Wrong Oil Right Oil

[GSSPORT]

Hi All,

I've just joined the site as as Gold Member as it proved very useful in helping me to buy my Lexus GS Sport Mk II, nearly bought a BM. I must admit they are amazing cars.

I bought the Lexus about a month ago and have started servicing the car. This is the fist auto I have had and as such I decided to take to my local Toyota dealership to drain and refill the Autobox. BIG MISTAKE

Instead of using the recommended ATF IV they used 2 litres of of Dextron III . You would of thought they would know. In the end, after alot of "its the right fluid sir..we've done this for years sir...I'm a fully qualified technician sir" they finally agreed to drain and refill the Auto box.

This involved them draining, refilling and running the car through the gears (noting car was stationary) three times. They used approx 7 litres.

I had a niggling doubt that this may not be enough. A couple of days later, I bought 10 lites of ATF (£90) and drained and refilled the Auto box. But this time I drove the car 2 miles before each flush.

My question are:

1. Would this be enough to have drained the old Dextron III???

2. How do I check the auto box fluid level (I have been told so many stories on this one)???

3. As the car was stood for over six months by the previous owner, what else should change for peace of mind???

4. I have used Halfords 5w-40 fully synthetic. Is this any good???

5. And finally (sorry). Would anyone know how to drain the power steering system as the fluid is a brown colour rather than the preferred pink???

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks :)

[ColinBarber]

1 - possibly not. As soon as you start the engine the old and new fluid would be mixed so you would never get all the old fluid out, there would just be less and less with each drain.

You would have to disconnect the pipe going back from the cooler to the transmission, start the car and let out 1 litre. Stop the engine, add 1 litre then repeat until you see clean fluid. This may be difficult in your case because your fluid will probably be very clean anyway.

2. Drive the car for at least 15 minutes. Park on level ground. Slowly move the selector through all position down to L and then back to P pausing 1 second at each position. With the engine still running check the level against the HOT range on the dipstick.

4. Good enough.

5. Not sure, I will try and find out the best way. Use T-IV fluid.

[dangerous brain]

for oils see oilman on the mk4 supra forums he does fantastic deals on various proper fully synthetic oils and being a proper chemist type i think he knows his stuff. Halfords stuff wont cause you any harm but it wont have the longevity that the oils this guy reccomends.

Like col says getting the oil out of the torque converter and other nooks an crannies is not an easy job.

I suppose you could take the power steering cooler pipe off and drain the system down (being as that is the lowest point on the car for the powersteering system)

[GSSPORT]

for oils see oilman on the mk4 supra forums he does fantastic deals on various proper fully synthetic oils and being a proper chemist type i think he knows his stuff. Halfords stuff wont cause you any harm but it wont have the longevity that the oils this guy reccomends.

Like col says getting the oil out of the torque converter and other nooks an crannies is not an easy job.

I suppose you could take the power steering cooler pipe off and drain the system down (being as that is the lowest point on the car for the powersteering system)

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Thanks for the tips.

I think I'll drain and fill 2 more times after xmas. As for the engine oil, I'm aiming to change every 5 or 6k and will probably use Mobil 1, particularly during winter.

In terms of the power steering, my lexus manual advises dextron II or III, should I still use T-IV???

Thanks

[ColinBarber]

Dextron II or III will be fine then.

Don't see the point in using Mobil 1 and then draining every 5 or 6k unless all you do is just 2 or 3 mile journeys. The service schedule is every 9 or 10k and that's without specifying fully synthetic.

[dangerous brain]

Silkolene pro oil is a "true" synthetic oil and like colin says doesn't need changing that often as its esters don't break down. As I said oilman on the mk4 soop forum can tell you in very deep chemical detail about this sort of thing

[GSSPORT]

Thanks Colin and dangerous brain,

I think your right I may stick to Halfords 5w-40 fully syn and change every 6k. I do about 1.5k a month mainly on the motorways

How do I contact 'mkIV sopp forum'. Sorry, I'm new to this site.

[dangerous brain]

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/index.php

Thats one of them

Oilman is on there dunno if he is on any of the others

[ColinBarber]

Thanks Colin and dangerous brain,

I think your right I may stick to halfords 5w-40 fully syn and change every 6k. I do about 1.5k a month mainly on the motorways

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You can never change your oil too often but I don't see the point in changing every 6k with the type of engine you have and the journeys you do. It's not like you have a turbo or highly modified engine that is putting the oil under high stress. Changing at the recommended intervals using fully synthetic oil, your engine will probably be good for at least 300k miles.

[GSSPORT]

Thanks guys. I think your right, I'm just being overly cautious, 9 or 10k shoulde be fine.

Thanks