Hey guys! I thought I'd tell you about my experience with my 2015 RCF's transmission fluid drain and fill at 160k miles. The car had never had the transmission fluid changed before since it's considered a 'lifetime' fluid - though that lifetime is actually around 150k miles. The service advisor had never brought it up due to this 'lifetime' designation.

I had the dealer do a drain and fill (not a flush). About three quarts came out, and almost four went in to get it back to full. I instantly felt a difference in the shifts during both normal driving and aggressive redline gear changes - the shifts are much smoother and crisper! While it wasn't bad before, it feels incredible now.

I will do another drain and fill soon until all the fluid is fresh, and I plan to continue changing the fluid every 30k miles along with the diff fluid. What I'm trying to say is: change your fluid with OEM recommended fluid and keep your amazing RCF nice and tight. Cheers

 

Slightly concerned that almost a quart more went in that came out. There's a specific process to set the fluid level after refill to avoid over filling the trans.

The short version is that the engine & trans are warmed up to a specific temperature range and fluid is drained out. It basically accounts for the fluid expansion when hot.

I've had mine serviced at 30k then at 60k, about time to do it again at 90k. Just make sure the dealership or shop knows what they're doing when it comes to setting the fluid levels.

 

Yea the tech did warm it up before draining it, he was explaining the process a bit to me like getting it to the exact temp. So far everything is fine and i wouldn't be surprised if somehow I was low on fluid, the feeling in shifts was night and day from the first drive. I do live in Florida and was driving the car hard for about 30k miles before the drain and fill. We did look at the fluid, we had it in a glass bottle and it was dark but in the sun light you could still see a little bit of the red tint in the fluid.

 

How many track miles do you have? What motor oil you running?

 

Did they reset the transmission learned values as well?

 

I Hope they did but I wasn't told and I didn't ask. I reached out to a guy in California that was recommended on here and he didn't even mention that, but he did encourage me to go with the fluid change as allot of people were against it...

 

And here I thought I had the highest mileage RCF out there lol
i am at 155k miles, reached out to Dealer for transmission fluid change since I never had it before. Was never told or heard about it till was already at 140k and dealer said they don’t recommend that late in the interval if never done before because it could cause debris to loosen up and cause more harm than good.

However, reading OP experience, wondering if I should go with the drain and fill approach too. Any recommendation would be helpful!!

 

Do it, but only a drain and fill Not a flush. If you take it to a Lexus dealer just ask them to have a senior tech do the Job, make sure all OEM fluid, if its an Autonation dealer they might try and use aftermarket fluid without even telling you.... if you decide on going to a family owned shop, go to a shop that deals with race cars or exotics.