Routine service for 2004 LC

[jditom]

Dealer says. Every
Spark plugs 120,000
Tranny fluid 60,000
diff/transfer case 30,000
brake fluid when needed? WTF, I thought every 2 years?
antifreeze never
engine oil 3,000 dino, 5,000 Mobil 1

Above seems fine with me except brake fluid.
Any other thoughts.

 

[Jim_Chow]

I would go every 2 yrs. For my honda and toyota, I ususally do it every year. Since you're in OR, it's humid, so the fluid will absorb more water than if you live in AZ. On my 4runner, PO (family member, So. CA car, garaged all the time) never changed the fluid before I got it (93K mi, 14 yrs). It was as dark as ink. So much water had absorbed into the fluid that the master cylinder, calipers, and rear drum cylinders rusted from the inside out. Even after I replaced the calipers and drum cylinders, the new fluid turned tan colored in just a few weeks. Turns out, the master had this rusty sludge on the bottom. After replacing that, it stays clear. Anyways, it ran me about $1K to completely rebuild the brake system, and this is a relatively cheap vehicle to maintain compared to the 100. Now, I don't take any chances...every year or every 2 yrs max. Ditto w/ the AHC.

Due to the heat here in AZ, the fluids don't last as long as in CA. Ditto w/ PS fluid...mine turned to a dark, thick (like cooking oil), burned smelling muck, and this was only at 3 yrs and 48K mi. You have a different type of extreme weather there, namely moisture.

 

[jditom]

Cool that is how I feel as well.
On my 80 I used Valvoline syn. brake fluid.
I will do the same for the 100.
And of course switch over to M1 oil.

 

[LXPearl]

The Toyota brake fluid has been one of the best I have used for longevity, but even then fresh fluid every 2-3 years is reasonable.

I used to think it fine to go longer than 30K on ATF, but I have changed my mind. On your 04 you have the long life so 60K will likely work. If I could do drain/fill on it like on the 03, I would go with 30K or 60K with full replacement.

I just changed all my gear oils to Redline 75W-90 and am quite pleased. I am not sure if I will go past 30K on it though. The Lexus gear oils looked good at the diffs after 30K, but the transfer case looked like it had wear and needed changing.

I drained and filled the ATF with Mobil 1 ATF followed a few weeks later with Redline D4ATF. AFter the Redline I noticed a difference, though at this point that means my ATF fluid is about half synthetic, so I am not sure how much the improvement is based on Redline itself. I may go on 15-20K drain/fill for several iterations until I have all synthetic in the trans.

 

[Jim_Chow]

Where do you get Toyota brake fluid? They don't seem to sell it in AZ (the lexus dealer uses the cheapo "pyroil" by valvoline). I bring in my own Valvoline dot 4 synthetic (use the same in all my cars, like it better than the castrol dot 4 [turns dark too quickly]).

When I lived in Seattle, the dealer put normal dino fluid in the 4runner manual tranny & tcase. After 21K mi, I changed it to Redline MT90. In that time, the t-case was barely used (maybe 10 miles in 4wd), virtually all miles were highway. As a comparison, the fluid drained out of the t-case (same type fluid as the tranny fluid) looked like filtered honey (clear & golden). The tranny fluid looked really hazy, like unfiltered honey. And this was only 21K miles in non-extreme temps (hottest was 104F on a drive from Seattle to LA, rest was in between Bellingham and Portland, mostly highway). Not long after putting MT90 in the tranny, I moved to So. AZ. So after 30K mi, I changed the MT90...still looked good, better than the dino after 21K mi! The stick was much cooler on long drives, too.

If your ATF replacement on the '04 is spec'd at 100K, then 60K sounds good, at least for benign Oregon temps. I'm running Mr. T's type IV, so I change at 30K intervals although the manual says you only need to change if you primarily tow. I've debated about going to Amsoil ATF to run 60K mi ATF changes since it's Type IV compatible, but 20 qts of it is over $200, plus the installation fee would push it to around $350. I'd rather change T-IV twice as often (this is one reason I like manual...only takes 2-3 qts to change to synthetic, and it's a cinch).

Also, I hate how one has to buy Amsoil with that funky pyramid scheme. It's only sold out of a few residences in the part of town where you wonder if they're selling synthetic lubes and crack at the same place. So I plan to use M1 grease for the front wheel bearings and M1 delvac 75w90 gear oil for the diffs/t-case.