Having my frist two cars as stick shift, I never put transmission fluid into consideration when I bought my GS400. The previous owner said it just went through a major tune up - he's a 7th grade science teacher so I took his word for it. I found out that transmission fluid is suppose to be changed every 30k miles. Well the car was bought last year and last week I got an oil change, and the techician brought to my attention that my transmission fluid is black and that it's suppose to be a blood color. The car currently has 77K miles on it. So I'm thinking the fluid is from factory.

I immediately brought my car to my mechcanic to do a tranny flush. He told me that another Lexus was brought there last month with the same problem, the ATF gotten flushed and 3 weeks later the transmission went out. So now he doesn't want to flush my transmission since the transmission may not be accustomed to the new fluid, and told me to just run it until the transmission goes out and rebuild it. Any recommendations from you guys is appreciated, thanks in adavance....

 

run it till the transmission goes? Why would you want to do that?


Just do a regular tranny fluid change. Dont have to do a complete flush. Just change it out sooner than normal.

 

do a drain and refill every oil change until back to red. you will replace about 4 qts each time (i think thats what it is for the GS).

An Automatic transmissions worst enemy is heat, or age. either one can and does ruin an autmatic trans that isnt cared for properly. your fluid is burned. it wil smell like bad gear oil when it comes out. that is not good. replace it with fresh Toyota trans fluid (not sure but i think its type T-IV). do it again at your next oil change, and keep doing it until back to a decent red color. watch it closely, if it goes from red to black in less than 10K miles, something is amiss in your tranny.

also, baby it in this process. no fast starts, burnouts etc.

in the old days they used to say that if you let the fluid burn, dont even bother changing, just start shopping for a new one, but that is no longer the case. this was the case with mine, but i did 2 dran and refills within 5,000 miles, and did another one after 7,000. now i will do another at 9,000 (since buying the car). 9,000 miles, and the only time it slipped was when the fluid ran low. *KNOCKS ON WOOD*

and FFR, ATF very acidic, the only things that will eat through paint faster are Gasoline and Brake fluid. so by not flushing, eventually (theoretically) they will work nearly as good as new.

my car currently gives one hard shift every day. and its the very fist cold shift of the morning, from 1st to 2nd gear. then its fine the rest fo the day.

EDIT: woohoo! 900 posts

 

If you can change your own oil, iyou'll find it probably even easier to drain and fill your own ATF as well. Just make sure your using the correct type (should be on your dipstick). AS everyone is sugessting, do a couple of drain and fills until clear. This will gradually get the jbad fluid out as opposed to a flsuh which might potentially dislodge something and block up the flow.

 

Your mechanic may not know that the GS400 and a lot of Lexus models takes Type-T trans fluid. If he flushed the trans and filled it up with Dextron that will explain why the trans went out after 3 weeks.

If your trans shifts fine, just do the drain and fill with 2 qts of Type-T and don't worry about it.

 

I have 3 quarts of Toyota ATF Type T-IV. So I should drain and fill with 3 new quarts every oil change until it's red again? Does anyone know where the drill plug and fill hole is? Is it hard to do? Thanks for your input guys...

 

no it is not hard to do. on your 3rd fluid change, i would take it somewhere and have the pan dropped and the filter changed/screen and magnets cleaned.

 

Have you actually looked at the fluid yourself?

 

Oil change guys are trained to suggest extra procedures to the customer to boost their profits. The "burnt-smell" test is a common tactic, since ATF has a funny odor even when new. As for color, new ATF should actually be more of a strawberry red rather than a blood red, but in any case, it is not likely to be black right now, more like a dark red (like Chianti).

That's the color mine was, at about the same mileage, but a full flush took care of that. If you'll search there's plenty of posts on how to change all of the fluid yourself, or you can gradually change it out, as others have suggested.

 

That mechanic is probably NOT a Toyota certified mechanic....plus, he prolly put the wrong ATF fluid in the other car whose trans died 3 weeks later.

First off....find a new mechanic....next....do a flush with genuine Toyota ATF Type IV.

Good luck.

Pete

 

I know those oil change guys try to find everything wrong with the car so they can charge you for their service, but I have looked at the fluid myself and it is black. My mechanic work for GM motors, so maybe he doesn't know the niddy griddy of a Toyota/Lexus. If I drain the tranny, how many quarts does it take to fill up to normal again? What else should I replace in the process? Filter? What else is there?

 

Ouch!
Black colored trans fluid is not a good sign at any mileage. I have seen trans fluids greater than 70K miles and they are still dark red. In any case, replace the fluid and see how that goes.

 

Depends how many times u plan to drain and refill....I would say do it at least twice.....so maybe 4-5 quarts.

 

I cant believe a mechanic would suggest running it that way until the tranny goes out and then to rebuild it.

its like suggesting you go broke and then filing for bankruptcy. How irresponsible. Some options would have been much more helpful.

 

Visit BananaGS' site...

http://lexusmodz.netfirms.com/GS_DIY...il/index1.html

Goodluck.

Pete