I have a 97 LS 400 and want to change the oil and filter in the tranny.

Is this a big job? Is it something I can do in my driveway?

Any help appreciated!

 

Very easy. You'll need ramps to park your car on, to give you enough room underneath to get to the drain plug. Make sure you buy the correct fluid. I have an SC400, and if I used regular Dexron fluid in the tranny, it would ruin it. It calls for the Toyota type T IV fluid in my car, and it can be purchased from the dealer.

If you have ever changed your oil before, then this job is a cakewalk. If, however, you have never changed your own oil- I would NOT recommend the job, unless you've got somebody with you that knows what they are doing. It just isn't worth risking your tranny.

One more thing... the tranny fluid gets added in the same location that the dipstick goes. You'll need a funnel.

 

You cannott change your transmission oil yourself. Lexus in there wisdom did not put a drain plug on the torque converter. Thus you can only drain a small amount of the fluid that is in the trans. Mercedes for years put drain plugs on the converter this alowed an almost total removal of the old fluid. You need to go to a shop that has the equipment to totally drain your trans.

 

Seem my related posts. Take it to a shop that uses a pump or a chemical fluid solution to clean out either all or most of the old fluid. A simple draining accomplishes nothing. Correct, use Type-IV from Toyota, which is a synthetic. Mobil 1 ATF could do, too.

 

You hit the nail with the hammer dumping the small amount out of the pan would be pointless. That is defiantely a good idea about the plug on the TC though, I wish we had that.

 

I understand that a simple drain and fill does not get all the fluid out, but let's be realistic here... it is far from being "pointless". The SC400, for example, will drain almost 2 entire quarts of transmission fluid, when performing a simple drain and fill. It is an extremely quick and easy process. It also only costs about $9 for the needed type T IV fluid. Because of this, it can be easily done 2 or 3 times per year. If you mix enough new fluid with slightly old fluid on a regular basis, then you've got yourself pretty darn clean tranny fluid. I'd be willing to bet the tranny fluid in my SC400 is as clean or cleaner than those of you that take your car to the dealer for the tranny flush on the scheduled intervals.

 

That's a point well taken blacksc4.

What about the filter? How hard is that to change? Is it an inline?

 

The service manual read: change the trans. fluid at 30K under normal driving (15K miles in my case), capacity 2 liter. That's how much fluid drain from the drain bolt. If you keep up the schedule maintenance changing the trans. oil like the engine oil you should have to spend money on flushing the sys. ever 15K miles.

 

 

No filter, just a simple taking the drain bolt out, 14 mm, let drain, retighten it just like the engine oil drain bolt. Do not over tight or stripped the thread. Refill the oil through the dip stick hole. start the car, shift from park through all the grears then back to park. With enigne idle check the fluid level, drive the car to operating temerature ~5 miles. check fluid again refill if needed
Note: Do not overfill, that's why you have to do so many step. Yes with the engine running while checking the level is hard/hot, especially you have to pull the locking clip out to take the dip stick out.

 

You sure no filter? I thought all tranny's had a filter that also needed periodic replacement.

 

If you want to take the trans oil pan down then sure go ahead and order a filter.

 

additude,
If this is your first time changing the AFT, drain and fill ( 2 qt ). Drive the car ~5miles. Repeat procedure 3 times or more until the ATF comes out a nice red color. This procedure can be done at home and with ramps is a fairly easy as opposed to using a jack and jack-stands. Check your ATF condition with each oil change, continue to drain/fill with each oil change until the AFT stays a nice red color for at least two oil changes ( 6k miles ) Afterwards I highly suggest changing the ATF every 15k miles or LESS. I change mine at the 7500mile mark. Twice a year, once before summer heat and once before winter cold. It always comes out a nice red color, no burnt smell, no grit. At $3/qt that's $12/year for ATF service. A flush will run $75-100 which only replaces the ~9qts in the system. It does not clean the internal passages so if your ATF was black before the flush, it will probably turn black within a few months of the flush as the new ATF cleans out the gummed up deposits.

filter requires dropping the tranny oil pan. New filter, new tranny pan gasket. It's a mesh style filter so if your ATF is in good condition the filter should be "clean". Install an in-line filter if you trully want to keep the AFT clean as well as a good supplemental cooler.

 

So,

Do you think Mobile 1 ATF is a good fluid? Is there anything better that "should" be used?

Thanks!

 

Here is an interesting way to change the tranny fluid that I found on the AMSOIL site.

http://www.amsoil.com/faqs/faq8.htm
How To Completely Change Tranny Fluid