Hi,

pretty new to the LS, have owned a LS400 ´98 (140k km/87k miles) for abt. 6 months now.
The car has been serviced by the local Lexus dealership so far, but
I thought I would now use independent shops for liquids so the question
is how often to change and what to use for:

Engine oil:
abt. every 6200miles (10000km/12months)
should use 5w/10w30 synthetic?
It gets cold where I live, so the 5w should be better?

Tranny oil:
Toyota type IV
every 24months?

Rear differential oil:
how often?
what?

Coolant:
How often?
What?

Break fluid:
How often?
What?

So your oppinions?
Thanks

 

You might want to start in the Maintenance Forum

here's a nice FAQ from that forum

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=296913

 

Hope this helps

 

I used Lucas Gear oil and like it a lot...or maybe my oil gear oil was so dirty that anything would have worked good.

 

If you live in cold climate I would a synthetic oil such as mobil one 5/30 and have your radiator and engine block drained at the same time and use Toyota fluid with distilled water check with lexus to see if the rear end is limited slip and if so it take a special oil I change my power steering oil every 50,000 miles using mobil one tranmission fluid. I am also using mobil one transmission fluid in place of the toyota type four fluid so far no problems at 187,000 miles on my lexus and my last toyota cressida trans went 490,000 miles on the mobil one trans fluid and it is still going . I change my brake fluid every 30,000 miles I flush out the whole system. All the new cars now use synthetic fluid from germany and soon the us cars will start using the synthetic. corvette now does use mobil one I have good people at the lexus school here in California who I contact to learn how make a lexus run and run right past the battery bunny. You own the greatest car built today take car of it and it can go up to 500,000 miles

 

the A340/341/350 trans in teh LS400 and SC3/400 will ONLY work with toyota t-iv fluid.

or amsoil

thats it.

no debate, mobil 1 will not work.

 

I would add Power Steering to my list of "must change" fluids.
Doing so frequently may help keep maintenance cost down. PS is a known weak spot.

Think you mean brake fluid. Since it is hygroscopic your boiling point diminishes year after year & the result is less performance. It should be changed every 3-4 years at least!!

 

On one of the post a person said to use Amsoil which is equal to type 4 toyota transmission fluid this is correct. I started using Mobil one transmission fluid and so far no problems at 188,000 miles. I also put on a transmission cooler at 50,000 miles for the Southern California freeway parking lot or just plain bumper to bumper traffic it helps keep the transmission cooler in the summer. It is said you can go 50,000 to 100,000 on synthetic transmission oil I still like to change it every 25-30,000 miles. I have talked to people who just run the type iv toyota trans fluid and gotten 300-400,000 miles on the trans one guy got 568,000 on the same trans just keep the transmission oil changed at about 25,000 miles. You can just buy the toyota tranmission fluid (same as Lexus) and have any good transmission shop change it for you.

 

For All My Maintenance I Use All Stock Oils That Comes Through Lexus. Motor Oil I Change About Everyone Month Just Fo The Fun Of It And Plus My Car Super Old. Tranny Fluid I Change Maybe Every 30k - 60k Same Reason Old Car And I Mash On It Sometimes. I Change Brake Fluid Once I Start Seeing It Darken. Gota Keep That Honey Color. I Do My Power Steering Fluid Same Time With Brake Fluid. Coolant I Have No Clue LoL.