My dad went to have his 1992 ls400 get a transmission fluid/oil changed (i dont know too much about cars so dont hate me). They said the oil was dark and that he waited too long so the inside of the transmission is messed up. They said that he has 6 months to a year before the transmission needs to be replaced? Is this true, or possible?

 

How was the shifting? If it is normal and smooth then the car is OK, but you still have to flush the transmission. It's better to be late than nothing at all. Make a habit to change the fluid evey couple years or 24, 25K miles. Nothing will last without proper maintenance. Make sure that they use Toyota type IV transmission fluid (current in production now) and NOT any other type of fluid that they claim to be compatible and/or superior. And yes, your transmission will die a little every mile if you don't. Cheers.

 

Tn52,

Very true, use nothing but Toyota-Type IV. Some people seem to think Dex-III is the way to go, because their engine and Lexus owner's manuals indicates that. WRONG! While you may get away with using Mobil 1, I would still recommend ownly Type-IV. Honda has their own fluids, and nothing but their own fluids work, really.

I had a friend down here who had an ES300, and the Toyota dealer (did not even know Toyota had its own ATF fluid), used Esso ATF, Dex-III variety, a short time later, the ATF fluid was black. When I first moved down here, I also noticed that, and Lexus of San Antonio kindly let me know that my last dealer in Maryland was using Castrol ATF.