The Toyota mechanic I'd used for some years relayed to me that Type IV transmissions without fluid maintenance fail in the 150-180K range typically. Some go longer or shorter and depends on driving conditions. As Tom57 mentions, 100K miles is that mark so drivers wanting to go long term would be advised to do complete fluid maintenance on their cars. Differential, brake, power steering...

 

I work at Honda and an experiences mechanic told me if the auto trans fluid was never changed with a lot of miles you shouldn't change it as it may cause problems. I couldn'tvbelieve it so i researched it and found that particles or gunk left over from the old trans fluid could somehow stick to the clutch packs when you drain it and fill it with new fluid or the new fluid would move around the old gunk and he would get stuck in clutch packs and ruin your transmission

 

But at the same time I feel like the world standard at some point has to go bad I mean could I would drive it 500,000 miles with out ever changing it ? Idk what to do

 

The experienced mechanic is right, and so are CL members here. Don't flush the transmission fluid ... just do a drain and fill. Flushing can cause disruption of accumulated particles. Drain and fill does not.

 

Excellent advice. Congrats on the 275. D/F harder to do on 04-06 so maybe every 2 years (10k total for me) and by temp (not volume). I hear over and over from good mechanics that D/F (not flush) is the way to go.

 

I, like you bonez89 had been wondering the same thing regarding changing my transmission fluid. I have an 06 LS430 with 159xxx on the odometer and to my knowledge, confirmed via service records had never been changed. The 06 requires WS not Type IV for your 01, and it is much harder to do a drain and fill or flush. This is due to there being no plug with 04-06 like there is with the 01-03. After speaking with multiple sources, Indy shops, Lexus shops, and searching forums, I decided to get it done. The main reason for this was that when switching gears, my vehicle's transmission would have a minor jerk. It was not major, but it was noticeable. So for this reason I opted to do a drain and fill, not a total flush. Like people have stated here, a flush can cause issues further down the line due to disruption of particles and particulates. A drain and fill does not seem to have these same issues as the vehicle ages. I did have the dealer do it, was charged the same price you were quoted of $350. Biggest reasons to have the dealer do it: Tools needed for the procedure which allow the shop to perform it properly, meaning the drain and fill is steady, which minimizes the likeliness of any particle displacement. Plus the drain and fill needs to be done under certain temperature conditions, something like 117F - 131F degrees. Given those restrictions, I bit the bullet and had the shop perform the job. I can say that I am very satisfied with the results and there is not any jerking motion when switching gears. That's my two cents. Happy motoring!

 

So i looked underneath car at the tranny snd saw no frain plug . There was 2 screws/bolts i believe 1 on side snd 1 on the flat pan (bottom of trans). Im really not sure how to tackle this. The rear diff was a lot easier. DOES ANYONE HAVE A PHOTO to point out what to unscrew. IT WOULD BD GREATLY APPRECIATED

 

I don't believe you told us, what year is your LS? '01 - '03 is different than '04 - '06 tranny drain 'n fill.

 

sorry, 2004 LS430 fully loaded except NOT UL, no air ride. i changed diff fluid bc there was a drain plug, and a fill plug, but i looked at the trans and had NO IDEA what to do.

 

The '04 - '06 is more difficult (but doable) for DIY trans fluid drain 'n fill.

Here's the thread that has instructions: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...er-thread.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-location.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...id-change.html