Following the Owner's Manual

[deven]

Well, I have a 2006 Lexus ES 330 and I will be at 30k miles in late May or Early June. On my previous cars I have always changed all the fluids every 30k miles. I talked to a mechanic who's been working on Toyota/Lexus' for over 20 years and he assured me that with the newer Lexus' there is no need to change the major fluids until 90k miles. So against my conventional wisdom, I am going to leave everything as is and change the following that are in the manual to change at 30k:-

Air/Cabin filter
Brake Fluid Flush(DOT 4)
Oil and filter change.

What do you all think? Am I making the right decision?

P.S. The ATF is World Standard(WS) fluid and coolant is the Super Long Life Coolant(TSLLC)

 

[The Critic]

Your transmission takes T-IV. It's a U151E 5-speed auto. Only the U151E in the RAV4 and Avalon use WS.

Toyota says to inspect the fluid every 15k and replace it at the first sign of burned odor, discoloration or sediment. They recommend replacing it on an as-needed basis based on those aforementioned conditions. Only if you are towing do you need to replace it every 60k.

The coolant is fine for 100k. Many Honda owners don't change the coolant until their timing belt/water pump job at 105k and I haven't heard of any problems with the Japanese "hybrid" type coolants such as Honda Type II and Toyota Super Long Life PINK.

 

[bigjeffie]

if you have the factory fill in, i would change oil as you have normally and leave the car alone.
be a good time 4 an air filter if you havnt done that yet.
the rest is time and money ddown the drain.
the gentleman is right.
T-IV is good stuff. leave it in there

 

[bigjeffie]

the brakes should be fine also.
u could flush them if you really want to.
that fluid will hold a good while.
but, a proper flush will provide some benefit

 

[steve20]

agreed-the newer fluids are some much better than those of even7 years ago
keep them in there

 

[deven]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Your transmission takes T-IV. It's a U151E 5-speed auto. Only the U151E in the RAV4 and Avalon use WS.



Critic, this is exactly what i thought too but the manual said WS so I called Lexus Tech line several times and they all tell me the same thing which is starting in 2005 all Lexus' come factory filled with WS fluid and not T-IV.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: deven
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Your transmission takes T-IV. It's a U151E 5-speed auto. Only the U151E in the RAV4 and Avalon use WS.



Critic, this is exactly what i thought too but the manual said WS so I called Lexus Tech line several times and they all tell me the same thing which is starting in 2005 all Lexus' come factory filled with WS fluid and not T-IV.

That's what the Amsoil guide says, T-IV.

Go pull out the transmission dipstick. Either WS or T-IV is printed on the stick.

 

[deven]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: deven
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Your transmission takes T-IV. It's a U151E 5-speed auto. Only the U151E in the RAV4 and Avalon use WS.



Critic, this is exactly what i thought too but the manual said WS so I called Lexus Tech line several times and they all tell me the same thing which is starting in 2005 all Lexus' come factory filled with WS fluid and not T-IV.

That's what the Amsoil guide says, T-IV.

Go pull out the transmission dipstick. Either WS or T-IV is printed on the stick.


Thats where all the confusion began. The manual said WS but the dipstick said T-IV. Lexus' explanation to this was that they just started putting the WS in the transmissions without making a change in the dipstick because it wasnt cost effective.

P.S. Called 3 different Lexus Dealerships and 2 say its WS and 1 says its T-IV. Who to believe?

 

[Squishy]

This is from the factory service manual:
Quote:
2006 Lexus ES 330 V6-3.3L (3MZ-FE) Copyright © 2007, ALLDATA 9.20 Page 1
Fluid - A/T: Fluid Type Specifications
FLUID TYPE .................................................... Toyota Genuine ATF Type T-IV*
* Change automatic tranmsission fluid only as necessary. Generally, it is necessary to change automatic transmission fluid only if your vehicle is driven
under one of the Special Operating Conditions listed in your "Owner's Manual Supplement/Scheduled Maintenance". When changing the automatic
transmision fluid, use only "Toyota Genuine ATF Type T-IV" (ATF JWS3309 or NWS6500) to aid in assuring optimum transaxle performance.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: deven
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: deven
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Your transmission takes T-IV. It's a U151E 5-speed auto. Only the U151E in the RAV4 and Avalon use WS.



