with or against replacing tranny oil for 04+ LC/LX?

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looking4lc

looking4lc

10 Year
Joined
Oct 27, 2013
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read lots on this subject but i can't figure out if we/i should replace the transmission oil or not!!

some say " WS should not be exposed to humidity/ or lifetime others have great success with changing it!!

some say graduate oil changing( drop/refill) better than replacing the whole 12 quarts. AND NOW I AM SO CONFUSED........mine is at 90K miles with "sealed tranny" (07)

please share ur experience here and tell us which method did you use and if u have noticed any difference in shifting (smoother)

your advice is appreciated.
 
The owners manual says to replace it every 60000 miles if the truck is used under special conditions. I tow with mine, so I flushed it. It's pretty easy using the drain, refill, repeat method others here have used and posted about. I'd like to say it turned the 5 speed into an 8 speed and doubled the gas mileage, but in reality I didn't see any difference. I feel better knowing it has fresh oil in it.
 
Drain, yes. Flush, no. At least that seems to be the conventional wisdom.

Personally, I do tranny drains at about 30k. FWIW, the transmission was actually flushed on my LX as while the mileage and condition were exceptional, the near total lack of prior records (truck lived in a small town in SW Virginia) provided the impulse to be more aggressive with baselining of all fluids. No ill effects thus far.
 
well my question was which one is better for the truck? i know that fill/drain the oil won't remove the residue in the tranny therefore i won't have transmission issue. whereas the exchange will remove residue and might have leaks, make sense? is it true theory?
 
I would do a complete trans flush if I were you. It gets all the old fluid out. Its a lot of WS, (like 15qts)but you trans will last longer. Even though you have 90k and havent done anything to the trans in my opinion 90k is not too late to do a flush. After that I would check it at 120k, if its starting to discolor do a drain and fill to freshen it up a bit. Keeping a vehicle full of fresh grease and oil goes a long way to keeping problems away.:beer:
 
looking4lc said:
well my question was which one is better for the truck? i know that fill/drain the oil won't remove the residue in the tranny therefore i won't have transmission issue. whereas the exchange will remove residue and might have leaks, make sense? is it true theory?
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Not that I've seen on today's cars. If you have world standard, just do the DIY outlined here if you have the tools or haul it to the dealer and have them do it. Change out all of the fluid. If you have a transmission with "regular" fluid and it hasnt been changed in 90k, I would do a drain and refill every 10-15k for a while until the fluid condition improves.

The idea of components leaking after changing fluid or type of fluid I think is either i) made up or ii) from 50 years ago when gaskets/sealants may have been made of different materials and were sensitive to new fluid or changes in fluid.
 
To be more specific than in my previous post, I used a graduated plastic container and drained the A750F transmission into it via the drain plug on the pan. Got 3.75 qts out. I then used a hand oil pump and put back into the transmission exactly that amount of Toyota WS fluid using the fill plug on the side. I then drove several miles at all speeds and gears (including reverse). I repeated all the above 3 times. I used a new container, pump, and tubing and kept everything very clean. Using calculations others have done, I have approximately 70% new fluid in the transmission. I plan to do a drain/refill process like this every year. I bought the WS fluid at a dealer about 1.5 hours away, because when I asked about getting WS at the closest dealer, the parts guy told me the only tranny fluid they had was in the big tank out back and Toyotas all use the same. I'd take that as a caution when having transmissions "flushed" at a dealer.
 
thank you guys for the inputs, ya i would rather to flush all the fluid out but just wanted to confirm its safe. i have replace all the fluid except trans and brake and i always do the jobs ;P
 
Im doing a flush on a trans with WS fluid tomorrow that only has 30k. I pulled the plug the fluid looks like old motor oil. One tranny I worked on with like 150k never had the fluid changed, the trans didn't shift correctly, did a complete flush with the flush machine-shifted great. Im not too sure on Toyota's real world reccomendations with this fluid. Seems like it needs more attention than what Toyota says.
 
For what it's worth, I exchanged the fluid in my '05 with Valvoline MaxLife ATF after a pretty broad search through the interwebs. Many Toyota owners have replaced the WS fluid without any problems, and folks on the lube-nut forums say MaxLife ATF has almost identical stats to Toyota WS.
Only a few hundred miles since I changed fluid, but everything is buttery smooth.
 
Hayes said:
For what it's worth, I exchanged the fluid in my '05 with Valvoline MaxLife ATF after a pretty broad search through the interwebs. Many Toyota owners have replaced the WS fluid without any problems, and folks on the lube-nut forums say MaxLife ATF has almost identical stats to Toyota WS.
Only a few hundred miles since I changed fluid, but everything is buttery smooth.
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Thats good to know. going with toyota ws though. its the only available where i am.
 
I have an 2004 LX with 60k miles always serviced at dealer. At the 60k service, the service manager advised me not to change the transmission fluid or the AHC fluid. They charge premium prices for simple services...so there may be something to not changing the fluid. I also got the same advice from a toyota dealer .....
 
I would not change at 60k unless I was abusing my 100 series but at 100-120k I did have my WS fluid exchanged by a 100 series speciality shop Slee Off-road. I would not have a dealer do the exchange. My Lexus dealers service manager in Vegas recommended against an exchange since they use their exchange machine for regular trans fluid exchanges and he did not "trust them to clean it out" and they might contaminate the WS exchange.
 
SWUtah said:
Why would you take this risk when WS fluid is recommended and available?
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Because I don't see a risk.
Type IV was the spec when they first introduced the A750F, Valvoline explicitly states that it meets the WS spec, and it has been used by many others in place of WS.
Are we all using Toyota motor oil? No.
 
fwiw i just had toyota flush the tranny in mine. 227k miles, fluid looked good. No major improvements but made me feel better.
 
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