Amsoil Transmission Fluid

[RX300 Steven]

I know that a lot of people use and stand behind Amsoil for motor oil and gear oil, but does anyone have experience with the transmission fluid they have that is suppose to be T-IV replacement ? I've switched all oils that I can so far to Amsoil, and considering the ATF change now.

Let me hear any good/bad experiences with Amsoils ATF for Lexus RX300 transmission.

:D

[monarch]

The Amsoil and Valvoline Universal Fluids that claim to be suitable replacements for Toyota Type T-IV fluid have only been on the market for a year or so. So it will take many years to find out whether or not they cause problems or are as good as Type T-IV. One thing we know for sure is that neither fluid has been tested and approved by Toyota. Valvoline is honest and ethical enough to publicly admit that shortcoming whereas Amsoil is not.

Amsoil and Valvoline both say their fluids have been tested and approved to be suitable replacements for Toyota Type T-IV, yet they don't specify what their transmission durability standards are. So if owners end up with failed transmissions at 125,000 miles and complain to Amsoil and Valvoline they may be told "we consider 125,000 miles to be a normal and satisfactory life for a transmission."

The reason I would not use either Amsoil or Valvoline is because none of the transmission failures you constantly read about on this forum are due to owner failure to use synthetic fluid. They're all due to failure to regularly inspect and change the fluid, maintain the fluid level precisely and to never drive in an abusive manner.

[RX in NC]

As usual, monarch blames the high degree of RX transmission failures on the owners when those of us who have maintained our vehicles meticulously and have still suffered from premature transmission failure know that the fault lies with inferior engineering and potential design flaws within the RX transmission system.

I always advise everyone who asks about switching to transmission fluids other than Type T-IV not to do so in order to protect yourself as an owner. If you put something other than Type T-IV into your transmission case, you're providing Lexus with the perfect opportunity to drop any warranty coverage for you if and when your transmission fails. Stay with the T-IV fluid so your legal protection stays in place during your warranty period and even beyond.

Do I believe that Type T-IV fluid is superior to other potential automatic transmission fluids out there? Hell no. But I have enough automotive experience to know that if you run a fluid other than what is required in your owner's manual, you are setting yourself up for a costly experience when Lexus flat-out tells you, "sorry - we're not covering your transmission failure due to inappropriate fluids in your transmission system." Do the smart thing and stick with Type T-IV at least until you don't intend to pursue a transmission failure case with Lexus anymore.

[monarch]

fault lies with inferior engineering and potential design flaws within the RX transmission system.

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To my knowledge, no RX AWD owner or mechanic on this forum has identified any parts inside the RX AWD transmission that wear out / fail prematurely when always kept lubricated with clean, unoxidized Type T-IV transmission fluid.

Therefore I believe it is reasonable to assume that someday we will hear from an RX AWD owner(s) who drove over 250,000 miles without any transmission problems because they regularly inspected and changed the fluid, maintained the fluid level precisely and never drove in an abusive manner.

[RX in NC]

Believe whatever you want. But to my knowledge, you don't own an RX300. Many of us do, and our real-life experiences outweigh your beliefs. You can wave your Toyota/Lexus flag all day long, but as RX transmissions continue to fail prematurely, fewer and fewer owners will subscribe to your misguided beliefs.

[lexdog]

Im looking to change my transmission fluid this weekend. Im a bit of a novice when it comes to Lexus/Toyota trannys. I've driven mostly domestics.

Im assuming theres a bolt you remove, drain the oil and replace.

Anybody out there know of any quarks or pointers ?

Also is the dealer the only place you can buy Toyota type T -IV tranny fluid

Is the toyota tranny fludid synthetic or dino ? Anybody know ?

[TunedRX300]

I believe Toyota Type IV is synthetic. Use 10 mm Allen wrench to loosen the tranny drain plug on the driver side. It is facing down.

Just behind it is drain plug for transfer case, also use 10 mm hex wrench to loosen. It is facing passenger side. Total drain is about 4 qts. Fill both through tranny dip stick hole.

[SKperformance]

I use amsoil in my tranny.

[BadBrad]

I believe Toyota Type IV is synthetic.  Use 10 mm Allen wrench to loosen the tranny drain plug on the driver side.  It is facing down. 

Just behind it is drain plug for transfer case, also use 10 mm hex wrench to loosen.  It is facing passenger side.  Total drain is about 4 qts.  Fill both through tranny dip stick hole.

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This job is so easy just sit back in your easy chair and let your kids do it. Really!!!

Ok - maybe not, but it really is easy to do yourself.

