View Poll Results: Have you had your transmission flushed or drained?
YES
201
51.41%
NO
59
15.09%
NO, but I plan on getting it done
131
33.50%
Voters: 391. You may not vote on this poll
Transmission Flush/Change?
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 392
Likes: 2
From: il
I read on some other threads about doing a flush causing particles to get knocked loose in ur trans, where they had settled in where they were not causing problems, and causing excessive wear in the trans resulting in premature failure. Has anyone experience or heard about this?
I read on some other threads about doing a flush causing particles to get knocked loose in ur trans, where they had settled in where they were not causing problems, and causing excessive wear in the trans resulting in premature failure. Has anyone experience or heard about this?
i prefer the drain and fill, or filter/pan service, or, in some instances, as someone mentioned earlier, hooking the trans lines up to fill/drain using the internal trans fluid pump...
personally, I drain mine every other oil change (every 10k), and fill with amsoil - takes 2-3 quarts...
as a side note, if you flush a Honda trans, your warranty is void on your tranny...
Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 705
Likes: 3
From: California
I bought my 99 GS400 in June 2004 with 59,000 miles. The car had all services done at Lexus, including transmission fluid change at 30,000 and 58,000 miles. I changed everything to AMSOIL products at 64,000 miles. I use 0W-30 engine oil, AMSOIL Universal Transmission fluid with an additional auxilliary tranny cooler up front, and drained and filled the power steering system with Amsoil Universal Transmission Fluid. I did not flush the transmission, just a drain and fill.
I now have 132,000 miles on the car. I changed the transmission fluid at 90,000 miles when I did the timing belt. I had to remove the radiator to do the belt, so because I was losing fluid from the loose lines, I decided to change it. It really did not need it since the fluid was still bright cherry red. The auxilliary transmission cooler has really reduced the operating temperature of the fluid in normal operation. This fluid is FAR superior than the Toyota Type IV, which seems to get dirty right away.
The transmission fluid stays clean in both the transmission and power steering systems. I have no leaks, and both systems work flawlessly.
I use this fluid in every car I own including the automatic transmission in the 2000 VW Beetle. I do not get caught up in the "approved" and "recommended". This fluid is GREAT!!!
Toyota does NOT use the TYPE IV on its' new cars. The newer cars use a synthetic fluid beginning with the 2005 LS430. The newer 6 speed and 8 speed transmissions use fluids that can withstand a lot more heat than TYPE IV can handle.
Just my $.02
I now have 132,000 miles on the car. I changed the transmission fluid at 90,000 miles when I did the timing belt. I had to remove the radiator to do the belt, so because I was losing fluid from the loose lines, I decided to change it. It really did not need it since the fluid was still bright cherry red. The auxilliary transmission cooler has really reduced the operating temperature of the fluid in normal operation. This fluid is FAR superior than the Toyota Type IV, which seems to get dirty right away.
The transmission fluid stays clean in both the transmission and power steering systems. I have no leaks, and both systems work flawlessly.
I use this fluid in every car I own including the automatic transmission in the 2000 VW Beetle. I do not get caught up in the "approved" and "recommended". This fluid is GREAT!!!
Toyota does NOT use the TYPE IV on its' new cars. The newer cars use a synthetic fluid beginning with the 2005 LS430. The newer 6 speed and 8 speed transmissions use fluids that can withstand a lot more heat than TYPE IV can handle.
Just my $.02
I bought my 99 GS400 in June 2004 with 59,000 miles. The car had all services done at Lexus, including transmission fluid change at 30,000 and 58,000 miles. I changed everything to AMSOIL products at 64,000 miles. I use 0W-30 engine oil, AMSOIL Universal Transmission fluid with an additional auxilliary tranny cooler up front, and drained and filled the power steering system with Amsoil Universal Transmission Fluid. I did not flush the transmission, just a drain and fill.
I now have 132,000 miles on the car. I changed the transmission fluid at 90,000 miles when I did the timing belt. I had to remove the radiator to do the belt, so because I was losing fluid from the loose lines, I decided to change it. It really did not need it since the fluid was still bright cherry red. The auxilliary transmission cooler has really reduced the operating temperature of the fluid in normal operation. This fluid is FAR superior than the Toyota Type IV, which seems to get dirty right away.
The transmission fluid stays clean in both the transmission and power steering systems. I have no leaks, and both systems work flawlessly.
I use this fluid in every car I own including the automatic transmission in the 2000 VW Beetle. I do not get caught up in the "approved" and "recommended". This fluid is GREAT!!!
Toyota does NOT use the TYPE IV on its' new cars. The newer cars use a synthetic fluid beginning with the 2005 LS430. The newer 6 speed and 8 speed transmissions use fluids that can withstand a lot more heat than TYPE IV can handle.
Just my $.02
I now have 132,000 miles on the car. I changed the transmission fluid at 90,000 miles when I did the timing belt. I had to remove the radiator to do the belt, so because I was losing fluid from the loose lines, I decided to change it. It really did not need it since the fluid was still bright cherry red. The auxilliary transmission cooler has really reduced the operating temperature of the fluid in normal operation. This fluid is FAR superior than the Toyota Type IV, which seems to get dirty right away.
