Originally Posted by E46CT

Such a guy topic. Been banging this topic over on the BMW forums 10 years plus. Guys there would run their 3, 5, 7 series 200k on the original fluid and claim superiority. Others would experience a failure after a change and blame the change. Others would experience a failure after no change and blame themselves for not changing it. The experiences are all over the place.

Truth be told, most auto trans can run until 200k and beyond on the same fluid. Does that mean you shouldn't change it? Probably not. We know fluid breaks down and new fluid is always better than old.

The happy and economic medium is likely just dropping the pan at somewhat regular intervals and replacing the fluid in it along w/ any filters and call it a day.

Replacing all the fluid is usually $500+ as 10 quarts of fluid costs a lot of money. So if you do that 4x, you've bought yourself a replacement transmission already.

Originally Posted by Flash5

I'm not trying to dismiss anything you guys are saying, but let's be honest here and talk about how many people that hardly know anything about cars and NEVER change their transmission fluid and how they are hitting over 200k miles on their Aisin transmissions. The fact is that auto transmissions are extremely complicated these days so many parts and technology. I feel like you could change your transmission fluid every 30k on the spot and then still have issues later on before 150k miles or you could never change your fluid and go 300k miles. In my opinion, these Aisin transmission are so well designed and built that I personally don't worry about going above and beyond with my transmission. I will probably have my fluid drained and filled every 50k miles and call it a day. I trust Toyota (and Aisin which they own) enough to expect my transmission to go at least 200k miles without scraping the bottom of the pan, etc.

Originally Posted by E46CT

Such a guy topic. Been banging this topic over on the BMW forums 10 years plus. Guys there would run their 3, 5, 7 series 200k on the original fluid and claim superiority. Others would experience a failure after a change and blame the change. Others would experience a failure after no change and blame themselves for not changing it. The experiences are all over the place.

Truth be told, most auto trans can run until 200k and beyond on the same fluid. Does that mean you shouldn't change it? Probably not. We know fluid breaks down and new fluid is always better than old.

The happy and economic medium is likely just dropping the pan at somewhat regular intervals and replacing the fluid in it along w/ any filters and call it a day.

Replacing all the fluid is usually $500+ as 10 quarts of fluid costs a lot of money. So if you do that 4x, you've bought yourself a replacement transmission already.

Originally Posted by Moisture

just because these are really well designed units should not dismiss the fact that you dont need to maintain them! Transmissions, and atf fluid are wear items just like many other parts on your car. The truth is many of these units DO NOT make it to 200k miles even though they easily could have and should have.

​​​Plus, even if you did somehow make it all this time with the pan sealed up, you just have no idea what sort of shift quality you are missing out on ..

Originally Posted by Flash5

You worry way too much. It’s not worth the hassle to go to massive lengths to try and hope your transmission lasts forever. No matter how well you maintain it, it’s getting worn as you just stated that’s the fact. There’s no guarantee it will last as long as you want it to. Just draining or flushing and filling is enough to get your aisin transmission to make it to where you got your money’s worth out of it.

Originally Posted by Moisture

let's take your "not worry" approach with the rest of the car. Would you recommend to regularly change your engine oil but leave the old dirty filter in there? Or better yet. How about we design a filter housing by pass all together and see what happens?

So how could you say it's ok with a transmission, on the basis of whatever your argument is? You know many owners have problems after 150k with these units, which is to be expected when nobody keeps the pan clean.

Originally Posted by Sasnuke

The part above is referred to as a strainer, not a filter. Unfortunately the pic is of the side that bolts to the tranny, and not the side that you can see the strainer screen...the opposite side.
I'm afraid your transmission specialist is not that familiar with Toyota products...tranny filters are typically found on domestic vehicles, and do get replaced with fluid service.
And i realize at this point it may seem like semantics between using the word filter and strainer...but it isn't.
A filter traps particulates that will get discarded when you replace the filter.
A strainer only stops the particulates from re-entering the transmission, but it does not trap them. It allows them to fall back into the transmission pan, to be discarded when you change the fluid.
So...to remove the pan to change the strainer won't serve any real benefit. Sure, you can get a little more fluid out (maybe 100ml or so), and clean the magnets in the pan if you like, but replacing the strainer is just throwing away money.
Additionally the strainer screen is stainless steel...so basically it never degrades as it's always submerged in oil.
If you look through any Toyota/Lexus/Scion service manual, going back to the 90's (maybe even further), you will never see a service recommendation for changing a transmission "filter", cause it doesn't exist.

Originally Posted by Sasnuke

Lol...that sounds like something I would do...but just in case, here it is.
This will cover all 3IS...review the replacement procedure first, then the adjustment one.

Originally Posted by NickCaesar

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.

Originally Posted by Moisture

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

Originally Posted by Moisture

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.

Originally Posted by whoismiked

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.

Originally Posted by Sasnuke

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!

Originally Posted by E46CT

Such a guy topic. Been banging this topic over on the BMW forums 10 years plus. Guys there would run their 3, 5, 7 series 200k on the original fluid and claim superiority. Others would experience a failure after a change and blame the change. Others would experience a failure after no change and blame themselves for not changing it. The experiences are all over the place.

Truth be told, most auto trans can run until 200k and beyond on the same fluid. Does that mean you shouldn't change it? Probably not. We know fluid breaks down and new fluid is always better than old.

The happy and economic medium is likely just dropping the pan at somewhat regular intervals and replacing the fluid in it along w/ any filters and call it a day.

Replacing all the fluid is usually $500+ as 10 quarts of fluid costs a lot of money. So if you do that 4x, you've bought yourself a replacement transmission already.

Originally Posted by GR3Y5H3ART

in the Adjustment .pdf, i did that today but on step:

2 (d) Add automatic transmission fluid to the refill hole until it flows out of the overflow hole

i did this but it drained about 1 Quart, after adding 3 Quarts because I measured how much came out initially.

i will be following davyjordi's advice and ADDING 1 Quart


my plan is to change it sooner than 60,000 miles or 100,000 Km as i did not like the color of the ATF at all (darkish brown)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ugh-fluid.html