A good idea is to measure what you took out so you don't overfill. I just poured the old stuff into the new bottles as I went. Yes, you'll run out of bottles before your done - find something else to pour the extra quart into. Wife's blender comes to mind. ;)

[lenore]

Believe whatever you want.  But to my knowledge, you don't own an RX300.  Many of us do, and our real-life experiences outweigh your beliefs.  You can wave your Toyota/Lexus flag all day long, but as RX transmissions continue to fail prematurely, fewer and fewer owners will subscribe to your misguided beliefs.

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Give us a break Monarch, The Transmission in the RX300 AWD is a weak point, As I have said many times, I changed the fluid every 30k and still had a failure. The problem is Lexus has a poor design and are not willing to stand behind their product. I have never had any vehicle in 40 years that caused the fluid to smell burnt and look black after 10k miles. I just changed mine after that mileage on my third transmission and you know, you are rediculous to stand by the maintenance as being the cause of failure. I too live in SAcramento, and as you well know their is no reason for failures up and down Watt Avenue for a commute. So get with the program, and admit the short comings of the 99 RX300 AWD. Yes it is a great vehicle, with a major problem when it comes to reliability. Lenore

[monarch]

I changed the fluid every 30k and still had a failure.  I have never had any vehicle in 40 years that caused the fluid to smell burnt and look black after 10k miles...you are rediculous to stand by the maintenance as being the cause of

failure

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Lenore, you just told us you drove 20,000 miles with your transmission filled with black/burnt fluid. That means your transmission was operated for 20,000 miles on fluid that had lost much of it's lubricating qualities. Therefore, it's no surprize to me your poorly lubricated transmission eventually failed.

Like I said before, no one on this or other forums has identified any parts inside the RX AWD transmission that wear out / fail prematurely when always kept lubricated with clean, unoxidized Type T-IV transmission fluid. Therefore I believe that someday we will hear from an RX AWD owner(s) who drove over 250,000 miles without any transmission problems because they regularly inspected the fluid condition and changed it at the first sign of deterioration.

I would agree with you that the RX AWD transmission is "a weak point" if and only if someday someone identifies specific parts inside the RX AWD transmission that wear out / fail prematurely in spite of always being kept lubricated with clean, unoxidized Type T-IV transmission fluid. However, it's been 6 years since the 1999 AWD model was introduced and no one yet has identified any specific failure prone parts inside the RX AWD transmission.

I would also agree with you that RX300 AWD transmission fluid cooling in congested big city traffic during hot weather is a weak point, but as far as we know the transmission wear consequences of this fluid cooling weakness can be mitigated by regularly inspecting the fluid condition and changing it at the first sign of deterioration. An analogous situation concerns Toyota 4 cylinder automatic transmission Motorhome owners. 6500 lbs of motorhome is an enormous load for a 4 cylinder motor and automatic transmission and some owners have experienced transmission failure at only 50-60,000 miles. Other owners, however, have gone 200,000 miles without failure. The 200K owners either frequently replaced the transmission fluid or they installed a fluid temperature gauge to help them identify and avoid driving situations that caused fluid temps rise up to 220 degrees F or more. Or they installed an auxillary transmission oil cooler in conjunction with the fluid temperature gauge.

[lenore]

What I said is that I have changed the fluid at 10k miles since Lexus of Roseville had replaced the transmission for the second time. You would think at 10k miles on the fluid there would not be any discoloration or smell. This is completely rediculous that fluid would break down after 10k miles. For crying out loud my Ford windstar would go 80k and show no signs of discoloration or burnt smell. Both vehicles weigh about the same and the Ford is front wheel drive, and Most American front wheel drive vehicles inherently have weak transmissions. Lexus needs to step up and admit that fluid failure at such an early mileage is rediculous. All of the other Lexus and Toyota vehicles do not require such high maintenance on their transmissions. So using common sense that would imply that the RX300 AWD has a very serious design flaw. Pouring new fluid in like a funnel is crazy. I am sure that when the Car was marketed it would not have sold to people if they new that the tranny fluid would have to be changed so often. Heck the owners manual states otherwise. When My warranty is expired on this third transmission I will make modifications to try and improve the short comings of the poor design. This site has proven the number of high failure rates of this transmisson/transaxle design. Believe me I loved this vehicle and maintain it very well, but this is truely a very premature failure of both the fluid and the transmission. Lexus of America is by far the worst outfit I have ever delt with.

