'08 IS250SE-L autobox.

[HighlandJohn]

Hi folks, another question because I'm fairly new to the marque, having come a succession of BMWs [I know, I know..]

My IS250 which I bought in the Spring of this year at 78k miles has the auto box. Not having had a car with auto for at least 4 decades I'm unfamiliar with the service requirements - I just know that. although my BMW e60 530i SE was manual, other owners poo-poo'd the manufacturers claim that it was "Sealed for Life" which presumably meant in the order of 10 years or 100k miles?  

In the past when changing cars, I've always made a point of having the g/box and diff oils changed [engine oil I do myself] so I know what I've got and oil's cheap for what it does.

I'd welcome the Collective's opinion on whether to have these changed, as I've little knowledge of automatics - just that the technology has progressed by leaps & bounds since I last had one.

Apologies for the request, just hoping to get a consensus on whether this is an unnecessary waste of money? 

 

[The-Acre]

1 minute ago, HighlandJohn said:

Hi folks, another question because I'm fairly new to the marque, having come a succession of BMWs [I know, I know..]

My IS250 which I bought in the Spring of this year at 78k miles has the auto box. Not having had a car with auto for at least 4 decades I'm unfamiliar with the service requirements - I just know that. although my BMW e60 530i SE was manual, other owners poo-poo'd the manufacturers claim that it was "Sealed for Life" which presumably meant in the order of 10 years or 100k miles?  

In the past when changing cars, I've always made a point of having the g/box and diff oils changed [engine oil I do myself] so I know what I've got and oil's cheap for what it does.

I'd welcome the Collective's opinion on whether to have these changed, as I've little knowledge of automatics - just that the technology has progressed by leaps & bounds since I last had one.

Apologies for the request, just hoping to get a consensus on whether this is an unnecessary waste of money? 

 

At 78k I would be thinking about a transmission fluid change in the very near future, including the filter. And to be honest I think any oil/fluid that can be changed is never a waste of time so I'd go for it all if you want the car to last. 

[J Henderson]

Car Care Nut on YouTube has an interesting video on this very subject.

His recommendation is to change the fluid at 60k miles, but only a drain & fill. Not a complete flush. The reasons why are detailed in the video.

Conversely, he also recommends not changing the fluid if the mileage is way beyond the 60k interval...

I'm currently stuck somewhere in between at 85k, but I think I'll get a drain and fill during my next service.

[Spark plug]

Your like me. Last auto I had, had a dipstick so checking the oil level and changing it was easy...

[HighlandJohn]

1 hour ago, J Henderson said:

Car Care Nut on YouTube has an interesting video on this very subject.

His recommendation is to change the fluid at 60k miles, but only a drain & fill. Not a complete flush. The reasons why are detailed in the video.

Conversely, he also recommends not changing the fluid if the mileage is way beyond the 60k interval...

I'm currently stuck somewhere in between at 85k, but I think I'll get a drain and fill during my next service.

Thanks, that looks very informative, I'll view it in full and digest his recommendations. My initial intent was to change it + filter like I did with the manual box & diff, but I've read anecdotal on my old forum that it can cause problems [which he seems to confirm].

Really appreciate the input, lads -I don't want to create problems where they didn't didn't exist.  

[Linas.P]

In my opinion "sealed for life" is non-sense. What is reasonable period to replace ATF then? 

Well simple "gear oil" for manual transmissions on "unsealed" units last 40,000-50,000 miles, so ATF must last at least twice that, because ATF is much more expensive and more "advanced" fluid, so 80,000-100,000 miles would be my bet. Obviously the time and use should also be considered. For 3 years old car with 100,000 miles only easy on motorway, probably unnecessary. For 3 years old car used as taxi in the city with 100,000 miles, the gearbox would have long failed. For 15 years old car with mixed use at 78,000 miles... somewhere in between, I would tend to replace it and the filter if I would be looking to keep the car long term.

Note - you can't replace all the ATF at once. So good idea would be to probably do it in few runs, drain replace filter and gasket (good idea to prevent leaks at 15 years old, my gasket on 12 years old car was hard as rock), refill... drive maybe for 6-12 month, drain again and refill and then you should be good for another 100,000 miles / 10 years, or thereabout based on the use.

I know we had aerospace engineer here who said 50,000 miles, but he had luxury of doing it himself (which isn't really simple DIY job) and I find it just excessive... again considering that simple manual gearbox oil last 40,000 miles. 

[Thelongterm]

I am looking to do mine now, as we are at 58k and 16 years old. I thought Lexus was doing a gearbox service as part of the six-year 60k major service, but a quick call to the Hull dealer service desk revealed that nothing like this was done (and sensibly, back then, the car only did 15k).

