I am about to roll 60K miles here shortly and I am curious as to which fluids I need to change out? I know some of the maintenance schedules suggest t-case and differential fluids but I also see that they only suggest it for towing or heavy use miles at 60K. I tow occasionally with the following setups, 1000 lbs with my motorcycle trailer (10-12 times a year), 2300 lbs with the camper trailer (1-3 times per year), and 4500 lbs with the SxS trailer (1-3 per year) but I don't see these trailers, weights or frequency qualifying as heavy use. My true off-road use is mild at best but hopefully that is changing here in 2023. So what does the hive think, should I swap these fluids now at 60K miles or should I wait and if so, when should I do so?
60K, what should I change? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Tex68w
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Look in the owners manual.
- Thread starter
- #3
Obviously lol, I’m asking for real world feedback here. Some also say you should change the tranny fluid as well but Toyota tells you it’s lifetime. Just looking to see what most here think is “necessary”.
What year is your 200? I typically change coolant, transmission, transfer case, and diffs every 60-75k. Power steering every 100k. Brake fluid every 2 brake jobs.
Others have their opinions, but if you tend to keep your vehicles a long time then you can’t go wrong with frequent fluid changes. What I do is more frequent than what Toyota recommends. Given that most manufacturers think that buyers won’t keep their vehicle more than 60-120k miles, they focus on minimizing the cost of short term ownership. I focus on minimizing the costs of LONG term ownership. Following my plan, I haven’t had a single major mechanical issue over my last 3 LCs, and I have one I have owned for 35 years and another I have owned for 25 years and put 450k miles on.
If you keep a vehicle only a few years then disregard what I have said and just follow the book.
There’s my 2 cents worth.
If you keep a vehicle only a few years then disregard what I have said and just follow the book.
There’s my 2 cents worth.
TLC2013
SILVER Star
I plan on keeping my 200 indefinitely so I may be over doing things with fluid changes around the 60K mark for differentials, PS, T-case and transmission. My LC sees majority city and highway use with a decent amount of medium to difficult trails sprinkled in through out the year. Fluids are cheap in the grand scheme of things and I enjoy doing the work. Crawling underneath is a good time to inspect things and see how the 200 is wearing.
Based on your stated usage, (towing, mostly) and the assumption that (a) Texas is hot, and (b) you probably tow more than a few miles each time, I would follow the "severe" maintenance schedule. You'd be surprised how hot the transmission can get when towing, if you're not monitoring it with an OBD reader.
FWIW at 60k I did:
FWIW at 60k I did:
- Front and rear diff fluid swap (75W-85 or 75W-90)
- Transfer case fluid swap (75W-90 is ok, I've used Ravenol 75W MTF w/o issue, and I think Lucas or Redline or someone makes a 75W LF option now too)
- Full 12+ quart A/T fluid exchange (ATF WS, no need to drop the pan and touch the filter)
- Brake fluid isn't a bad idea, usually good to do every 2-3 years as it's hygroscopic so it's more about time than mileage.
- Thread starter
- #11
I do tow but it’s not what I’d consider often or “severe duty” with those low trailer/payload weights. The trailer most commonly found behind it is a 600lb aluminum motorcycle trailer with usually only 250-300lbs of bike on it, hardly a workout for the truck at sub 1000lbs. I will give you the Texas heat aspect and the fact that I’m usually doing 70-80mph on the highway for hours at a time.
I will go ahead and do it all, but I’ll admit I’m a little worried about the tranny fluid swap. Hopefully the horror stories you hear about are only those that mess with the screen.
Regarding the ‘horror’ stories, i think this has a lot more to do with people waiting a long time/miles then doing a power flush of the transmission. I don’t power flush anything. Ever. But I do change the fluids even when I have high mileages. Who wouldn’t want to drink nice clean fluids once and a while? Sure, you may not get all of the old fluids but often that is not the important part. Refresh what you can, on a regular schedule, and everything will be good.
Being in the Midwest my mechanic does the changes based on severe service because of the temperature changes -25 - +95 degrees. I have 137,000 worry free miles so far only replaced brakes, tires, spark plugs and drive belt along with all scheduled maintenance items. There is one exception, I can not find anyone who will touch the AHC, I have had 3 Lexus dealers who told me not to touch it!?! My mechanic checks the fluid level and all is good so far. I have it NHOU undercoated every 2 years so I am sure that protects a lot parts from our winter salt.
bloc
SILVER Star
I took it more as setting the level on the 8spd. It's complicated enough on a 6, but the 8spd has some differences (the thermostat bypass, for instance) and way less documentation on here to collect info before doing the job.
I would change everything.
Brake fluid flush, Transmission service w/filter, power steering flush, all three differentials (I highly recommend the gear oil kit from Ravenol through Blauparts, it has the correct SAE 75W oil for the center diff), and oil change. Since you don't have AHC, that is a big convenience ....
Brake fluid flush, Transmission service w/filter, power steering flush, all three differentials (I highly recommend the gear oil kit from Ravenol through Blauparts, it has the correct SAE 75W oil for the center diff), and oil change. Since you don't have AHC, that is a big convenience ....
If you don’t want to disconnect the cooling line to do the flush, it’s easy enough to drain the pain, add back in the right amount of fluid, run through the gears and turn it off, then rinse and repeat a few times. You’ll probably only get 75% of the old fluid out but you won’t hurt anything
Around me one of the Toyota dealers does the full fluid exchange. No issues with them doing it, though I think one time the fluid level was initially off afterward and they had to adjust it
For regular duty I would instead of 60k do main fluids at 80k, otherwise for light duty at 100k. No science to it, just seems about right.
bloc
SILVER Star
This works especially well with a relatively low mileage rig like OP's. Not so much when the first change is at 180k.
You're still setting the level though, which isn't as well documented as the 6spd.
RET2
SILVER Star
Don't overlook greasing the propellor shaft before skids to save work.
At 60 i did everything but coolant.
I would do all fluids outside of that.
brake
power steering
diffs
transfer case
transmission
of course, AHC will should been done at least twice by that point and i would do change #3.
I would do all fluids outside of that.
brake
power steering
diffs
transfer case
transmission
of course, AHC will should been done at least twice by that point and i would do change #3.