I just bought a new ford Truck and they treat me better. (note: only the second American vehicle in my life) I bought Lexus for its reliability, but they have proven otherwise. I have worked on cars all my life, raced them, and followed statistics on their reliability, performance, etc. but I never dreamed that Toyota/Lexus would not stand behind their product. It is not what I had heard from friends, and acquantences. They have shown me otherwise. By the Way Lexus of Roseville has the worst service department I have ever experienced. Lexus of Sacramento was satisfactory.

[RX in NC]

Regarding monarch, my advice to the rest of you RX300 owners out there is to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". He doesn't own an RX, and as a result he hasn't experienced the problems that many of us have with our lousy RX transmissions.

I wouldn't be surprised if monarch shows up on Toyota's payroll somewhere....

[lenore]

Regarding monarch, my advice to the rest of you RX300 owners out there is to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".  He doesn't own an RX, and as a result he hasn't experienced the problems that many of us have with our lousy RX transmissions.

I wouldn't be surprised if monarch shows up on Toyota's payroll somewhere....

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Thank you again RX, Some people will back their favorite until it falls on them. I have known many people over the years that back this car or that, But they pay for the pleasure of doing so. Others, good consumers do not accept poor reliability for their dollar. That is how change is commanded, unfortunately Lexus doesn't seem to care one way or other. If Lexus Of America ever monitors this site they should listen up. One bad relationship with a customer generates the loss ten fold of future customers. I promised Lexus of America I would carry this cause for their *BLEEP* poor support, and I will, hopefully to protect others from our miss fortunes. I know that I have personally deterred at least ten potential customers. I will not change until Lexus proves themselves worthy to earn my future business. Lenore

[TunedRX300]

When powertrain warranty expires on my RX, I will switch to Amsoil ATF and add an external tranny filter on the return line from the cooler. The mesh just catch the bigger metal chunks. Magnets on two drain plugs are good to catch fine mtal debris but they works only on fluid nearby.

Tranny Filter

[RX300 Steven]

Well, seeing that my 2000 RX300 is past the warranty, I'm making the switch to Amsoil now. Being the second owner I probably couldn't satisfy Lexus maintenance documentation anyway. I've done one drain/fill w/Amsoil and planning another one in a few hundred miles to try and get the fluid as fresh as possible. Next will be changing the diff gear oil, but when I started looking at the rear diff, it was stuck that I couldn't break yet. Spraying it with WD40 over a few days and maybe this weekend I'll break the seal.. at least I am starting with the fill plug first, if I can't get that one loose no use draining it.

I'll keep everyone informed of how the Amsoil works in my tranny.

[TunedRX300]

WD40 helped me to get that fill plug loose, I used a L shaped 10mm Allen wrench. Lexus tighten it way too much. Also get yourself a hand pump to pump fresh gear oil in, should avoid unnecessary spills.

[RX300 Steven]

WD40 helped me to get that fill plug loose, I used a L shaped 10mm Allen wrench.  Lexus tighten it way too much.  Also get yourself a hand pump to pump fresh gear oil in, should avoid unnecessary spills.

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I couldn't get the rear diff fill to break with an allen wrench, but I picked up a 10mm allen socket and put two small extensions on it and then it was actually pretty easy to get it loose then. Of course soaking with WD40 the night before probably did most of the work. Just went up over the top of the muffler pipe to the other side (closer to the wheel). So, I've got Amsoil in the tranny, rear diff, and engine. Tomorrows task will be trying to get the front diff. Somehow I think that's going to be the hardest. I also cleaned the MAF while I was waiting for the gear oil to drain. Oil really didn't look to bad, but the drain plug had a lot of black metal crap on it. Guess that's what it's suppose to do.

[RX300 Steven]

Funny thing, working on the front diff tonight I got the fill plug off without too much trouble but couldn't get the drain plug loose (and that looks like the easiest one of all of them to get off. oh well, back to soaking with WD40.

Does anyone have any other product that might work better/faster than WD40 to loosen up a plug ? I'm arms are too soar now to try anymore tonight.

[TunedRX300]

I heard PB blaster worked better than WD40 but I found the bigger problem is that drain plug does not have enough clearance to fit a open end wrench.

I used a craftsman 15/16 open end wrench to loosen the drain plug. Claws from the wrench is too thick to latch on the plug completely so I patiently wedge in at an angle. Be careful not to strip the drain plug when you angle in and wedge the wrench onto the plug. After 5 minutes of playing and cursing Toyota, I managed to get a solid hold and get the drain plug off. Gear oil drained is darker than the rear - you must have a pump to fill - there is no little room to lift your fill bottle up.