Is300 Auto Gearbox A650E Oil Change Info Needed

Koko · December 31, 2014

Hi All,

Does anyone here has ever changed gearbox oil and filter on the IS300? Not the drain and fill type by unscrewing only the drain plug more like a flush with removing the pan and replace filter?

Did some search on other forums but getting mixed info, some says there is no filter some says there is? Emailed dealer as well but would be good to have first hand experience.

Help would be appreciated

Thanks in advance!

Koko · December 31, 2014

Just found the part number 35330-30070 for the filter (comes with 3 gaskets and also confirmed by my local dealer so there is a filter (of course) on the auto gearbox :outforcount:

ColinBarber · December 31, 2014

A flush isn't just removing the pan, that is the same as using the drain plug. 2/3 of the fluid is contained within the torque converter and the valve body.

You can use a flushing machine, which isn't advisable on older vehicles as it can disturb dirt and cause more harm than good, or you can disconnect the line going to the cooler and 0.5 litres at a time pump out by starting the vehicle, stopping and refilling and repeat until clean fluid comes through (also going through all the gears to move all the fluid in the valve body).

The safest way is to just do a drain/refill two or three times, circulating the fluid in-between drains, which will refresh most of the fluid and then do a single drain/refill every 20k miles.

Not sure about the filter on that transmission, most are just a mesh which can be cleaned rather than needing to be replaced.

ChrisIS200SportTTE · December 31, 2014

What Colin said^

Don't flush it if it's not been flushed regularly in it's life.

I've seen first hand this transmission fail after a flush. It was the cars first ATF change after 9 years and 100,000 miles.

Damo2 · January 3, 2015

When I bought my Lexus Is300 the first thing I asked my mechanic to do after getting the car, alongside getting it serviced, was to change the ATF and filter - however he didn't agree with me that it was needed as the car had done less than 13,000 miles - however I debated with him that although it had low miles, it was 8yrs old and the fluid would have degraded over time as it had been sitting doing no work.... He did not agree and said it was no different to the ATF sitting in a bottle on a shelf... after we had a further debate on it I reluctantly agreed with him to leave it ... however a week later I had clunky gear changes / pauses / and stuttering from low revs / low gears pulling away at standstill, although at high revs / high gears everything was fine. The old ATF oil and deposits were working there way though the gearbox!

So I took it back to my mechanic, who was of the opinion that this was not anything to do with the ATF fluid or filter, and to be fair he was only trying to do me a favour and save me money, but eventually he did agree to change the ATF and filter, after all I was paying him, was I not?.

This sorted out the problem and on looking at the fluid that came out it was evident it had degraded, the colour of it was not the bright cherry red of new / good oil but a dark coke colour of old / knackered oil.

Now whether this was because of it's age, or the very limited miles and ad hoc use of the car over the years not allowing the fluid to reach designed operational temperatures and therefore it breaking down and clogging parts of the Auto box.. either way it goes to show that simple things can make a big difference - especially when someone else tells you that it's a fault with the gearbox.. which I never believed and which would have been very expensive if I had.

To this day the car has been fine... although I have had another ATF change on my request to my mechanic who did not argue this time..

Koko · January 5, 2015

Thanks for the replies and advice guys, will do a report once I get to this

n1tr0_9 · February 16, 2015

Ill be doing the same on my car also an IS300. Is there a how to guide anywhere? And can i use any general ATF or should i but Toyota specific stuff?

Thanks

Koko · February 16, 2015

There might be a how to but not yet searched for it, My.is is a good place

I prefer genuine stuff for my car so have bought Toyota fluid and strainer already.

n1tr0_9 · February 16, 2015

Cool, thanks. I ordered the filter today from Toyota, £104. Ouch.

Will order the ATF too. Was gonna try and find a cheaper alternative, but the advice so far is unanimous and just get genuine TIV Toyota stuff.

I am hoping to do this on the weekend. I might try the disconnecting the line to the rad cooler with the engine running to pump more of the old oil out before refilling.

Any idea what the total capacity of these gearboxes is?

Koko · February 16, 2015

Did you? could have helped you with that, I got a good deal at my local dealer

Service manual only says 2L for changing gearbox fluid but it comes in 5L only so you will need to buy 5L

Don`t know how much fluid the gearbox hold but you wont be able to get all of it out so 5 liters should be enough.

Would you share you experience after you done?

n1tr0_9 · February 16, 2015

Yeah, ill let you know how i get on. I only bought the car on Saturday. Car was perfect on test drive, no warning lights, nice and smooth, then the next day the e-shift stopped working, the rad sprang a leak and ive got TRC OFF and VSC warning light come up on the dash!

