Hello, I have a GX470 and LS 400 and I am going to drain and fill the tranny fluids soon.


The dealer quoted me $131 they use Toyota Type IV
A Lexus/Toyota Specialist (reputable service center) quoted my $65 bucks. I asked what type of fluid do they use? They said they use Castrol products. They also stated that that is the same as the Type IV since Toyota uses Castrol products at their dealers?

Is that true? For the cost of expensive tranny repairs I'm thinking I should just bit the bullet and let the stealer (dealer) do it?

Comments?? Thanks.

 

Uh, as far as I know, ExxonMobil is the one that provides Toyota the fluid for Type-IV. I'd be quite interested to see the bottle of tranmission fluid they are suggesting that you use. There are a couple of things my colleagues in the RX300 forums have found that are substitutes for the Toyota Type IV, among them products from Amsoil, Redline, Valvoline and I think Royal Purple without hearing an issue as of yet, but I have never heard of something from Castrol being able to be used.

 

Do some search and you can DIY for cheaper.

 

...or, if you are not a D.I.Y.er, you can buy the Toyota fluid (at a Toyota dealer) and give it to that service center to do the drain and fills.

 

Do you change your oil?

Same thing.

Ask the dealer how much transmission fluid each car needs for a drain and fill. They should be able to print out the schematic ( they did for me) Or you can search here.

Warm up your car, turn it off.

Look under the car, see that drain bolt in the pan under the transmission? Take it out, be careful, the oil will be warm, maybe hot.

Let it drain.

Put the bolt back in.

Take a funnel with a small spout ( you can get it at auto zone for like $1.00) and fill through your transmission dipstick opening.

Turn the car on. Shift from P all the way down to L sitting in each gear (with the brakes on of course) for about 15-30 seconds to let the fluid suck up into the gears and wash/mix in with the old fluid.

Take it for a drive, and see how much more smooth it is.

Do this every other oil change (or every if you would like) to keep your fluid new and red/clear.

 

Castrol makes a multi import vehicle fluid. It covers toyota type 4. I would not use this fluid. You definately want to stick with a specific toyota brand type 4 for your vehicles. Do you know that with a drain and fill, you are only getting about 30% of the fluid out? If your fluid isnt in too bad of shape, a drain and fill two times will be sufficient. If it has over 30k miles on the fluid then you will need a flush. An example: A drain and fill will call for 4 qts. transmissions for small cars will hold 10-12qts dry.