mattyt1991

Yeah it is quite steep but to be fair the dealer has given me a very good price on my Honda Civic, nearly a straight swap and this Ct200h has been treated very well, been to Lexus dealer every year without fail, not a mark on the interior. I have overpaid but to be honest I am ok with it.

So I cocked up a little when I bought my current 2017 Honda Civic 1.8 petrol manual a year ago, it is a good car but just not that comfy and I miss the auto box way more than I thought I would. I had a Lexus IS250 before the Honda and loved it but it was a tad thirsty... Used car prices are crazy so not a good time to buy but I have an itch. Not looking to add much money on top of selling the Honda so old or high mileage. There is a local Ct200h in premier SE-L spec with ML audio on for 13k, which is a hell of a lot for an 11 year old car but is actually ok in today's market. No right or wrong answer but looking for some wisdom on a) the car and b) is an older battery likely to be ok if the mileage is low?

Hi guys, My IS250 is getting a service from an independent mechanic today. I asked him to grease the caliper slides as is often advised here and he has found a couple of issues. Front brakes need 4 new claiper slides plus the boots for them. Rear brakes need 4 boots for the calipers. I have had a look on the Lexus parts website but there seems to be a lot of options that I am not sure how to make sense of it. From the description I have given you, any idea what I need to order? Also is Lexus parts just the best place to order from - parts don't seem too expensive.

How much does this cost? Is it an easy job to DIY?

It was a full change, 7.9L of Toyota WS ATF Ended up costing £205. I got the price a bit wrong before, it would have been £360 for the full change plus filter. In an ideal world I would have changed the filter too but given the corrosion and potential for other things to brake during the job I think I am happy with what I have had done.

Oil exchanged today. All seems to be shifting smoothly, whew! Whether or not it was a waste of money... guess I will never know. I feel a bit happier now that there is new oil in it. No surprise seeing as the oil is 12 years old but quite a big difference: @Mr Vladi am sorry they didn’t know any good places that far up country!

I definitely get that and usually the way I think as well. But seeing as there is some corrosion down there the worse thing would be if they take the exhaust down to get where they need to and then something breaks due to rust when they do that. Plus I paid £3k for this car and it is shifting just fine right now. The transmission guy has actually advised I spend less and just do the oil change. It’s what he does on most BMWs and Land Rovers he services without issue.

Well in this case it is because the bolts and holding the pan on are very corroded and will likely snap. So to do the filter will mean more labour, and need to buy bolts and gaskets from Lexus. Difference is £180 vs £440. Is there no benefit from doing the oil change on its own then?

So the price to drop the pan and do the filter is now just a bit high, and I am worried about other corroded bits braking. Plan at the moment is just to exchange the fluid without dropping the pan and changing the filter. My question is, would the oil change without the filter change still be worth doing? After all Lexus wouldn’t advise changing the filter at all.

Bit of an update. Couldn't get the job done today as when they looked at the pan the bracket and bolts are very corroded and the bloke doing the work thought he might snap things trying to get them off and then not be able to put everything back. So he is ordering bolts and gasket before he attempts the job. Will put the price up a bit but pretty sure I am still going to go for it. Does make me worry a little about what else might be very corroded...

Haha well you might want to wait to see how good a job is done first but yeah sure I will ask.

It is going to be costing £300, that includes a new transmission filter from Lexus, and using proper Toyota WS ATF. I realise this is a bit steep maybe but I bought the car with a budget in mind for things I wanted to do and so I have budgeted for it. Lexus price for an oil and filter change was £440 but I do not think they would be changing all the oil, just replacing what falls out on a drain, I think, don’t know for sure. The guy who is doing it has said basically it is more like a fluid exchange than a flush, new fluid goes in as the old stuff leaves. Like for like. I am getting it done on Monday, so will let you guys know the results. There is pretty much not a problem with shifting at the moment apart from perhaps it is a bit notchy when cold and a bit slow to respond. Getting it done as a bit of prevention and for my own peace of mind really... I know it is a lot money for that but whatever floats your boat eh?!

The saga goes on. Basically even within this forum there are loads of people saying, don't change, change, never flush, I flushed and it was great... So I have spoken to Devon Gearbox Centre who come well reviewed and spoken to the owner a few times. He recommends a flush and complete oil change of the transmission. He said issues can occur when using cheap machines to flush with but they use a £3000 machine rather than a £300 one (am I being incredibly gullible?!). He says they have flushed thousands of "sealed" transmissions with no issue (although admits not done a lot of Lexus transmissions). He is going to use a genuine lexus filter and the recommended fluid. Not entirely sure why I am posting this as I think I am just going to go for it. To put my mind at ease I would love to hear from people that have had transmissions flushed and it has been fine! For reference the car is a IS250 from 2008 with 86,000 miles on it. It has no issues with shifting at the moment at all. I think I will be fine... but I am nervous! I will certainly report back with the results... jeeezz P.S. please don't advise unless based on actual experience! The internet is full of that!

I guess you could make sure that they had expensive jobs done like spark plug change at 6 years/60,000 miles.

So I have watched some videos of doing the ATF change and it looks like most garages should be able to do it I guess. But it is obvious that the fluid needs to be drained 3 or 4 times to get mostly new oil in the transmission. Is this something Lexus would do if I took it to them or would they just drain once, hence just replacing about a quarter of the fluid. Really just can’t decide if I should just leave it and take my chances or get this done! also could someone please tell me what the difference between an oil change and flush is?