Is Hyundai SP3 Still Only Safe Option ?

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I have a new 2010 Hyundai Elantra that I want to do a ATF change on at 10K miles . Is the Hyundai SP3 ATF still the only safe option in 2010 ?
 
No Sir. Valvoline Maxlife, Castrol Import, Amsoil and Amalie are a few ATFs that can be interchanged with Hyundai SP-3. Just look for the spec on the bottle. I'd probably wait a bit past 10Kmi to change it, just to get the initial wear materials out. FWIW, I've got Maxlife ATF in my 2008 Santa Fe. Changed to it at ~39Kmi. I'm at 59K now.

Joel
 
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I did a fluid exchange with Royal Purple Max ATF @ 7500 mi.

2500 mi. & shifiting beautifully. Waiting for

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jringo
 
Undummy - According to Hyundai , you are required to use their SP3 or Misubishi Diamond SP3 to prevent transmission issues and potential compliance concerns . I'm simply asking if there are any new ATF's in 2010 that you could go back and challenge Hyundai on to keep in compliance ? If you have something useful to share - let's hear it , otherwise keep your negative remarks to yourself ...
 
ATF+4, Amsoil, or Royalpurple are the ones that I'd use.

Compliance? Don't be assimilated into their thinking.

SPIII is a joke. If you stick with it, put a big cooler on your transmission, install a full flow filter, and change the ATF frequently.
 
I would let the dealer do it i am not sure of hyundai and if their 10 year 100,000 warantee is good or it is full of loopholes but it is a safe bet to let the dealer do the service you can bring in your own oil as long as it is what they want you to use...10,000 trans changes are a waste in my opinion...
By the way we own our own shop and let the dealer do oil changes so there wont be an issue with warantee...I know legally its ok for anyone to service but when a warantee issue comes along there can be issues
 
Crazyoildude : 10K ATF change was just for the for the 1st time, would certainly plan to go longer after that .

Undummy : Why is SPIII so bad ? (I have no prior history with it) . Also if I did elect to use SPIII - how many miles max would you go before draining ?
 
I've blown several rental car transmissions that were filled with SPIII. They all overheated in traffic. Under-cooled and overstressed small transmission is what you own.
I have yet to see a UOA that was positive toward SPIII.
Its an overpriced under performing outdated OE fluid that should be discontinued. Why some automakers take forever to move forward with technology is unknown. But, lowest bid cheap ATF is what you get from the dealer at a surcharge.

If I were forced or stuck on using SPIII, I would do a drain/refill, which is just a partial ATF change, every 10k miles. If that was too much of a hassle, I would machine or cooler line exchange all of it every 30k. And, I would have cooler install quickly.

You have an owners manual. Whats it say for ATF severe service change intervals?
 
Chris, I don't know what your expectations of "safe" are for your "safe option" question, but if you're concerned with having an easy and painless as possible Hyundai warranty experience, you will want to follow your owner's manual service recommendations and use dealer fluids, parts and service. Will not doing this void your warranty? Certainly not, but it can throw a wrench in the process.

There are many threads on this board in regards to this same topic. I have yet to see where using an aftermarket ATF in a Hyundai product that spec's it's OK for use in SP-3 applications has caused any issues or failures, but many of us choose to do our own research and make our own choices.

In years of following this, I have yet to witness or read of an instance where someone had an under warranty Hyundai AT issue that was denied due to an SP-3 product like Maxlife, etc being used. I haven't seen a single one. Using something out of spec is a different story.

Joel
 
Chris, This is just a visual for you. I know it's a different Hyundai product, but this was the factory SP-3 in my 2008 Santa Fe's F4A51 4spd, when I changed it out in Oct 2009 with ~39K on the vehicle. I purchased it used in Sept 2009 and are the 3rd owner. I know color isn't necessarily an indication of condition. But when it goes in a nice clearish-red and comes out like this... eh.. I like red.

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JTK : That ATF looks nasty !
unDummy : Normal service states inspect ATF every 37K miles or 48 months (how do you inspect brown ATF and determine it's good to continue ?) Severe service states to replace ATF every 60K miles . As far as more detail in the manual , it appears to be purposely written to be ambiguous! Funny how I can easily put in anything from Super Tech conventional oil to PU synthetic without worry in my Elantra engine - but try to find out the actual details of what constitutes Hyundai approved SPIII and you get nothing concrete - except to keep using yesterday's technology (SPIII) or risk warranty issues . I'll be calling Hyundai service centers in my area and see if I can get them to remotely agree what constitutes "Hyundai SPIII approved " . Lastly , installing a ATF cooler while Elantra is under warranty isn't going to happen ...
 
Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
... installing a ATF cooler while Elantra is under warranty isn't going to happen ...


That's less likely to trigger a warranty claim denial than running non SP-III ATF. I've tried Amsoil in both a 2007 Elantra and Chrysler 41TE and both shifted with too much slip compared to the OEM fluid. Amsoil was ok in my Cadillac STS, it performed as well as the OEM fluid.

My Elantra has 86K miles now and the 100K warranty is just about exceeded and I will be putting in ATF+4 at the next flush. SP-III appears to have close similarity to ATF+3 so ATF+4 should work well and that's a great fluid at a sensible price. If you have the factory warranty to maintain, use SP-III and flush every 25K is my advice.
 
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Keith : I believe the 2007 & 2010 Elantra transmissions are the same build . At this time my thinking will be to drain & fill around every 25K miles as you stated ...sort of reminds me of the Dex-Cool GM incidents - I never had any problems with Dex-Cool in my '05 Buick but I never ran it out to 150K miles or 5 years either!
 
Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
I have a new 2010 Hyundai Elantra that I want to do a ATF change on at 10K miles . Is the Hyundai SP3 ATF still the only safe option in 2010 ?


By safe I assume you mean "won't void the warranty".

The Mitsubishi/Hyundia/Kia SPIII looks on an elemental analysis pretty much like Mercon V.

I have used Mobil 1 synthetic, Red Line D4, and Red Line C+ to replace SPIII in Hyundais with no performance problems.

Whether Hyundai can detect any of the three and would void a warranty on a non-lubrication problem I do not know.




'
 
I found SPIII at Kia for less than $7.00 per quart which is fairly competitive as far as ATF goes . The Mobil 1 synthetic ATF looks to be of high quality and meet the most specifications - How ever some believe that the additives in non - SPIII (like Mobil 1) may be too aggressive and "eat the veins" away inside of the Hyundai automatic transmission . I'm still not settled on the issue - but at less than $7.00 per quart for SPIII I will just do a partial drain myself every 15K to 20K miles to be safe and call it a day . I would love to run Mobil 1 as it appears to be a superior ATF product - however my inability to get a straight answer just doesn't make it worth the risk .
 
There is nothing in an ATF that will eat the veins from any transmission. Lets stop with the bogus fear hearsay.

Your pathetically performing $7 SPIII is robbery when you could use $4 ATF+4, or $5 Amalie, or use Amsoil/Redline for a couple bucks more for superior protection.

If you're stuck on SPIII, my recommendation is to install an ATF cooler so that your transmission doesn't cook itself to death. And, an inline filter will help some too.

When I worked in the trans shop, I would say that 9 out of 10 Kia/Hyundai/Mitsubishi's transmissions failed while using SPIII. So, I'd say that SPIII will guarantee you a failure soon after the warranty expires. Hows that for fear mongering?
 
I failed to find where ATF + 4 is compatible with SPIII - a little help please .
 
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