do NOT power flush an LS400, just drain and refill with genuine Toyota T-IV fluid ONLY

you will need 3 quarts (about $16 total) at the dealership

 

+1 This is what I am doing every 10,000 miles or so. I think only 2 quarts drain from my pan though. Also, does not hurt to replace the gasket and drain bolt when you do this.

 

I recently decided to use a gasket instead of the FIPG which was applied by a dealer last time when the pan was dropped a few years ago. The ATF has been leaking little by little since then but the dealer could not fix it. I don't trust the FIPG applied by an unskilled human. I consider that it should be applied by a industrial robot which is adjusted precisely.

You will find how I dislike the FIPG seeing photos below.
Removed pan


The strainer at a glance


What I've got from the strainer


Cleaned pan and the gasket I used

 

Wow, all that gunk was in the strainer? Was that excess FIPG?

 

looks more like bits of friction material.

 

Yamae-

What are the fine silverish particulates on the left side of the green container? I notice the black irregular pieces as potentially the gasket material that was pinched off when torqued up. Those fine silver bits are

 

I was amazed to see those when they were coming out from the strainer. The black ones are FIPG particles. There are 2 different kinds of silverish particulates. Some small thin metal films which look like peeled off plated metals and some very small particulates. I still don't know what are those brown ones but they are soft and look like another FIPG to me.

The car is 98 Celsior 94k miles. Here in Japan we are normally forced to stop and run very often like you drive in the city and the damage to the AT must be more than yours. Other than the ATF leak, I did not have any particular problem with this transmission although it had this much of unwanted gunk.

I think the strainer has been doing a good job. But it is just a mesh and smaller particulates must have been passing through it and circulating. I can see some of them at the bottom of the pan but most of them were small particulates from the clutch. Those magnets were catching some of iron materials and you can imagine the amount of those.

Doing the job myself, there were some other interesting experience other than particulates but my limited English skill prevents me to write the whole story well enough. If you are interested in them I will try to report consulting the dictionary.

 

Thanks everybody for the great input. I'm betting it's going to be a diff problem and I'm going to check the bushes and fluids. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

I'm new here and loving this site. THANKS again everybody!
Ben

 

You should always warm your car up if it's 40 and below. If you don't, you're going to be wearing out your internals of your engine faster. The cold makes lubricants Thickened up.

 

Thanks for reviving a 3 yo thread to get your post count up...

 

i don't care about my post count.

 

Your reply is late but your advice is timeless.

Thanks,
Dan

 

I have a 1998 LS400 with 137k miles now. Cold operating temperature has similar effect on my transmission. I'm not too worried about it because it completely goes away when engine is warmer. Even if I park the car for a few hours then drive again. I may change the fluid at some point as precaution maintenance. I only change my oil with full synthetic Mobil-1 oil. The Lexus dealer uses this oil for their synthetics.