1999 Toyota Sienna, M1 Synthetic ATF

[kschachn]

I just did a cooler line flush on this transmission, I've been doing it about every 45,000 to 50,000 miles, the car has 232,000 miles on it now. As usual there was very little clutch goop on in the bottom of the pan and a minimum of very fine gray ferrous material on the magnets. I don't drop the pan every time but I hadn't done that for the past two changes and I wanted to see what it looked like inside.

I must say, that fluid is still working well in this transmission. I had thought about changing over to Dex VI (the manual specs Dex III) but in the end with a $35 off coupon from Advance Auto, I went with the M1 again.

I know I should have taken pictures but to tell you the truth there wasn't much to see. I've seen magnets on other people's cars that looked like sea urchins or porcupines, this was nothing. After over 230,000 miles I couldn't be happier with the way M1 has worked in this Aisin A540E.

 

[Brons2]

Your transmission is probably cleaner than your sludgemonster engine

(well ok probably not if you use M1, but anyway...)

 

[Joseph_S37]

With that kind of regular maintenance, I'm sure your transmission would have looked just as clean with any synthetic fluid.

But glad to hear everything is doing well, sounds like you're gonna have a very long lasting vehicle.
=)

 

[190E26FTW]

Glad to hear Mobil 1 is working out for ya real well! Keep on truckin'.

 

[tig1]

I have used M1 ATF since the fluid came out in the early 90s, and I have found it to be excellant. I use it in both my trannys and PS pumps with no failures to date. I change the tranny every 40K or so and do the turkey baster draw of the PS pump every engine oil change.

 

[unDummy]

Its good to hear that M1 ATF has served you well. Too many post negatives on it. It hasn't failed me yet either.

 

[kschachn]

Thanks for the comments, I'm not sure why I even posted as I'm usually not one to cheerlead stuff or whatever. I was just pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness of the pan and magnets on this 12 year-old old transmission.

The engine is clean too (yeah I use M1 oil). I haven't pulled the valve covers in quite a while but the front one is weeping a little, and I'm going to change it out this weekend. So I will take a picture when I do that. The last time I looked (77,000 miles ago), it was spotless inside so it will be interesting to see how it looks at this mileage. Here's a picture at 155,000 miles:

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/9886/hpim0280qf9.jpg

 

[unDummy]

But but but, its a certified sludge monster. It has to have sludge. Must have photochopped all the sludge away

Its funny how a quality fluid with a sensible maintenance interval works so well. Yet, so many are too cheap to pick sensible intervals or quality fluids. Glad to see that Mobil1 is working fine in that engine. Can't wait for the updated photos.

 

[lexus114]

that looks great!

 

[kschachn]

OK, so I changed out the valve cover gasket and took a picture. Since this is the ATF forum I made a post with the picture over in the picture forum. But here's the pic anyway, sorry for the topic morph.

Approximately 232,000 miles.

 

[Johnny]

That either makes me want to run down and buy a Toyota or some Mobil 1. Guess it will have to be Mobil 1, I can't afford another car.

 

[unDummy]

I bet that your transmission is just as clean or cleaner.

The benefit of full synthetic oils and ATFs is sometimes shot down on the web. This sludge monster picture is proof enough. Toyota could have used you in its sludge defense.