Does anyone know of a good auto box specialist in the Gloucester Bristol area?

Lexus quoted £625.

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, Thelongterm said:

I am looking to do mine now, as we are at 58k and 16 years old. I thought Lexus was doing a gearbox service as part of the six-year 60k major service, but a quick call to the Hull dealer service desk revealed that nothing like this was done (and sensibly, back then, the car only did 15k).

Does anyone know of a good auto box specialist in the Gloucester Bristol area?

Lexus quoted £625.

Nope, Lexus does not have any gearbox service schedule, remember - it is "sealed for life" 😄 

Lexus Hainaut/Woodford quoted me £340 for AFT on GS300, so IS250 must be similar, maybe slightly cheaper (less fluid required). But this is drain and refill only, no filter, nor gasket. The part alone ATF, filter, gasket is ~£200, but I would say it is easily 2h labour, so at Lexus prices of £180-195/hour I can see it being ~£600, but that should be "full service" with filter and gasket for that price not just AFT drain/refill. 

[Mr Vlad]

Yes I can confirm that when I took my is250 to the dealer for a major service I insisted they did a gearbox oil change. They eventually did but what they did was just drop the sump plug and refill the same amount that came out. I was charged only £180 and for  2 litres of oil.

Oh yes there are adamant arguments on flushing a gearbox and not flushing a gearbox. 

There are machines now that connect to the two oil lines for the gearbox. It pumps a detergent through the gearbox then replenishes it fully with new oil. I enquired about this from an auto gearbox specialist who uses this machine on Ferrari Aston Martin Range Rover Jaguar etc etc. 

If those High end cars don't suffer horrific failure after a flush and refill then the is250 won't either. 

[Ipad]

39 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Yes I can confirm that when I took my is250 to the dealer for a major service I insisted they did a gearbox oil change. They eventually did but what they did was just drop the sump plug and refill the same amount that came out. I was charged only £180 and for  2 litres of oil.

Oh yes there are adamant arguments on flushing a gearbox and not flushing a gearbox. 

There are machines now that connect to the two oil lines for the gearbox. It pumps a detergent through the gearbox then replenishes it fully with new oil. I enquired about this from an auto gearbox specialist who uses this machine on Ferrari Aston Martin Range Rover Jaguar etc etc. 

If those High end cars don't suffer horrific failure after a flush and refill then the is250 won't either. 

I flushed mine, but vithout the detergent that normali is in the Flushing jobb, no problem after det jobb and the gearbox shift earlier , so superhappy vith the decicion.

[Mr Vlad]

How did you flush the gearbox?

And welcome to the best Lexus forum there is by the way. Where in the world are you?

[Ozzay]

I would get it done. When I bought the car at 83k I done the trans fluid change 6 months after.

All original stuff. ATF Fluid from Aisin for the Aisin gearbox. Gasket seal around pan and filter. Done by a trans specialist in Thurrock. 

I can tell you straight away that the difference could be seen so yes to doing as everyone recommends here.

I have a thread called ownership costs which goes through stuff I did for maintenance. Its always cheaper doing the labour yourself if you can.

Watch out for calipers being seized (caliper + sliding pins). You want to get the after market pins from some eBay shop called Frentech and you must get the correct type for your car I made that mistake and it ended up costing me.

Aside from that I still need diff fluid done which I will do next month. And also I have just fitted 4 new Goodyear tyres Asymmetric 6 they do drive so well with them on after having made the mistake buying some cheap brand which probably didn't work well with the Goodyear at the front (my guess alongside the others here). When I first got the car the tyres were Ventus EVO2 all around. Looking back now they were actually very good as well.

Just my opinions. The only issue I have ever had in almost 25,000 miles and 3 years upcoming was when giving the car to cowboy mechanics. One mechanic somehow got one of my coil packs bending in bank 2 and it was rough idling for a long time. He denied anything and came up with all sorts of theories never being able to fix the problem until I took it to an actual Lexus specialist. I have learned to trust my gut from now.

The others in this community have helped here over the years so I am just giving my thoughts.

[Ipad]

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

How did you flush the gearbox?

And welcome to the best Lexus forum there is by the way. Where in the world are you?

Flushing unit att the Toyota garage in my hometovn.

[Ipad]

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

How did you flush the gearbox?

And welcome to the best Lexus forum there is by the way. Where in the world are you?

I have vritten a lot about my Flushing experience earlier in another name.

[Mr Vlad]

Really? What was your other name so more can read up about it?

[Ipad]

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

Really? What was your other name so more can read up about it?

Alfalfa

[Mr Vlad]

Ahhhh I remember you 👍    can't understand why you've changed your name here though.

