I have a 2010 Hyundai Elantra 4 cylinder with a automatic 4 speed transmission and 7,500 miles on it. The OM (Normal Service schedule) states to inspect ATF every 40,000 miles or 48 months while the Severe Service schedule states to replace the ATF every 60,000 . My driving is 80% suburb / city driving and 20% highway . When would you do your first ATF drain & Fill ? Points to consider : To wait 40,000 miles before first ATF inspection seems long to me . Also Hyundai SPIII ATF turns from red to light brown after initial use so unlike regular ATF fluid (that stays red) - what am I looking for with inspection and a paper towel (i.e. dark brown SPIII ? , bad smell , some other cue ?) Lastly , the 2010 Elantra has a transmission screen I believe instead of a filter . Wouldn't there be contaminants in the first several thousand miles you would want to get rid of OR does this transmission screen hold a lot of contaminants , shavings , etc. before getting clogged ? So , all things considered above - when would you do your first ATF change ?
First Hyundai Elantra ATF Change ?
- Thread starter ChrisD46
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I would follow the manufactures recommendation on the ATF change, you are covered under their warranty anyway..
Different Hyundai, but when I did the initial ATF drain/fill on my 2008 Santa Fe at 40Kmi, the factory SP-III was as dark as used motor oil. The drain plug magnet had a good sized mushroom of goo on it too. Second drain fill had basically nothing on the magnet.
30-40Kmi is probably about ideal for your initial drain/fill.
30-40Kmi is probably about ideal for your initial drain/fill.
JTK : Thanks ...Hyundai SPIII ATF is a different animal I hear . Unlike other ATF's , it starts out red and fairly quickly is supposed to turn to it's normal operating state of light amber to light brown in color . * I'd get a little nervous if it turns dark brown . I think if I noticed it turning darker brown before 30 ~ 40K miles, had any metallic grit in it to the touch or started to smell even remotely like burnt toast - I'm dumping that original fill of SPIII fast !
I did a fluid exchange with RP Max ATF @ 7500 mi.
I have read (on the internet) that most of the wear
particles occur in the first 5k mi. My transmission
does run hotter than yours, & only holds about 6.5 qts.
All that aside, I just like goofin with stuff
I have read (on the internet) that most of the wear
particles occur in the first 5k mi. My transmission
does run hotter than yours, & only holds about 6.5 qts.
All that aside, I just like goofin with stuff
Do a drain/fill every 30K miles if you plan to run the car until the wheels fall off. Otherwise, just follow the printed factory schedule. If you want a good alternative to SP-III, use Valvoline Maxlife or Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle. They have been shown to work well in Hyundai transaxles and cost around $4 or $5 per quart.
I just did several drains and fills for my new 2010 toyota corolla at 3000 miles. I replaced factory WS ATF with Redline D4 and immediately felt the improvement in shifting. The factory WS came out with quite a few metal particles from the initial break-in of the transmission, so I believe this is a good idea to change the factory fill early and get rid of all break-in contaminants. I went with Redline - it is expensive but well worth it...
I did the first change at 60k on my 2008 Sonata and the oil was ... brownish? It wasn't dirty looking at all, just brownish. The drain magnet had some particles on it but not much. The first recommended ATF change for Sonata's under normal service is 105k, and it says every 30k for severe. It actually looked fine at 60k but I figured I might as well swap it out. I thought 105k was excessive and one of those "change it out at this interval or the transmission blows up" and not an actual maintenance interval, but I really think I could have made it to 105k no problem.
With that being said, the Hyundai SP3 fluid is not really something you want to stick with imo. At lower temperatures the transmission is not as smooth as operating temperature. I made the mistake of buying into the "sp3 or bust" mentality and I figured a fresh fluid would fix the lower temperature shifting and I ended up buying Eneos SP3 ATF. It's pretty much the same as OE and did not fix the low temperature shifting at all. I'm going to run this ATF until winter and then change it out for Red Line D4 because the D4 has a VI of 198 and should provide the best performance across a wide temperature range.
