So I contacted my local transmission shop who has rebuild a transmission and done other auto work on my non lexus vehicles. Asked for a transmission drain and fill price. He called me back and told me he looked at the process and was uncomfortable and declined my request.

Next I called the local Lexus Dealer in Raleigh and they said that they do not do drain and refill as it is a closed system with lifetime fluid.

I was then at my local Toyota dealer whom is also a customer of mine and there in the middle of a software installation. I asked a service advisor about a drain and refill and he had the same answer as the two above - wont do it. So I was in the bays for my work and asked one of the techs who was transmission tech and he pointed me in the right direction. I asked him the same thing and he said that they are sealed and no need to change after a discussion on how they recommend changes in every other country except the US. His reply was that he has two toyota's with sealed transmissions one with 150K and another with 200K and has never changed and he has never had an issue with them at all..

Also in my mind is the fact that I changed the transmission fluid in my 2010 toyota tundra and within 18 months had to have the transmission shop as mentioned above rebuild. Maybe there is something to keeping the fluid in and leaving. It does not make sense to me but then again I am not a mechanic.

 

LS460 transmission will start having problems shifting at high miles. Drain and refill is needed from my personal experience. I have done mine (drop and refill with strainer replacement) at $155k and noticed better shifting, I am planing to do a "drain and refill" soon.

 

No such thing as "lifetime" tranny fluid. When I bought my CPO '11 LS460 in '13, it had about 20k miles. I looked at the work done in CPOing it and was surprised they had changed it. I just had it done again, 70k miles, at Lexus w/o any problems. About $150 as I recall. Just routine service to them.

 

My local Lexus dealer back flushed my trans at 70k miles. Noticeable improvement in trans shifting. South coast Lexus in mission Viejo, ca. Owned by warren buffets company.

They mentioned that the two other local to us dealers do not back flush.

As was stated my info is the identical trans out of the USA marketing district show 60k trans fluid intervals.

 

did they explain what they did by back flushing the trans? Did it involve pumping fluid into the transmission where the transmission usually pumps fluid out?

 

I had my 2015 RX350 transmission changed at the local dealership. I first asked a couple of years ago and was given the same answer nope we don't do it. But when I went in for my 95,000 mile service they told me that they now have the machine to exchange the fluid with the engine running. Also the same with antifreeze.

 

The Lexus mechanics I've spoken with on the topic all say to change at 100K. I just changed mine by myself once I got the courage (and my QuickJack setup). I didn't see hardly any improvement after the change (137K miles). The fluid wasn't all that dirty and there was some, but not much, metal shavings on the magnets. I expected more.

I measured all the drains - and put back in the same amount. This is the most finicky part of the drain/fill. I had put in "too much' (even though measured to the ml) and there were slightly more delays in shifting (nothing terrible or damaging or anything like that). Then I drained about 1/2 quart. Less shifting delay, but still noticeable when turning right to get on a highway ramp and accelerate hard. So I need to remove a little more to dial it in - I'll do that this weekend.

Simple job to do really. I've been warned about those pressurized machines so wouldn't feel comfortable unless someone proved my fear away

 

That is a good example how not to adjust the transmission fluid level. There is a specific set of steps you need to take to adjust the level correctly. It includes bringing the fluid to certain temperature, leveling the vehicle, removing the overfill bolt and monitoring coming out fluid.

 

Yes, there's the whole factory process which I did not follow to the letter including bringing the temperature to between like 112-118. I can tell you the factory didn't follow the factory process due to how much fluid came out cold from the overfill cap which was the first thing I unscrewed. LOTS of fluid came out that overfill. At that point it was pretty convincing the overfill bolt wasn't the holy grail the manual makes it out to be. All is fine though - perfection is the enemy of the good.

 

Manufacture guidance is barely enough to get it done properly. It is very far from perfection.

I have flushed the fluid as many on this forum following the manufacture guidance.

Monitoring temperature is important because the fluid contract and expends a bit with temperature change. In order to properly to set the fluid level, the temperature must in the very specific range. If you wait too long, you will let out too much fluid, not long enough - fluid overfilling.

As I mentioned before, the car must be leveled properly as well.

 

Good points, it was leveled. The temperature notwithstanding it's just another 5 minutes to dial it in. Would rather people try it themselves than not try due to not having tech stream, a scan tool, a heat gun....it's a simple fluid change and in my case some minor adjustments. Get 'r done.

 

The Toyo dealer here did a drain and fill for me no issues a few years ago. Then i went to a Lexus dealership for the ZLZ and asked about a complete drain and fill all fluid and they did it no issues. I told them my local dealer said no and they were surprised.

 

Depends, did you drain your tranny with the engine off? Most likely you did because it wouldn’t be very smart to drain transmission with the engine on. The proper level is attained by getting the trans up to temp, leveled, eng on. This will cause the fluid to pump through the closed system and the level of residual fluid in the pan is much lower than when the engine is on.

A properly filled tranny will drain a ton of fluid (2 quarts if I remember correctly), when draining down to the standpipe with the engine off.

I know this because I did the same darn thing to my ‘11 LS two yrs ago.

jarrod

 

@jman415 This is correct, "Most likely you did because it wouldn’t be very smart to drain transmission with the engine on". Your explanation makes sense about the draining into the pan when cold, but then that makes the overflow plug a rather dubious "check system". A 'sealed' system with a 'check' plug that needs 3 other things to happen in parallel to make the check plug removal an accurate representation of fill level. It's rather comical.

 

You guys are making this drain and refill more complicated than it is really. Drain the fluid and it should be around 2 quarts give or take.

Make sure your car is not hot while pumping the new fluids in. I put in a little more to be safe If so, just pump it in and wait till the temperature goes down. Dont forget to screw back in the fill plug.

Start the car wait till the transmission temp reaches 104-114 degree. While the car is on go down open the overflow bolt and let any excess fluid drain out till it drips and tighten the overflow bolt up.

Now if the temp is correct and you open the overflow bolt and nothing drains out. You have 2 things it could be. 1 your tranny was really low on fluids and you didn't put enough in. 2 the overflow plastic/rubber hose is either broken or missing inside the transmission pan.

I have done 3 drain and refill in the last month. I think i will do one more and i should be good. I don't need my whole transmission fluid to be 100% new but 70-80% is good enough as long the fluid is red. Mine was still coming out black until the 3rd time thats when it started to look cleaner.

But this next one im doing. Im going to drop the pan and change out the filter and gasket.