I have a lexus ES 330, with 75500 miles on it. How easy is it to change/flush the coolant/antifreeze, fuel injection, power steering, brake, and transmission fluids? Thanks!75000 mile maintenance on lexus?
Coolant - there's a stopcock on the bottom of the radiator to drain the coolant. Make sure to open the top of the radiator when you do this and do it when the engine is cold. It's not difficult.
Flushing the cooling system is easy, but time consuming. After you drain the coolant, replace it with water, drive around for 15 minutes to bring the engine to operating temp, let it cool, then drain it again. Then add a flush chemical (Prestone makes a good one) and follow the directions on the bottle. Drive another 15 minutes, let it cool, drain it, add water to rinse out the flush, drive 15 minutes again, let it cool, drain it one last time, then add your coolant. Add the flush, water and coolant directly to the radiator, not the overflow bottle. Make sure to dispose of the used coolant, flush and rinsates according to local regulations. You can't just dump it on the ground or pour it down the sewer or sink.
Fuel injection - there's no need to drain or flush anything here. It gets flushed with new gas every time you drive. You could add a fuel injector cleaner to your gas tank. I do this every 10, 000 miles or so. Valvoline and Chevron make good ones. Follow instructions on the bottle.
Brake fluid - unless you are having brake problems, leave it alone.
Power steering fluid - you shouldn't need to change this either, unless you're having problems with the power steering pump.
Transmission fluid - not too difficult in theory, but getting under the car and not spilling the fluid everywhere makes this a tough job. Unlike on the manual transmissions, there's not just a simple drain plug. You have to remove a cover plate and catch the draining oil, usually on your arms, shirt, pants and garage floor.
As far as materials are concerned, Genuine Toyota (or Genuine Lexus - same thing) coolant and transmission fluid is basically the same stuff as you can get at Kragen/Checker/Schucks with a bigger price tag. If you do the coolant flush and completely remove the old coolant, you can put in any ethylene glycol or propylene glycol based coolant.75000 mile maintenance on lexus?
It's not so hard, just time consuming. Make sure that you are using only genuine Lexus fluids for all this work, otherwise you are wasting your time. Do not use fluids coming from parts stores, or anything stating that it is %26quot;compatible with%26quot;. Most higher end luxury automatics have drain plugs in their torque converters. Ask at your dealerships parts department before you attempt anything on your own. Cars with anti-lock brakes usually have a special sequence or procedure to change brake fluid so as not to upset the balance in the system. This must be done every 2 years, before the brake fluid begins to be corrupted by ambient outside air. Power steering fluid change is easiest, just open up a hosw and let system bleed out, supply with fresh fluid. Do this 2,3,4 times until you are sure system is 100% new. Be sure to use fluids coming from containers with the Lexus name on them. You are asking for big trouble later on if you don%26quot;t!!! Trust me.