While MaxLife is a great priced synthetic ATF, I don't think I can recommend it for this application. I'm not sure what the 100 C viscosity of Hyundai SP3 is but the Eneos SP3 is 7.33 and I really feel that the Eneos is same as OE. Red Line D4 and RP Max Atf are both 7.5 which is much closer to the Eneos SP3 than MaxLife's 6.11. ATF does shear to a lower viscosity but since we are comparing all synthetic ATF's I would assume they would shear comparable amounts which still leaves MaxLife with a much lower viscosity. Lower viscosity often means smoother shifting but it comes at the cost of the material on your friction plates. I have nearly seamless shifting already so I'd rather keep my friction plates alive over using a fluid that gives the same performance (I really don't think this transmission could shift smoother than it currently does at operating temperature).
Also, MaxLife's VI is 173 compared to RP's 180 and RL's 198. I consider VI to be very important for transmission fluid because you want similar viscosity to operating temperature as it warms up to ensure the best shifting at lower temperatures.
Now with all that pseudo-science out of the way I think anecdotal evidence finds much of it's use in automotive applications. If the MaxLife is indeed a strong performer for other people then I see no harm in trying it. It is very cheap to pick up from Advance Auto Parts when using one of their monster coupons.
Castrol Import Multi Vehicle is something I'd definitely consider. With a VI of 200 it beats the Red Line D4 by a hair. It does have a high starting viscosity of 8 but that's closer to 7.33 than 6.11 is and with the shearing it'll probably be closer to in spec 10k miles down the line than a different ATF. If I wanted to save money I'd pick this one.
If you do a cooler line drain and fill, the return line is the bottom one on my Sonata and it is probably the same on yours. Cooler line drain and fill is not difficult and is much more time effective than multiple drain and fills (and much more cost effective).
With that being said, the Hyundai SP3 fluid is not really something you want to stick with imo. At lower temperatures the transmission is not as smooth as operating temperature. I made the mistake of buying into the "sp3 or bust" mentality and I figured a fresh fluid would fix the lower temperature shifting and I ended up buying Eneos SP3 ATF. It's pretty much the same as OE and did not fix the low temperature shifting at all. I'm going to run this ATF until winter and then change it out for Red Line D4 because the D4 has a VI of 198 and should provide the best performance across a wide temperature range.
While MaxLife is a great priced synthetic ATF, I don't think I can recommend it for this application. I'm not sure what the 100 C viscosity of Hyundai SP3 is but the Eneos SP3 is 7.33 and I really feel that the Eneos is same as OE. Red Line D4 and RP Max Atf are both 7.5 which is much closer to the Eneos SP3 than MaxLife's 6.11. ATF does shear to a lower viscosity but since we are comparing all synthetic ATF's I would assume they would shear comparable amounts which still leaves MaxLife with a much lower viscosity. Lower viscosity often means smoother shifting but it comes at the cost of the material on your friction plates. I have nearly seamless shifting already so I'd rather keep my friction plates alive over using a fluid that gives the same performance (I really don't think this transmission could shift smoother than it currently does at operating temperature).
Also, MaxLife's VI is 173 compared to RP's 180 and RL's 198. I consider VI to be very important for transmission fluid because you want similar viscosity to operating temperature as it warms up to ensure the best shifting at lower temperatures.
Now with all that pseudo-science out of the way I think anecdotal evidence finds much of it's use in automotive applications. If the MaxLife is indeed a strong performer for other people then I see no harm in trying it. It is very cheap to pick up from Advance Auto Parts when using one of their monster coupons.
Castrol Import Multi Vehicle is something I'd definitely consider. With a VI of 200 it beats the Red Line D4 by a hair. It does have a high starting viscosity of 8 but that's closer to 7.33 than 6.11 is and with the shearing it'll probably be closer to in spec 10k miles down the line than a different ATF. If I wanted to save money I'd pick this one.
If you do a cooler line drain and fill, the return line is the bottom one on my Sonata and it is probably the same on yours. Cooler line drain and fill is not difficult and is much more time effective than multiple drain and fills (and much more cost effective).
I have a 06 kia spectra, at 20k did a drain and fill about 3 quarts with sp3. The fluid was brown but still clear on the dip stick. At 34 k did a cooler line flush with maxlife. With the maxlife i find the shifts smoother, and the overdrive seems to engage earlier . Also the downshifts are barely noticable. So far quite happy with the maxlife.
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