Trans/diff Fluid Replacement?

[bvers]

After my wife's visit to the delership this morning for an "oil change", I really needed to reach out and see if anyone else has had a similiar experience - we have an 04 330 with about 43k on it, bought it certified used with about 33k on it. At any rate, my wife went into the dealership this morning to have the oil changed and tires rotated and gives me a call telling me the service manager is letting her know it's just about due for its 45k service for 375 dollars. I promptly asked to speak to this gentleman at which time he informed me a "minor" service is required. It's basically all BS (check glass, check lights, check wipers, etc) EXCEPT the trans and diff fluid change. He informed me that Lexus requires transmission and differential fluid replacement on the 04 330 at 15k intervals? I don't have the owners manual with me here at work, but was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? I told him no way, just rotate the tires and do oil/filter. Does Lexus state that those fluids are due at 15k? I appreciate any info. I just found this forum and it's got great info. I typically do my own maintenance on vehicles, but since this is our first Lexus I figured maintaining at the dealership was the way to go... guess I'm wrong. Thank You.

[lenore]

I know the RX300 should be changed at that interval, (not in the manual by the way) a change at the dealerships to prolong the transmissions. However the RX330 has a different tranny.

[wwest]

I know the RX300 should be changed at that interval, (not in the manual by the way) a change at the dealerships to prolong the transmissions. However the RX330 has a different tranny.

It is my understanding that only the RX300's (mostly the '01-03) recommended maintenance schedule was revised by the factory from no ATF drain/refill for the life of the vehicle to 15,000 miles. DBW was adopted for the RX300 and forward in order to "protect the drive train", alleviate localized heating, OVER-heating, of the ATF.

I assume it's possible that an RX330 with a transaxle "fix/update/reflash" that actually eliminates the 1-2 second downshift delay/hesitation might require ATF attention.

"...However the RX330 has a different tranny..."

Not really.

In order for the Camry transaxle to be used for the RX300 it had to be ungraded, be made more robust, heavier gears, clutches, etc. That proved to be not so easy with a sideways mounted engine and trnasaxle assembly so something had to go/give. So the ATF pressure holding/sustaining accumulator was dropped from the design.

Without the accumulator the transaxle's gear type ATF pump volume/flow was insufficient alone to sustain two sequential gear changes, say an upshift followed by a quick downshift. While those quick sequential shift instances are fairly rare they were often enough in some cases to result in premature failure of many '99 and '01 RX300 transaxles on the order of 70-80,000 miles.

It appears that Toyota/Lexus QUICK fix was to increase the pumping volume of the gear type ATF pump for the '01 to '03 RX300s. And then that resulted in localized overheating of the ATF.

So the RX330/350 have the very same transaxle design as the early RX300's but with DBW to assure that a second gear change, downshift, will have enough time to complete before the engine torque begins to rise.

[AdamIsAdam]

So what's the tranny service interval for the 04 330? I seem to recall reading 30k miles.

And while I'm at it, and will search here, what's the service interval for the transfer case on the AWD models? That's an easy DIY, right?