I dropped the pan and replaced the filter today. The total time was about 2 hours. I could not find the plug on the transfer case, so I did not unplug that. However, I got 5 quarts drained with the pan dropped and replaced the filter.

With 76,000 mile on the car, the fluid look decent. The two magnets were cover with some metal shaves, but it was not bad. I am glad I did it.

I brought the gasket and filter from advanced auto part. The new filter was exact match from the old filter. The filter was not made of metal screen, it was made of paper type. Make me wonder if the previous owner has replaced already.

It was a little more work than an oil change, but it was not bad.

 

Are you aware of the fact that you only changed the oil in the pan and not that in the valve body, cooler, etc? I don't remember the exact amount, but somewhere around 4 times the quantity that is in the pan. Do a search on this in the threads and somewhere there is a DIY. No real need to drop the pan, imo.

 

Thanks for the head up Grampa72. I think the total capacity is around 8 quarts. I called the dealer and they said they can do a complete flush with 10 quarts. What really surprised me was that I got 5 quarts out of dropped the pan and changed the filter.

 

many people prefer this method over a complete flush, if you do this at regular enough intervals

 

Kind of a waste of time though. If u are doing the job do it completely. Kind of like changing 1/2 the engine oil.

 

So, was the old filter also paper or metal? On my RX330, I was told, there's no need to replace the filter. Dealer suggested to simply clean it and reinstall. I've been putting the transmission drain and fill off for a while now. Whether drain and fill is as effective as a complete flush has been a subject of lengthy debates on various forums. The proponents of drain and fill claim that in flushing there's a very good chance of getting junk from a previous flush in your transmission. It kind of make sense - how often do service departments really flush their transmission flushing equipment? A friend of mine once told me a story how a transmission on his F150 was ruined by a flush.

 

The old filter look identical to the one I got from advanced auto. They are both paper type. I was expected to see the metal type for the old filter. Let me know if your is also paper type. It looks to me that it is better to have the filter replace, because I don't see how you can clean the filter. If you look at the filter, you will see why.

 

if it a paper type then, yes, of course, you want to replace it. I was told by the dealer that in my 06 RX330 the filter is permanent and does not need to be replaced, just cleaned, so all I did was picking up a new gasket for the drop pan and that's it...

 

Do we really need to drop the pan? What's recommended in the service manual?

 

Not sure about the manual but it'd be helpful to clean/replace the filter and the magnets.