Can Lucas Transmission additive harm your transmission? '13 LX 570 135K (1 Viewer)

[LC neophyte]

Stock '13 LX 570 with 135K. No problems. Runs like a Swiss clock. Brought into my mechanic for transmission drain. Bolts were corroded on the pan and they had to drill and tap, and while waiting for the bolts to replace, it sat draining for at least 24 hours. I say this only to perhaps understand how much fluid was replaced, 9 units (qts.) plus Lucas transmission additive
I asked for OEM everything and did not check the receipt until recently and found that they did not list Toyota ATF and added Lucas additive.
The transmission shifts normally. However, at idle, I feel a very subtle vibration in the steering wheel and wonder if the thickening agent from the additive may be causing this. The vibration seems to diminish when I put it in neutral. I understand that in transmissions that are a little creaky, putting a more viscous additive helps with the coupling, but I'm unsure if this will harm my transmission.

An aside:
I strained the original never before changed ATF and found hardly any debris or sediment. I don't have the experience to draw conclusions, but it seems to me that with so little debris, there may be some justification to have "lifetime ATF" in vehicles that do NOT tow or do heavy off-roading.


If anyone has first hand knowledge of using this transmission additive in a NORMALLY performing transmission, I would like your comments. It does not make intuitive sense to me that this is harmless if the additive changes the viscosity.

 

[stonepa]

First thing - is that really almost $800 for a transmission fluid change?!?! My latest ran $225 at my local dealer using all Toyota parts and fluid.

The additive should not hurt a single thing. But it is not necessary.

I change all of my fluids every 50k miles with oil changes every 5k miles. It seems that every single issue with Land Cruisers is attributed to lack of fluid changes. Valley plate leak? Cam towers? Radiators? Leaking PS rack? You name it. So i have the dealer change it all plus power steering and brake fluid.

 

[kwelhand]

First thing - is that really almost $800 for a transmission fluid change?!?! My latest ran $225 at my local dealer using all Toyota parts and fluid.

The additive should not hurt a single thing. But it is not necessary.

I change all of my fluids every 50k miles with oil changes every 5k miles. It seems that every single issue with Land Cruisers is attributed to lack of fluid changes. Valley plate leak? Cam towers? Radiators? Leaking PS rack? You name it. So i have the dealer change it all plus power steering and brake fluid.

I concur… recently repaired the Cam tower, Valley plate leak, new power steering pump + line, radiator.
It definitely didn’t cost me $800 for just the transmission service.

 

[32cls6speedmt]

Non oem fluid and an additive.


I would take it to Ed Martin Toyota and do a full transmission fluid exchange. Why didn’t they replace? they washed the transmission filter.

At least you also got a oil change as well for $800.

 

[AnyMal]

9 qts. plus additive for a drain and fill? These dudes must be messing around.
How do you even know they filled it to the correct level? It's tricky to do correctly if you don't measure the in and out swap.
They also didn't do a thermal degradation reset. I promise you that much.

8 spd:

6spd:

 

[LC neophyte]

First thing - is that really almost $800 for a transmission fluid change?!?! My latest ran $225 at my local dealer using all Toyota parts and fluid.

The additive should not hurt a single thing. But it is not necessary.

I change all of my fluids every 50k miles with oil changes every 5k miles. It seems that every single issue with Land Cruisers is attributed to lack of fluid changes. Valley plate leak? Cam towers? Radiators? Leaking PS rack? You name it. So i have the dealer change it all plus power steering and brake fluid.

No, they also had to drill and tap the corroded bolts. I also had the oil and filter changed.

 

[LC neophyte]

9 qts. plus additive for a drain and fill? These dudes must be messing around.
How do you even know they filled it to the correct level? It's tricky to do correctly if you don't measure the in and out swap.
They also didn't do a thermal degradation reset. I promise you that much.

8 spd:
View attachment 3141432

6spd:
View attachment 3141435

Thank you for sharing. This is a 6 speed.

 

[grinchy]

I’m running ‘normal’ atf in mine, bottle indicated as compatible. marked improvement from old to new fluid, mostly in noise. No vibration in old or new fluid. Old fluid was black as night.

I broke one bolt in the corner.

 

[CharlieS]

I'd pass on additives and insist upon a full factory or equivalent fluid.

 

[LC neophyte]

Non oem fluid and an additive.


I would take it to Ed Martin Toyota and do a full transmission fluid exchange. Why didn’t they replace? they washed the transmission filter.

At least you also got a oil change as well for $800.

Very, very helpful. Thank you. I wish I knew what they put there. I bought my Land Cruisers (not this vehicle) from Ed Martin, but like many places, competent help is few and far between. I've had some problems with 20 year old techs working on them.

 

[bloc]

The move is a fresh fluid exchange with toyota WS. You are most likely fine, but to make sure, this is the way.

 

[LC neophyte]

The move is a fresh fluid exchange with toyota WS. You are most likely fine, but to make sure, this is the way.

When you say "fluid exchange", do you and others mean to drop the pan, drain and replace? Or, some kind of flush extraction which I understand has to be hooked up to some machine and sounds like it is a bit of a hassle for the shop. Looking for opinions on "drain" vs "flush". Thanks for commenting. Your sounds awesome.

 

[04UZJ100]

I want nothing but OEM Toyota WS fluid in my transmissions. I have done 4 complete fluid exchanges on my Toyota-Aisin boxes without issue. The procedure may seem intimidating at first, especially the drain/fill and temperature level verification; however, it is really quite easy.

I would ask for WS fluid and that's it

 

[bloc]

When you say "fluid exchange", do you and others mean to drop the pan, drain and replace? Or, some kind of flush extraction which I understand has to be hooked up to some machine and sounds like it is a bit of a hassle for the shop. Looking for opinions on "drain" vs "flush". Thanks for commenting. Your sounds awesome.

There are three general procedures.

Drain & fill. This is the typical pan drop, filter, close up and fill. It only gets one third of the fluid in the transmission.

Fluid exchange. This usually means getting all of it, by hooking the vehicle up to a machine that collects the fluid pumped into the trans cooler, and using that collected volume to push fresh fluid from a reservoir back into the transmission. This is what you want. Some people call this a flush.. which isn’t technically correct.

Flush. This generally means hooking the vehicle up to a machine that forces fluid and possibly cleaner/solvent through the transmission at high pressure/flow to physically and chemically clean the passages. You do not want this.

 

[AnyMal]

When you say "fluid exchange", do you and others mean to drop the pan, drain and replace? Or, some kind of flush extraction which I understand has to be hooked up to some machine and sounds like it is a bit of a hassle for the shop. Looking for opinions on "drain" vs "flush". Thanks for commenting. Your sounds awesome.

So easy to do.

Pull front (lower? I forget) cooler hose, hose in the trans fill port, put back what came out turning car on and off. My 8 speed pumped continuously even cold for some reason, 6 speed needs thermostat valve pin.

Thats pretty much it if you measure accurately not a lot can go wrong.