My 04' RX330 is getting near 30K miles. I plan on doing a few routine maintenance items to the car myself. I plan on replacing...

-Engine Air Filer
-Oil Change w/ filter
-In cabin air filter
-Tires (they are almost down to the wear bars)

The car is driven fairly conservatively. Is there anything else I am missing?

 

Probably a good idea to flush the radiator and drain/refill the transmission fluid. Or if you can take it to a shop, a full transmission power flush.

 

Agree with flipside909 on dumping the coolant and especially the tranny fluid.

In addtion, power steering and brake fluids.

Would also check out your brake pads and see how much life they have (depends on a lot of factors, such as driving style and climate.)

 

I'd have to check the records, but I believe the coolant was replaced when they installed the new radiator under the recall.

As for the trans fluid, I can do that as well. I searched and found some information here. It looks like you only drain 4 quarts of the old and replace that amount with the new fluid.

The brake pads looked good last time I checked them. When I replace the pads, I will bleed all the lines.

 

Is this correct, I only need 4 quarts of Transmission fluid for a transmission flush without dropping the pan? My RX330 just hit 30K miles and I am thinking doing some maintenance work.

 

I read a couple of threads where guys drained the trans using the plug. They said 4 quarts came out. The more I think about it, this is a waste of time. Unless you do a flush, you aren't getting all the fluid out.

 

Iirc, the transmission holds in the vicinity of 16 quarts. I read where someone on this board pulled the line going to the radiator, for cooling, out and then ran the engine. A helper, slowly added fresh fluid. When the fluid ran red and clean, he put the line back on and then finished the filling of the trans. Others, me included, dropped the trans. plug and drained out the four quarts. I drove the car for a day or so and repeated this. I did this a total of four times. The residual old fluid is certainly down to around 10% or so.

 

Is 30K very important to do all those?
Dealership asking too much $$$...

 

How much are they asking?

 

Took the RX to a tranny shop were they have a transmission flush machine. They took my synthetic fluid & put it in the tank of the flusher and they did the whole job for $50. I bought the Amsoil myself. I gave them 14 qts. & watched the whole proceedure as they did it.

 

More recent Toyota/Lexus trasmissions require the usage of Type T-IV fluid as they have steered away from the universal Dexron ATF.

 

What transmission fluid did you use and do they claim that they comply with the Toyota Type T-IV trans fluid? Do us all a favor and give us a report if you have ANY issues or symptoms with shifting, noise, vibration or any other problem. When you had them flush your trans with fluid, is there any residual fluid in the hopper before your stuff goes in?

Gary

 

He's talking about Amsoil ATF, http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/atf.aspx and we have some in the RX300 forum who have used it without issue. I think this is the first time I have heard of it being used in an RX330, slightly different transmission, a U151, from the U140 in the RX300.

Frankly, I'd be using it myself, but as Amsoil has no distributor here, I have to use Type IV.

 

I am a first time Lexus owner. I bought a certified preowned RX 330 2004 one year ago with 20,000 miles on it, now it has 30,000 miles. I have just done one oil change and today I took it in for a 5000 mile oil change at a dealer and they told me I had to change the AC filter ($30), PVC ($30), and front and rear brake pads ($160 each). I have two questions: does the PVC need to be changed every 30,000 miles like they told me? Also , this is a certified car, is it possible that the brake pads are that low after only 10,000 additonal miles? Thanks for any replies.

 

I don’t believe the PVC valve is a regular maintenance item, but for $30, you might want to change it anyways. The AC filter should be change once a year, $30 is a good price since the part alone cost that much. As far as the brake pads are concern, how low were they when you bought the car? The RX330 is infamous for going thru brake pads and rotors fast.