Lexus Delership and Trans Filters

[paulo57509]

I stopped by Lexus of Pleasanton on the way home on Thursday (03-Jul) to pick of a transmission filter thinking I can tackle a lot of vehicle maintenance this 3-day weekend.

I've never been in a Lexus delaership before other than to get a printout of previous services performed on my car when I purchased it last year. I guess they don't get many DIY'ers as they didn't have a parts counter; at least one that faces out towards the general public. It was just a sign that read, "Cashier/Parts" hanging over cashier's counter.

Anyway, the cashier goes through a side door to get me some help and returns with a parts person. I tell him what I want (he says that '98 LS400's don't have a filter) and goes back through the door. After 5 minutes or so, he returns with a exploded diagram and tells me that the transmission has a "strainer", but they don't stock any transmission filters/strainers because they don't replace them when performing service.

They just hook the car up to a flushing machine. I can kind of see the point in not replacing a strainer if it IS in fact a screen and not an actual filter with media in it.

Oh, he did say he could special order a filter for $69.00.

Regardless of how the delership services transmissions, I'm still going to change the filter (not a $69 one, thank you). I'm old skool and not changing a filter just doesn't sit right with me. I'm used to changing filters/strainers or whatever they refer to them whenever transmission service is done. IIRC, Ford C4's and C6's have what I would call strainers; I used to replace them as well.

 

[benjamming]

Some AT strainers are internal to the transmission and require a teardown to access. An example is my 4-speed Honda AT.

 

[paulo57509]

Originally Posted By: benjamming
Some AT strainers are internal to the transmission and require a teardown to access. An example is my 4-speed Honda AT.


Hondas have been this way since the mid-80's AFAIK. Not so in this case. It's accessible after dropping the pan.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Toyota moved away from the user serviceable filter. THey are good for the life of the transmission but this is also why I am always preaching to people to change their damm fluid on Toyota! Before Toyota went to T-IV and WS3309 etc.... They recomended draining and refilling most of their filterless transmissions ever 15,000 miles then they went to some stupid over extended milage or lube for life non-sense. I am sure it is to compete with GM and their 100,000 mile transmission service interval and lubed for life axle assemblies!!!LOL I am just some radical maintence nut though that ikes to waste his time trying to cram his fat gut under car's that too low to the ground even when jacked up! I am lazy in general when not at work! I hate working on car's! But I hate paying an arm and a leg to either have someone else do something I can do myself or haveing to pay a carpayment because I do not do maintence and am afraid to keep the thing past 5 years for fear of something major breaking! It is too easy to pull a stinking drain plug that the OEM put in the pan and drop 4 fresh quarts of ATF in every 15,000 miles so I know I will get 300,000 out of my automatic if I decide to keep it that long!

Do you know why Toyota stoped useing a filter???? Because too many owners where ignoring the service intervals and it was causeing them to have reputation issues and in some case's warranty issues. SO they just did awy with them.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: paulo57509
I stopped by Lexus of Pleasanton on the way home on Thursday (03-Jul) to pick of a transmission filter thinking I can tackle a lot of vehicle maintenance this 3-day weekend.

I've never been in a Lexus delaership before other than to get a printout of previous services performed on my car when I purchased it last year. I guess they don't get many DIY'ers as they didn't have a parts counter; at least one that faces out towards the general public. It was just a sign that read, "Cashier/Parts" hanging over cashier's counter.

Anyway, the cashier goes through a side door to get me some help and returns with a parts person. I tell him what I want (he says that '98 LS400's don't have a filter) and goes back through the door. After 5 minutes or so, he returns with a exploded diagram and tells me that the transmission has a "strainer", but they don't stock any transmission filters/strainers because they don't replace them when performing service.

They just hook the car up to a flushing machine. I can kind of see the point in not replacing a strainer if it IS in fact a screen and not an actual filter with media in it.

Oh, he did say he could special order a filter for $69.00.

Regardless of how the delership services transmissions, I'm still going to change the filter (not a $69 one, thank you). I'm old skool and not changing a filter just doesn't sit right with me. I'm used to changing filters/strainers or whatever they refer to them whenever transmission service is done. IIRC, Ford C4's and C6's have what I would call strainers; I used to replace them as well.


If its a metal screen you can wipe it clean, why replace it?

I would suggest you install a filter like a Magnefine and then change that every 15K to 30K. Its $15 and 5 minutes.

 

[ChiTDI]

When you do change/clean the screen, you can pull the magnets from the pan and wipe all the metal filings off of them. You get a new gasket also! NAPA has them for around thirty bucks in my app.

 

[ctrcbob]

I also visited one of the larger Toyota dealers in Orlando (Sanford) and they also don't have a Part Department like I'm used to. They have an area that looks like an accessories area, (oil, filters, key chains, polish, etc) but no parts counter. The guy that works in that area takes your order, goes in the back and brings out whatever you ask for. You can ask him for the price, and he looks it up on his computer out front.
Told me that "this is the wave of the future". I really don't have any opinion, one way or the other, however it sure looks nice with the new method. (Also grabbed a coffee in his cafeteria).

 

[paulo57509]

I received my aftermarket ATP trans filter from Rock Auto a few days ago. It is in fact a screen-type filter.

It has one large intake cutout in the metal filter body and three smaller holes for output. Cork gaskets around the discharge holes like the Toyota OEM filter

No way can one wipe the screen clean. There's no real access.

The "kit" came with a gasket (no need for FIPG), and a small washer that looks like a spark plug gasket.

I guess I'll have to see where this goes when I drop the pan. I wonder of it's the drain plug gasket?

 

[nthach]

I know my mom's 2005 Sienna with the U151E tranny uses a SPX Filtran filter that looks like a GM or Ford filter. Toyota says the filter needs not to be touched, but this filter does share quite a bit in common with their 4L60E/AODE/4R70W counterparts that SPX makes, so out it went. Toyota didn't even include a O-ring, I found the O-ring yesterday on the old filter and I'm gonna drop the pan again to install a new one this week.

 

[PT1]

The Lexus dealers that I have spoken with all say they used to clean the screens but found it to be a waste of money that you could spend on new T-IV. My dealer told me to do 4 drain/fills with about 1-2 days of driving in between each and that would be as good as a fluid exchange. I checked the oil calculator and it gets me to 90% so that is what I do. My Honda dealer says the same thing.