[Ipad]

25 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Ahhhh I remember you 👍    can't understand why you've changed your name here though.

I dident remember my pasword and got 14 minutes stop a lot of times , so i gave up and made a new acount.

[Thelongterm]

On 10/31/2023 at 4:34 PM, Ozzay said:

I would get it done. When I bought the car at 83k I done the trans fluid change 6 months after.

All original stuff. ATF Fluid from Aisin for the Aisin gearbox. Gasket seal around pan and filter. Done by a trans specialist in Thurrock. 

I can tell you straight away that the difference could be seen so yes to doing as everyone recommends here.

I have a thread called ownership costs which goes through stuff I did for maintenance. Its always cheaper doing the labour yourself if you can.

Watch out for calipers being seized (caliper + sliding pins). You want to get the after market pins from some ebay shop called Frentech and you must get the correct type for your car I made that mistake and it ended up costing me.

Aside from that I still need diff fluid done which I will do next month. And also I have just fitted 4 new Goodyear tyres Asymmetric 6 they do drive so well with them on after having made the mistake buying some cheap brand which probably didn't work well with the Goodyear at the front (my guess alongside the others here). When I first got the car the tyres were Ventus EVO2 all around. Looking back now they were actually very good as well.

Just my opinions. The only issue I have ever had in almost 25,000 miles and 3 years upcoming was when giving the car to cowboy mechanics. One mechanic somehow got one of my coil packs bending in bank 2 and it was rough idling for a long time. He denied anything and came up with all sorts of theories never being able to fix the problem until I took it to an actual Lexus specialist. I have learned to trust my gut from now.

The others in this community have helped here over the years so I am just giving my thoughts.

In the latest edition of 'Car Mechanic' magazine, they show how to change transmission fluid on their IS250 project car. If you have a library card, you can read this mag for free via the PressReader app.

[HighlandJohn]

Car is booked into garage for next Thursday morning for a drain & fill of gearbox plus change oil in differential.  Will report if I notice any difference.

Oil/fluid is cheap for what it does.

[Thelongterm]

I also booked mine for January when she crossed into the 60k territory.

After reading the article in Car Mechanic on how they did it with their IS250 project car, I am more convinced that taking this to Lexus is a waste of cash.

 

The gearbox is not much different from any TC auto from Toyota before they went with that awful automated 'MultiMode' junk and later to a CVT, so it is a simple traditional auto.

I booked her with an auto specialist in Bristol, and for £300+vat, you get 70% of the fluid replaced + gasket and filter.

For something you do once or twice in the car's span, this is peanuts in my book.

 

 

[HighlandJohn]

Job done this morning. Took 1 hour all in for both diff & autobox.  Diff oil looked almost new and no metal particles on the magnetic drain plug, the autobox fluid was very dark compared to the new 'red' stuff, but maybe that's just how it gets after nearly 80k miles??  

Total cost of £202 inc VAT.  Too soon to say if I notice any difference as I only drove the mile back from the garage to my house - so watch this space.  As I said, oil's cheap for what it does.

Got under the car for the first time since buying while it was on the ramp and all looks good with no nasty, rusty/knackered bits to be seen. 

[J Henderson]

Thanks for the update. 👍

I'm going to request request the same during my next service in February/March next year.

[GMB]

For my sins I have 2 x 8speed auto boxes ( IsF and 200t ). They both perform well. The isF is better at judging change points, probably because there is so much spare torque that it does not need to change as often.

When the weather is very cold they are both reluctant to change gear for the first couple of miles, due to the thickness/ viscosity of the oil when cold I believe. This is normal.

My point is that I drive slowly and carefully for the first few miles to avoid undue stresses on the components.

The people behind me don't like it but what the heck.

Some people thrash their engines from a cold start because they have been told by the garage that modern engines are OK with that. Then they (garages) make a ton of money repairing your car. I believe that the gearbox needs as much care as the engine especially when cold.

Maybe I  am old fashioned and got it wrong, but, better safe than sorry eh?🤗

 

[Ipad]

On 11/22/2023 at 7:18 PM, Thelongterm said:

I also booked mine for January when she crossed into the 60k territory.

After reading the article in Car Mechanic on how they did it with their IS250 project car, I am more convinced that taking this to Lexus is a waste of cash.

 

The gearbox is not much different from any TC auto from Toyota before they went with that awful automated 'MultiMode' junk and later to a CVT, so it is a simple traditional auto.

I booked her with an auto specialist in Bristol, and for £300+vat, you get 70% of the fluid replaced + gasket and filter.

For something you do once or twice in the car's span, this is peanuts in my book.

 

 

Not 70% but around 20%