I have one question from that complete incorrect Wikipedia explanation...where do you think the metal filings are coming from? The tranny case is aluminum, which means the magnets will have no effect on any part of the case...and I'm not suggesting the case produces any filings, simply pointing out it's aluminum, which is not magnetic.

 

When you drop the pan roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of your original ATF fluid will be drained. If you drop the pan to clean out the magnet every 60k miles, that will be enough cycles of clean ATF fluid to protect everything inside your transmission. Generally speaking ATF fluid can continue to lubricate and manage heat within the transmission quite effectively even if wear metal values are off the charts from a lack of magnet cleanings. Hopefully that should clear things up for you.

I totally agree with you. You can just clean out the bottom of the pan and easily pop it back in. Not sure why tranny shops and mechanics dont. Maybe they just dont want to bother scraping off the dry gasket paste? I guess its just a way for somebody to be making more money.

well I assume they come from the clutch packs inside the unit and what not. They have to come from somewhere right?

What exactly is incorrect about my post?