Fluid service: transmission, transfer case/diffs, engine oil, coolant at once (1 Viewer)

[megaptera]

I bought my LX570 last year at 126k. It came with very clean coolant and new engine oil, so I drove it for 4000-5000 miles. The transmission was always smooth and never noticed any issue, other than changing to 4LO and engaging center diff lock were slow and sluggish for the first few times (previous owner probably never used them). Since I have no idea when transmission and diffs were serviced last time, I decided to do these altogether to "reset" my maintenance schedule at 130k.

I bought fully synthetic motor oil, Toyota WS ATF, Red Line 75W85 GL-5, Toyota pink coolant, all genuine o-rings and crush washers from Lexus parts. I think all the fluids and washers added up to about $500. I brought them to a local shop and asked them to do the service. The labor was another $500-600.

The service volume for the motor oil looks like about 8-9 qts (they left 1-2 qts in the second 5 qts jug). That for diffs and transfer case combined was 7 qts.

I asked them to do a thorough drain and fill but not flush of the transmission oil, and it replaced 5 qts. I did not ask to replace the metal mesh filter.

They replaced about half, only 2 gallons of coolant. I'm not sure if there's that much fluid not naturally drained by the gravity but I'm ok with it, as the coolant fluid was very clean.

After the service, the transmission is just as smooth as before. 4LO and center diff lock engaged almost instantly.

There's probably no new info for you guys but I thought to post it because I was looking for a report from someone else who did this way and found... none. The actual service volumes were hard to find.

 

[prharper]

Sounds like it worked out very well for you. I spent yesterday and today replacing fluids in both differentials, transfer case, transmission flush and power steering. Lubed driveshafts and some other minor things in sweltering hot and humid heat. I would have easily paid someone for what you did!

 

[scrubolio]

Been doing the same plus more over the past 4-6 weeks.

A bulk of my time was spent treating rust and removing snapped bolts due to rust.

Really wish I had a lift, being on your back under the car gets old

 

[Sandroad]

Been doing the same plus more over the past 4-6 weeks.

A bulk of my time was spent treating rust and removing snapped bolts due to rust.

Really wish I had a lift, being on your back under the car gets old

And the older I get the faster it gets old being on the ground under the LC.

On the plus side, I’m convinced that tapping lightly on the front diff drain plug as suggested by @bloc really does help loosen that copper gasket. The drain and fill plugs came right off today without need for my special occasion swear words. Messy job, though.

 

[LX4x4]

I did front/rear diff and transfer case, and the oil change all in one go.

They have under filled my drive train components in the factory (I measured what came out), It is alot quieter now.
The factory was also stingy on the coolant level, after a few years the coolant went low you cannot see any when cold and possibly sucked in air. I have asked two members they have the same issue, none had leaks and did a one time top off.

Of those the oil change is most pain and messy. The oil pan shoot oil onto the wheel and tire and then that oil filter drain. Next time I will be better prepared.

I would like to do the power steering but would like to find the correct ATF that is maybe not synthetic, one time I did something like this and used valvoline Maxlife ATF but that stuff is so thin, later I saw soaked tie rod boots on an older rack. It also took me an hour to pull the hardened hose off the reservoir.

 

[Artie]

I have the gaskets and fluids for all the tasks listed in the title plus the T-case en route as we speak and yall really bumming me out with all the complaining and whining

 

[megaptera]

My LX570 is very quiet, all I hear is the tire noise and the air noise from the fans. If the road is well paved, I can hear the tape hiss from analog recording in the stock Mark Levinson stereo. I bet the diff and transfer case oil level was high enough when I bought it at 126k. The guy at the shop said that all the oils were dirty just as expected from regular maintenance no worse, so I surmise that it hasn't been running with the factory fluid.

I hope rust isn't a problem in mine because I brought flash lights to go under every LC/LX to inspect for rust and bought the one that had no rust... and Surface Shielded it soon after. (Obviously, I didn't even test drive or open the hood of most LX's I looked at.) Most sellers (including the used lots) thought I was a strange buyer.