fastnoypi

did you do your drain and refills when the ATF was cold? or just drain, measure and refill when warm?

Aleximus

I did my all my drain/refills when the ATF was cold. Then measured how much I took out and fill the same amount with ATF fluid at the same temperature.
My 4th and last drain and fill is coming up on saturday morning. At that point, I'll reinstall the orange measuring tube in the oil pan and seal with drain plug.
I did a best effort fluid measurement and fill, so I'm confident that I don't need to measure it and call it mission complete.

ToledoRX

+1

Had the dealer do an ATF drain and fill on the transmission about 1 year ago. I don't believe my RX ever had a ATF done before. Drove much smoother and shifted and changed gears easily as well.

Don't believe the lifetime fluid marketing hype. the ATF is "lifetime" if you define the "lifetime" of your car as the length of the warranty or 8 years and 100k miles. If you want it to last more than that, do an ATF service every 2 years or 30-40k miles.

fastnoypi

Interesting procedure notes I came across confirmed on ALLDATA and copied on other sites for the U660E transmission found in the V6 camry and the 3rd gen RX350. Techstream is not needed to connect and monitor the ATF temperature. Service tool 09843-18040 or a simple jumper made with 2 T-pins and a gator clip wire at the OBD2 port at terminals 4 &13 will show the optimal temperature to add additional ATF fluid using the OEM check level pipe in the drain pan. Optimal temperature will show the shift indicator D should be off, higher than optimal temp D should be on, and lower than optimal D will be blinking. 2 Links provided. https://www.atsg.us/atsg/blog/whatha...tothedipstick/ https://www.themaven.net/ontheroadwi...x0eV7DN9Wnxo4Q

clickart

Where is the drain and fill plug? Is it the same as the RX450H?

Aleximus

The drain plug is located near where the battery is on the bottom of the car. About 1.5 feet from the driver side front wheel going towards the middle of the car.

I have a little walkthrough of my four drain and fills with pictures but for some reason this site won't allow me to upload more than one picture in a post.

The fill plug is right behind the front driver side wheel. You have to remove the wheel and a small plastic cover to get to it comfortably.

Clutchless

It is completely different from the 450h. It is a different transmission. Read posts above, asked and answered.

Aleximus

I have placed pictures of the state of the ATF fluid during each of the four drains in my pictures album, in case anybody wants to see what 105k mile ATF fluid looks like.

https://www.clublexus.com/g/album/9499583

iolmaster

iTrader: (1)

I have been told by more than one Lexus tech that the color of the fluid is not an indication of its serviceability. Apparently the color changes within the first 5-10K miles. Color is no longer an indicator.

tempestv8

I personally wouldn't be listening to advice like that. The colour of the Toyota WS fluid does give a relatively good indication of the condition of the fluid.

The darker the fluid, the more extreme temperatures it has been exposed to, i.e. the darker the fluid is, the more it has been burnt.

salimshah

Here we go again.

Salim

Mrvmax

fastnoypi

They just remove the dipstick to make it more a pain in the ***. Here are a few threads of interest with posts on how to change your ATF:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...hange-diy.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...64994-atf.html

Mrvmax

Fpan87

I actually had the dealer change my transmission fluid last week and car drives much better now. The fluid that came out were light brown with a hint of the original red/pinkness. Definitely do a fill and drain around 50-60k if you plan on keeping your vehicle for a little while.