I have a 2019 ES350. Original owner and have done all maintenance by myself including pads, rotors, oil, oil filters, air filters, new gas cap, and recently replaced purge valve as it was stuck open sucking fuel tank fumes with lean bank codes and an evaap code. I have not yet done the trans drain and fill yet (no flush as I have always done drain and fill on my Hondas and other cars without issue). The car has a 103,000 miles. Has anyone done a drain and fill on theirs? - not a flush. What trans fluid did you use? Did you do the temp thing or just add exactly the amount that came out? Anyone do it at high mileage? And has it been fine without issue since? Thanks in advance for any insight into this topic. The car is a keeper so I have been thinking about doing this to avoid issues down the line - but also do not want to have a trans issue as a result of doing the drain and fill due to somewhat higher mileage. Thanks again.

 

Watch car care nut on youtube. i am sure he has a video on this. i think consensus, regardless of transmission maker, is to replace the fluid every 60-100k. if you have 200k, or a junker, i would leave it alone.

so short answer, may be best to replace. but watch ccn on that. then take it to a competent indy.

 

You can get advice from members here who have no experience at all with transmission fluid changes or listen to the manufacturer of your vehicle who states does not need to be changed. A friend and Shop Manager at my local Lexus dealership a huge one that has 25 years experience tells me don't need to change. He went to the transmission factory for training and asked what is the #1 cause of Lexus transmission failures with the answer wrong fluid and wrong level. Both obviously related to changes. Never changed mine on any of our Lexus's and if course never had one problem.

 

WS fluid.
104-113F.

 

Would the Transmission factory trainers who said the #1 cause of transmission failure was wrong fluid or wrong level even know about the failures from not chaining it often enough? Those failures would be from cars that are out of warranty for high miles and not a warranty issue. Also, what has changed in transmissions that suddenly don't require fluid change other than eliminating an easy fill stick and calling it "sealed"?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for lower maintenance but would like to understand why these transmissions are so special and don't need fluid service.

 

If I did not seriously believe the manufacturer of my vehicle thinking they want the transmission to fail out of warranty or wanted to advertise low maintenance cost I would sell it immediately and never buy another.

 

IMHO, the issue with "lifetime" transmission fluid, same as the 10k OCI, is the ambiguity:
What does lifetime actually mean? The powertrain warranty duration (72 / 70k)? 100k miles?

Regardless of where anyone stands on OCI, it's worth listening to this full video (from 9 days ago).
Edit: This doesn’t apply to those who don’t keep their cars for long, or who don’t care for the next owner.
Transmission fluid segment starts @ 7:34

 

As I have said before the president of the Aisin plant in NC told me under, over, and contaminates are what cause failures and under normal conditions should last the life of the car. I have seen many times a mechanic using air to clean brake system right next to other jobs that may or may not require a clean environment . Question is what is considered the life of the car.

 

Can get advice from CCN Grand Master Toyota Tech or me who's done several transmission drains, refilles, both partial and complete as well as valve body replacements and one complete trans rebuild (not fun), or various BMW Motorsports engine builds too. (orders of magnitudes more complicated than anything toyota)

no credit card swiper here when it comes to actual mechanical work

thankfully i dont have to deal with any of that any more. but my tools are ready, despite being a bit rusty.

I always tell people, although you can get away with brushing your teeth once a day, twice is better.

If it were me, oil changes every 3-5k and trans service every 60k.

dont want to? your call.

 

Drain and fills were so simple on the older cars. Drain and fill, just like it says. I've read posts where dealers refused to replace the fluid since Lexus says it's "sealed".
Now we have these extra steps where we must measure temperature with scan tools or thermocouples at just the right time during the procedure. Get it wrong and you overfill or underfill and cause more damage than just leaving it alone. My older cars' tranny's were no harder to change fluid than the oil.

Pretty soon you're going to have to go to the dealer to add windshield fluid.

 

Naa, just prepay for a subscription…kinda like HP printer ink. 🤣

 

I actually plan on doing this on our 2015 this week.

Its at 80K miles (I know, I know...but I figure just a gentle "replace what came out" shouldnt do much harm, especially if its only 3 or 4 quarts)). Im going to let the car sit for 24 hours to make sure its fully cool, jack it up and put on jack stands so it is level. Drain the fluid (remove drain plug, remove fill height tube, drain out). Do my best to note just how much came out, then add back in that amount plus some extra.

I know some people have used a non-contact temp gun to temp the trans pan for fluid temperature, but Im not sure how accurate that is. I will get something I can use to connect to the car and get actual fluid temp, then bring it up to the recommended range (posted earlier in this thread) then pull the drain plug and let it drip drain.

Honestly it doesnt seem *that* hard to do, aside from accessing the computer to get actual fluid temp. Since Ive waited so long to do it, I may do another round after the car has some miles on the replaced fluid, but Im not sure about that yet (maybe wait 10K miles and do it again)

 

Smart move on IR gun…they will not accurately tell you fluid temperature. If you are going to expense and trouble to buy equipment to measure actual temperature, follow the procedure and do not add extra. Another approach is to add back exact weight of fluid removed. That eliminates volume variances due to temperature. Of course that assumes correct amount before drain.

 

I thought the idea behind adding extra was to make sure you had some to drain off. If you pull the drain plug but nothing comes out (after the fluid is warm), are you low? dead-on? etc.

My RAM has a ZF 8 speed auto and the procedure is just about the same as the Toyota.

 

I am a tech and work in an independent shop. To me the drain and flush are easier than they ever been on the ES transmission. In older transmissions, the fluid level was difficult to read because the dipstick would pick up fluid of the side walls of the tube. It seems to take for ever for the fluid on the side walls to drain back into the trans and get a good reading.

The reason for the temp is the volume of the fluid increases with temperature. so if you just pour so many qts in there, when it gets hot it increases. With the new type, there is a straw that sits about an inch over the bottom of the pan. When you remove the pan plug, only the fluid that is over the top of the straw can drain out. So once you get it up to temp, you remove the plug and all the excess fluid over the straw drains out.