The transmission fluid stays clean in both the transmission and power steering systems. I have no leaks, and both systems work flawlessly.
I use this fluid in every car I own including the automatic transmission in the 2000 VW Beetle. I do not get caught up in the "approved" and "recommended". This fluid is GREAT!!!
Toyota does NOT use the TYPE IV on its' new cars. The newer cars use a synthetic fluid beginning with the 2005 LS430. The newer 6 speed and 8 speed transmissions use fluids that can withstand a lot more heat than TYPE IV can handle.
Just my $.02
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,447
Likes: 9
From: CA
I bought my 99 GS400 in June 2004 with 59,000 miles. The car had all services done at Lexus, including transmission fluid change at 30,000 and 58,000 miles. I changed everything to AMSOIL products at 64,000 miles. I use 0W-30 engine oil, AMSOIL Universal Transmission fluid with an additional auxilliary tranny cooler up front, and drained and filled the power steering system with Amsoil Universal Transmission Fluid. I did not flush the transmission, just a drain and fill.
I now have 132,000 miles on the car. I changed the transmission fluid at 90,000 miles when I did the timing belt. I had to remove the radiator to do the belt, so because I was losing fluid from the loose lines, I decided to change it. It really did not need it since the fluid was still bright cherry red. The auxilliary transmission cooler has really reduced the operating temperature of the fluid in normal operation. This fluid is FAR superior than the Toyota Type IV, which seems to get dirty right away.
The transmission fluid stays clean in both the transmission and power steering systems. I have no leaks, and both systems work flawlessly.
I use this fluid in every car I own including the automatic transmission in the 2000 VW Beetle. I do not get caught up in the "approved" and "recommended". This fluid is GREAT!!!
Toyota does NOT use the TYPE IV on its' new cars. The newer cars use a synthetic fluid beginning with the 2005 LS430. The newer 6 speed and 8 speed transmissions use fluids that can withstand a lot more heat than TYPE IV can handle.
I now have 132,000 miles on the car. I changed the transmission fluid at 90,000 miles when I did the timing belt. I had to remove the radiator to do the belt, so because I was losing fluid from the loose lines, I decided to change it. It really did not need it since the fluid was still bright cherry red. The auxilliary transmission cooler has really reduced the operating temperature of the fluid in normal operation. This fluid is FAR superior than the Toyota Type IV, which seems to get dirty right away.
The transmission fluid stays clean in both the transmission and power steering systems. I have no leaks, and both systems work flawlessly.
I use this fluid in every car I own including the automatic transmission in the 2000 VW Beetle. I do not get caught up in the "approved" and "recommended". This fluid is GREAT!!!
Toyota does NOT use the TYPE IV on its' new cars. The newer cars use a synthetic fluid beginning with the 2005 LS430. The newer 6 speed and 8 speed transmissions use fluids that can withstand a lot more heat than TYPE IV can handle.
It turned out he is dead wrong and just has beef with Amsoil.
Amsoil ATF now has >12K miles in my tranny, not a single slip and I don't plan to do a single drain and fill until 60K miles on the fluid.
Last edited by TunedRX300; Jan 20, 2007 at 01:42 PM.
+3 for Amsoil Universal ATF 
I drain and refilled mine the two days ago and added a B&M tranny cooler. I normally get a jerk when the tranny shifts from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd..Now the jerk does not happen as hard, which is reasonable since I only drain/refill with 2at of amsoil, while the rest was old toyota T-IV fluid. I can't wait to flush the tranny (well..hook up the hose to the tranny line) so I can get mostly amsoil in there. The tranny cooler really helped. Usually, my shifts would be hard after 5 minutes of driving (90% city). Now my shifts smoothness is consistant whether i drive for a minute or 45 minutes.
Best money i've spend in maintenance
I drain and refilled mine the two days ago and added a B&M tranny cooler. I normally get a jerk when the tranny shifts from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd..Now the jerk does not happen as hard, which is reasonable since I only drain/refill with 2at of amsoil, while the rest was old toyota T-IV fluid. I can't wait to flush the tranny (well..hook up the hose to the tranny line) so I can get mostly amsoil in there. The tranny cooler really helped. Usually, my shifts would be hard after 5 minutes of driving (90% city). Now my shifts smoothness is consistant whether i drive for a minute or 45 minutes.
Best money i've spend in maintenance
+4 for Amsoil! I've also read about a things going wrong from flushing a high mileage trans. in the past, i had a bad reverse slip in my ES300. with that said, i was a little reluctant to flush the trans in my beloved GS400. with 93k on the clock i had my flush done with AMSOIL per DASHOCKER. so far its only been 2k since, but the trans feels smoother than ever. I'm happy to report there is no slipping or any adverse effects. maybe RWD trans' are more robust because it doesn't have to be built as compactly as a FWD trans, but I'd place more confidence in my GS400 trans than that in my ES300 any day