Critic, this is exactly what i thought too but the manual said WS so I called Lexus Tech line several times and they all tell me the same thing which is starting in 2005 all Lexus' come factory filled with WS fluid and not T-IV.

That's what the Amsoil guide says, T-IV.

Go pull out the transmission dipstick. Either WS or T-IV is printed on the stick.


Thats where all the confusion began. The manual said WS but the dipstick said T-IV. Lexus' explanation to this was that they just started putting the WS in the transmissions without making a change in the dipstick because it wasnt cost effective.

P.S. Called 3 different Lexus Dealerships and 2 say its WS and 1 says its T-IV. Who to believe?

That's baloney. It has to be T-IV in that transmission.

The only U151Es that I know of that are using WS are the ones in the RAV4 and Avalon. The ES didn't make any switch to WS until 2007 with the U660E AFAIK.

 

[deven]

Thanks guys, I'll be using T-IV and probably wait till 60 or 90k to do the change. T-IV is a heck of a lot cheaper than WS.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: deven
Thanks guys, I'll be using T-IV and probably wait till 60 or 90k to do the change. T-IV is a heck of a lot cheaper than WS.

Actually they are now the exact same price, just under $7.00/qt. The price of WS dropped a lot recently.

Check the fluid condition regularly. Replace it at the first sign of discoloration, that's the official info from Toyota.

 

[deven]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: deven
Thanks guys, I'll be using T-IV and probably wait till 60 or 90k to do the change. T-IV is a heck of a lot cheaper than WS.

Actually they are now the exact same price, just under $7.00/qt. The price of WS dropped a lot recently.

Check the fluid condition regularly. Replace it at the first sign of discoloration, that's the official info from Toyota.


I do check all my fluids atleast once a week. The ATF fluid is still the same color(rose pink)as it was new but when i smell it there is a faint hint of a burnt smell. Thanks on the info for the price. The dealer I talked to couple of days ago wants $11.00 a quart for WS and $6 for T-IV.

 

[Tosh]

I think OM recommendations are based on fairly bad environmental conditions. If you live somewhere fairly dust-free, you could just tap the leaves and bugs out of the air filter and put it back. I have gone over 40k on mine, and it looks clean enough.

And judge a brake fluid replacement based on the relative humidity where you live (and the type of driving you do). If it's drier, you can put it off an extra year or two. I don't like seeing it too dirty in the reservoir, so it usually gets changed at about 3 years. But I also adjust based on climate, so 2 years when I lived in FL.

 

[M1Accord]

I replace my Honda Accord coolant @ 60k miles/6 years. I was ticked that I had to buy the coolant from the dealers, whiched charged me 14 bucks for it. I could have gotten it cheaper somewhere if there is a auto shop carrying things other than Prestone and other generic stuffs.

The fluid was fine, no discoloration or anything like that. I didn't flush it with water as that would leave a lot of water in the radiator and the new coolant, which is 50/50 mixture, will have more water added to the whole capacity. I just let it drained for 2 hours, dripping during the last 1.45 hrs.

I think coolant, trans, oil, and typical fluids are cheap maintenance items. Things I am not looking forward to is the timing belt, waterpump, and drive belts. Even brake fluid is a big job but it only cost 60 bucks every 3 years so I am don't. Actually, there is an old say of just just leaving brake fluid in oil car alone as the nip-ples could be rusted and bleeding the fluid would lead to a big money replacement of the nip-ples. So I am doing brake fluid every 4-5 years as I am very easy on brake; almost 70k miles and still have 80% pad left.

 

[Tosh]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
Even brake fluid is a big job but it only cost 60 bucks every 3 years so I am don't.

If you can pull a wheel off, you can change brake fluid. And it's MUCH easier than changing coolant (which still isn't hard).