So already ive had to buy a new radiator, and get the stuff to service the box in the hope it will bring back the e shift.

n1tr0_9 · February 21, 2015

Started on the car today. I drained the gearbox and got around 4 litres out. Then I removed the transmission sump. I took off all the underfloor plastic panels for access. All the bolts came out easy apart from on hidden by the exhaust bracket. The bolt from bracket to exhaust was well rusted so I just bent the bracket down. Sump came off ok but had to wd40 the bit where the dipstick tube connects to the other half of the dipstick tube. The oil fluid was pretty dark but no bad shrapnel in the pan. The magnets had a bit of dwarf on them but nothing too scary. I removed solenoid 1 and bench tested it as I had an errors code saying it was faulty. It worked fine so it must be a wiring fault. I also cleaned all the electrical plugs for the box I could find. I cleaned all the old sealer off the sump pan and refitted it. The sealer is curing overnight and I'll continue tomorrow.

n1tr0_9 · February 21, 2015

Forgot to mention the filter for the box just unbolted easily no problem.

ColinBarber · February 21, 2015

just a pan drain and refill takes 2 litres. A dry fill of the whole transmission is 8.2 litres. If you are flushing then you would need at least 10 litres to achieve a complete replacement.

A lot of fluid is held in the torque converter and valve body which you cannot get out easily. Then there is the fluid going to/from the external cooler etc.

The safest way to achieve a full change is drain/refill the pan and then disconnect a pipe to the cooling and 0.5 litre at a time start the engine, let it pump out, turn off, add 0.5 litre back through the dipstick and repeat until the fluid changes colour. You will want to move through the gears to make sure all the fluid moves around the valve body.

Personally you are better off just doing a few pan drain and refills over a short time to dilute the old fluid and then one drain/refill every two years.

Koko · February 21, 2015

Thanks for the update, sounds not too hard. What position did you have the gearbox lever in and did you warm up gearbox before? Is the filter just a mesh that can be cleaned or it is more that that? 5L fluid was enough than?

Sorry for too many questions just want to get ready for my turn :)

n1tr0_9 · February 21, 2015

Yeah I bought 7 litres and planned to disconnect the oil cooler line and run the engine to pump out some more of the old fluid. However my car doesn't have the cooler on the rad, it is a small water to oil heat exchanger bolted to the side of the engine. So now I don't know which line is in or out?

ColinBarber · February 22, 2015

does it not have an oil cooler inside the main radiator assembly too?

n1tr0_9 · February 22, 2015

No, that's the weird thing. Everything I've seen online suggests it should have 2 lines to the base of the rad. But the rad is blank and has no ports on it. It's definitely the original rad too. It's just burst so I bought a new one off eBay. The new rad has the cooler in it like I expected. Perhaps my car being an early ish 2002 sportcross 3 litre is different?

br1anstorm · November 29, 2016

I've been hunting around for information on this mysterious question of auto-transmission oil coolers on an IS300..... and this is the first and, so far, only evidence I have found that I'm not the only owner who has been puzzled, and my car is not the only one which is weird.

I have a 2002 IS300 Sportcross (auto transmission). I have just changed the radiator. I sourced a new replacement, complete with the two connections to the lower tank for the auto oil-cooler lines. But when I got the under-shield off and looked - just like James (n1tr0_9), I found my car had no auto-tranny oil lines and no oil cooler connections into the bottom of the rad! Nevertheless I went ahead and installed the replacement radiator, leaving the two oil-cooler connections blanked off. Put it all back together, and the car runs perfectly, as before.

I haven't - yet - removed the other undershield panels to go looking to see where and how the other auto transmission oil cooler is located. Having it "bolted to the side of the engine" doesn't exactly suggest it is well placed to cool the oil! How does it actually work? Is there a water/coolant circuit loop which also connects to it?

Can anyone offer more details of exactly where this oil cooler is, or any explanation of when and how it was reconfigured. Do all IS300s up to the 2002 model - or later? - have their auto-oil cooler separate from the radiator?

steve2006 · November 29, 2016

Looks like it is water cooled and mounted on the engine block.

br1anstorm · November 29, 2016

Steve - thanks for that. Very interesting. The parts-catalogue/diagram PDFs that I have appear to be different - either because they are for later models (up to 2005) or from different online sources - because none of them shows this.

Thankfully, I don't need to change the oil cooler at present. But it's good to know my car has one, and that I now know how to find it!

Koko · January 11, 2017

Hi All,

Serviced my car back in the summer of 2016 including the transmission and as promised I want to share some photos. Sorry for bad quality photos don`t know why they are so bad as they looked fine on my phone screen.

It is not a how to guide just sharing some photos.

Did a 1400+ miles trip 2 days after I serviced car and luckily everything was good, no problems.

Koko · January 11, 2017

Here is a picture of the transmission cooler (circled in red) located on the engine behind the water pump.

Gfunk666 · March 14, 2019

On 1/11/2017 at 3:09 PM, Koko said:

Here is a picture of the transmission cooler (circled in red) located on the engine behind the water pump.

Hi I have the same car. Did u ever do the transmission flush using the pipes from your oil cooler on side of engine? Looking at doing a filter /pan and flush using a oil pump with the lines from the cooler. Wondered how u got on with it. What's your mileage? Mines a 2002 is300 sportcross