Transmission Service 2000 Rx300

[sigtauenus]

My wife's 2000 RX300 has 140,000 miles on it. From what I understand and have read, Lexus says the fluid does not need to be changed. I also understand Toyota still has a proprietary blend of ATF.

It goes against my grain not to change the fluid in the transmission.

Do people really drive these things forever on factory fluid?

Is there really no alternative to the $5 per quart dealer supplied ATF?

I'd like to do a drain and fill (know better than to do a flush), but won't if its actually better to just leave well enough alone.

[RX in NC]

Do a simple drain-and-fill. You'll need about 4 quarts, but get 5 just to be sure. If you research this forum and others like it, you'll begin to understand that you've been very fortunate to get that kind of mileage out of your transmission with absolutely no maintenance on it. These transmissions are the weakest link of the early RX models.

Oh, and quit complaining about paying $5 a quart for Type T-IV transmission fluid. You'll find it somewhat cheaper at a Toyota dealership rather than a Lexus dealership. My 2005 Jaguar S-Type sedan's German ZF transmission runs M1375.4 mineral oil as its fluid, and a drain-and-fill usually results in about 6 litres of fluid exchanged. Jaguar's price for this stuff? $57 per litre....