Jim - Do you recall what was the dealer's total charge for changing the tranny fluid?

 

I think it was around $170 or so.

 

Okay, one last question and response from Blackstone:

Question:
I got the TAN report and it showed an acid level of 1.9. Is this only
mildly high and nothing to worry about? Not sure if the Toyota/Lexus WS
tranny fluid starts out with a TAN of "0" when virgin, but when doing
some Internet research on TAN levels, I was seeing TAN levels
much higher than this (3.6) on BMW tranny fluid with less miles.

Blackstone Response:
The TAN doesn't always start out at 0.0 and most virgin ATF's we see start at 1.0 or so, so your reading isn't really that bad.
Chances are the BMW fluid that you saw started out with a higher TAN to begin with.

 

My dealer lets me bring my own parts in, so I buy the WS at the Toyota dealer for around $6/qt and have Lexus do the labor (they are cheaper than Toyota). I paid 1 hour in labor + the misc charges cleanup/shop fees they tack on. I think it was around $135-140 plus tax.

They also fixed the creak between the center console wood cover plate and shifter bezel plate...now, no vibration on the left side of the bezel, and no noise! Although that is not covered by the CPO warranty, they didn't charge me anything for it!

 

As an aside, my wife also drives a LX470 with 170,000 miles (2000). When I had the timing belt and water pump changed out at roughly 145,000 miles, I asked my guy "so I'm good for another 100,000 miles, right?". He said "yeah, you MIGHT consider a transmission fluid flush too". Didn't seem to be a big deal at that time to him. They do the live exchange with the pump.

 

Off topic but have to say I gotcha' beat... My friend's step-dad has a 2004 LX470 with 290k... Yes that is 290,000 miles. I have to imagine it is the highest mileage one in the country purchased new, and in mint condition. I believe he did trans services at regular intervals. He's a doctor and travels the country with his kids in it, to Florida and Canada and back etc.

I have actually tried to acquire that truck a few times but no one is making anything that he remotely likes anymore, so he just keeps on driving it til the wheels fall off.

 

So based on all the info from Blackstone, which probably raised as many questions as it answered, call me crazy, but here's how I plan to handle my transmission and differential fluid changes:

I'll be doing a fluid change on the transmission and differential every 30k miles. I drive about 15k miles a year, so the cost to do this is about $100 a year ($200 per exchange). It takes more effort / cycles to try and decipher when it really needs to be changed as opposed to just doing it, and I did see an improvement with the smoothness / quickness of the shifting, which I'd like to maintain. Since you don't get all the oil out every time you do an exchange, a 30k mile interval will help to maintain the viscosity of the fluid, and keep the level of contaminants under control as the components continue to wear.

Jim

 

Sounds like a pretty smart plan to me. Thanks for the info.

 

Again, off topic, but happy to see someone else has a truck with miles I'm planning on running up. I think I'm definitely convinced to do the tx flushes at least every 100k from here on out!

And will also look at the LS prior to 100K...

 

OP how did you get the fluid out? Did you get it changed and took a sample of it?

 

Yes, brought the Blackstone sample bottle to the dealer. They took the sample when they changed the fluid.

 

Hopefully the mechanic doesn't think it's cute to give you someone else's fluid.

 

I'm pretty friendly with the mechanic that worked on it so I think it's highly unlikely.

 

^ damn you found a lexus dealer to actually change out the fluid? All the dealers near me wont touch it lol....


My dealer gets all moody if I bring a container for the oil, like why are you testing it blah blah..

 

don't worry, you'll get new fluid from them after they replace your transmission