8 SPEED TRANSMISSION-MUCH BETTER SHIFTS AFTER AMSOIL

[Hokie99]

Ok, so I purchased my wife an LX570 a couple months ago and the 8 speed tranny was driving me nuts. I could not stand the shifting. I had a Tundra work truck with the 6 speed and the 5.7 and it was sooo much better in regards to tranny/engine working together.

I got the idea to switch out the fluid from @RangerPepe, thank you!!!

I am an Amsoil fan so I decided to purchase 12 quarts of Amsoil ATL SS for $12/quart for a total of $144. I think this may have been the best money I have spent in a looong time. I took 2 hours this afternoon and did 4 drain and fills. After draining 3 quarts and adding 3 quarts of the Amsoil ATL SS I ran the vehicle for 60 seconds and went through all of the gears.

I took the LX out and immediately even when cold, the tranny shifted much more like my old 6 speed in my Tundra. Before the tranny fluid exchange when I went to accelerate hard the 1st to 2nd shift felt like a shift kit in my best friend's old Mustang 5.0 in college, I am not exaggerating. Now, it is night and day smoother and when you need to down shift to accelerate the tranny drops the gears much faster and smoother.

I am not an Amsoil dealer, I buy my Amsoil from Dons Synthetic Lubes as he does a very nice job on his Youtube page showing fluid changes for DYIers like myself. I do pay the $16/year to get the better pricing, but when I have to keep 4 Toyota's, a boat, and 2 jet skis running it saves me a lot of money.

Anyway, I thought some of you may find this real world "test" interesting.

Thanks.

 

[04UZJ100]

What year 570? How many miles?

 

[Hokie99]

What year 570? How many miles?

2016
68k

 

[Weedhopper]

My son said exactly the same thing after having the fluid changed in his F 150.

 

[Sandroad]

I wonder how much better the shifting would have been after a Toyota World Service 12 qt exchange?

Also, did the ‘16 TSB for rough shifts apply to the LX too?

 

[Hokie99]

I wonder how much better the shifting would have been after a Toyota World Service 12 qt exchange?

Also, did the ‘16 TSB for rough shifts apply to the LX to

I wonder how much better the shifting would have been after a Toyota World Service 12 qt exchange?

Also, did the ‘16 TSB for rough shifts apply to the LX too?

I have seen ones with 10k miles on World Standard that don’t shift well either. I think there is a difference

I wonder how much better the shifting would have been after a Toyota World Service 12 qt exchange?

Also, did the ‘16 TSB for rough shifts apply to theMy understanding is that WS is not a true synthetic, and I think that’s where the difference lies here.

I think WS is a great fluid and will probably keep these granny’s running a long time. I just think

Im going to have the TSB done as well but I’m very pleased with the Amsoil results so far

I wonder how much better the shifting would have been after a Toyota World Service 12 qt exchange?

Also, did the ‘16 TSB for rough shifts apply to the LX too?

My understanding is that when these 200 series were brand new they still shifted poorly, with new fluid of course. I am not sure about the TSB, I guess I should look into that more but I just don't like people servicing my cars unless I have to. I have had some very bad luck over the last 2-3 years with incompetence and I have taken over as much of the servicing of my equipment that I can.

As far as WS vs Amsol, I know that Amsoil comes from 100% synthetic "base stock". and from my understanding the WS is not a full synthetic which could be the reason for the smoother shifting. I am sure that WS will serve our units into the 300-400k mile range but I just couldn't stand the shifting any longer.

I will report back if anything changes. Thank you for all the replies!

 

[777Gage]

I just had the TSB done on my "new to me" 2016 LC, has 49k miles. Absolutely a different driving experience. It shifted as you described above, very choppy and 1st to 2nd was like a badly timed shift kit. It was so bad I actually wondered if the original owners traded it in on their new one because of this.

Super nice to drive now that it's done

 

[Hokie99]

I just had the TSB done on my "new to me" 2016 LC, has 49k miles. Absolutely a different driving experience. It shifted as you described above, very choppy and 1st to 2nd was like a badly timed shift kit. It was so bad I actually wondered if the original owners traded it in on their new one because of this.

Super nice to drive now that it's done

That’s great to hear. Did you just ask the Lexus Service Dept for the updated transmission software, and they knew what you were talking about?

 

[777Gage]

That’s great to hear. Did you just ask the Lexus Service Dept for the updated transmission software, and they knew what you were talking about?

I went to my local Toyota dealer, I've built a pretty good relationship over the years with the service department. I asked for the TSB that is part of the 2016/2017 LC's and told them it was having issues with shifting. They took care of it right away.
That's just my experience, I think some on here have had to push the issue to get it done.

 

[CharlieS]

I went to my local Toyota dealer, I've built a pretty good relationship over the years with the service department. I asked for the TSB that is part of the 2016/2017 LC's and told them it was having issues with shifting. They took care of it right away.
That's just my experience, I think some on here have had to push the issue to get it done.

That is the way it should work. I had to agree to pay for an hour of diagnostics and they said if, and only if, they could recreate the behavior would they apply the TSB. They did, and it fixed it, but that was an ugly way to have the transaction go down. More service bays should handle it like your dealer did.

 

[777Gage]

That is the way it should work. I had to agree to pay for an hour of diagnostics and they said if, and only if, they could recreate the behavior would they apply the TSB. They did, and it fixed it, but that was an ugly way to have the transaction go down. More service bays should handle it like your dealer did.

Agreed, it's kind of confusing that some dealers balk at first taking care of the customer. In my experience, most brand loyal customers today are more informed, knowledgeable and bring real issues in for repair/diagnosis.

In my case, the service rep is awesome and she goes to bat with the service manager on my behalf when I've got an issue.