Transmission drain a refill with Valvoline ATF fluid? (1 Viewer)

[studawg]

So the 200 just hit 120k and my plan is to start doing regular ATF fluid drain and fills, say every 20k-30k or so. I have some time on my hands today and Im wondering if I just should just go pick up some Valvoline ATF from Walmart, which says it is suitable for Toyota WS applications, and start today or should I order a bunch of Toyota WS off Amazon and replace with that? Can Valvoline ATF be safely mixed into the old Toyota WS?

 

[gaijin]

I would strongly suggest using Toyota ATF, but change only every 60K-80K or so. Unless you have some extraordinary use case that puts exceptional stress on the transmission, no need to change any more often.

HTH

 

[studawg]

I don't want to replace all at once, I want to drain what comes out of the pan and replace the few quarts that come out, and do that more frequently than a full flush/exchange/replacement. Do you know if WS and Maxlife can be safely mixed?

 

[cc93cruiser]

I wouldn't mix... 2 completely different fluids... It is really simple to do a full fluid ex change yourself. There' s even a mud member that made a YouTube video

 

[studawg]

10-4, Im just gonna order some WS. If it aint broke, don't fix it, right?

 

[Sandroad]

I have no data to back up my opinion, so it's probably not worth much, but I agree with @gaijin about using WS. Get a couple cases off Amazon for $9.50 a quart and use that for your partial changes. That way you'll have no worries about compatibility, quality, or longevity. ATF is the one fluid in a vehicle I always use the OEM version.

 

[tominboise]

I wouldn't mix... 2 completely different fluids... It is really simple to do a full fluid ex change yourself. There' s even a mud member that made a YouTube video

Got a link or member name?

 

[TonyP]

Got a link or member name?

 

[UCrazyKid]

I’ve always been a huge fan of lubricants from Redline Racing Oils. Their D6 ATF is supposed to be very good and meets all requirements.

 

[TonyP]

I have Redline in my 200. No issues.

 

[studawg]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a better ATF fluid than Toyota WS on the market. But the problem is getting any basic data on the WS. Do we even know if WS is synthetic or not?

 

[arich]

Who made the YouTube video. That was really helpful.

 

[TonyP]

Who made the YouTube video. That was really helpful.

@NLScooby

 

[arich]

@NLScooby thanks for making that video.

 

[NLScooby]

@NLScooby thanks for making that video.

You bet! I know it’s hard to watch in some spots.....

 

[slowride]

If you can afford to gas up the thirsty whale of a 200... You can afford to buy the real Toyoda tranny fluid... $30.00+/- ???

 

[I6turbo]

I too am a believer that ATF (and coolant) should be the factory stuff because it is pretty well proven that some aftermarket versions of some of these fluids can cause damage to some vehicles. I don't personally know any examples of ATF issues with Toyotas, but I've seen actual examples of some of the aftermarket coolants causing issues in Toyota engines.

 

[TeCKis300]

Factory fluid vote here also. ^Yes, I've seem cases were ATF was incompatible with certain seals in the transmission, causing those to fail prematurely. Use the fluid that was validated by the factory.

 

[duggy]

Definite vote for factory Toyota WS. It's considered a life time fluid by Toyota, but it's always good to change out. The mentions of "better" fluid is a misnomer in my book. WS is created by Toyota to use in all of their late model transmissions, and is the best fluid to use.

 

[TonyP]

I guess my transmission will blow up any minute since I used WS compliant Redline ATF...

I'll stick with Redline or Amsoil.