I was checking the website carcomplaints.com regarding a 2015 Lexus ES 350 and happened to see this Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) that provides the "basic procedures for inspecting and adjusting World Standard (WS) Automatic Transmission fluid level at normal vehicle operating temperature" for this Lexus model, and I would assume others as well.
I am amazed at the complexity of the process, the specialty tools required and the many steps involved. Do you suppose that this is to insure that the owner must take their vehicle to a Lexus Dealership to have the ATF serviced? (a rhetorical question) I think of all of the engineering knowledge, expertise, planning, design and time that was required to replace a dipstick, and I just shake my head in disbelief. How about you?
Here it is:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2014/MC-10133706-9999.pdf
Obfuscated Procedure seems to fit.
So sad to see Toyota going this way, even my 2008 GX470 is similar. Nice to have a friend that is a mechanic, that can help in changing the fluid.
Obfuscated indeed (though I did have to search for the definition).😁
I was in the IT world for about 15 years, we had purposefully obfuscated systems all over the place. 😆
Toyota made this too difficult. The Care Care Nut has an excellent video on how to change the fluid without buying the special tools https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRxSu4-4ojo
Thanks for your reply. Good ole AMD. Though I had to chuckle when he removes the overfill plug and fluid is running down his arm as he reaches back in to remove the drain plug. There is simply no easy way to service the ATF on this style of transmission and I continue to be amazed, as in befuddled, that intelligent engineers would change something that was so simple to that which is exponentially complicated.
Guess that’s why I drive a 20-year-old car.
Saw those tools explained by WeberAuto years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNcecuGzTDg AMD's video incorporates everything one needs to know, to do, for a proper DIY job. It's a messy job, no doubt, lol
Amazing procedure
I do not see anything "amazing" about Toyota failing to put a proper level inspect plug.
That could've made a bit of sense, it would have made it just like it would be on a manual tranny...
But they do have a decent procedure on the 8 speed, with the "plug in plug" design.
(You uninstall the big plug to drain, install it back in to fill, and after the ATF is filled and warmed up to operating spec, you just remove the small inner plug and let the excess drain out)
@dan yeah...I didn't intend for "amazing" to mean 'impressive or wonderful', I intended the word to imply 'bewildering'. Perhaps I should have chosen a different adjective.