Maxlife ATF for Toyota WS

[Hogwash]

Originally Posted By: Rhymingmechanic
Originally Posted By: Hogwash
Reviving this thread. We bought a 2010 Toyota Yaris for our daughter to drive. It has 126k miles on it. I have no idea if or when the fluid was changed. My plan is to forgo the WS fluid and do a drain and fill with Valvoline ML....run it for a few days and repeat.

Hopefully that will net me mostly new fluid. From what I've read on this thread, that sounds like a decent plan.


Sounds like a good plan, but I'd probably change a third time.

The crush washer may be reusable once more, but you might want a couple on hand just in case. NAPA #ATM-PB2403 fits my 2010 Vibe with the 4-speed U341E. That's a thick washer like the Toyota part. NAPA has another one that is much thinner.

Look for Maxlife gallons at Wal-Mart for about $18.


Thanks for the washer #. You read my mind. I'm planning on doing 2 DAFs a few days apart. The 3rd one I will also drop the pan and replace the filter

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Glad I could help, and good luck. Draining ATF is really easy on this trans. (If your plug is like mine, it takes a 10mm Allen socket.)

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: Hogwash


Thanks for the washer #. You read my mind. I'm planning on doing 2 DAFs a few days apart. The 3rd one I will also drop the pan and replace the filter


I would do that on the first pass, not the third.

The reason is that the pan may have debris/contaminants in the bottom that have dropped out of suspension or just settled out that were not suspended in the first place. Wipe all that out before you introduce new fluid so that new fluid does not immediately start loading up with old contaminants and shorten its effective life.

Personally, I would drop the pan, clean it up, and then do a cooler line exchange with about 10 quarts at one time. It will save time overall, and at the end, you will have 95% new fluid instead of 70/75% after 3 drain/fills. You will also have a left over quart or two (assuming you buy 3 gallons) so you can do the PS system, too. A plan I like is to drain the reservoir and re-fill it at each trans service.

Personally, I would also buy a 10oz bottle of lubegard red and put an ounce in the PS reservoir and the rest in the tranny. I and many have seen good results with this stuff, and the chemistry is solid. At a minimum, the ester oils will do good things for your seals and help prevent leaks over time. I was afraid of the stuff in the past because I thought it was just added friction modifier and did not understand fully.

 

[Hogwash]

Originally Posted By: Or
Originally Posted By: Hogwash


Thanks for the washer #. You read my mind. I'm planning on doing 2 DAFs a few days apart. The 3rd one I will also drop the pan and replace the filter


I would do that on the first pass, not the third.

The reason is that the pan may have debris/contaminants in the bottom that have dropped out of suspension or just settled out that were not suspended in the first place. Wipe all that out before you introduce new fluid so that new fluid does not immediately start loading up with old contaminants and shorten its effective life.

Personally, I would drop the pan, clean it up, and then do a cooler line exchange with about 10 quarts at one time. It will save time overall, and at the end, you will have 95% new fluid instead of 70/75% after 3 drain/fills. You will also have a left over quart or two (assuming you buy 3 gallons) so you can do the PS system, too. A plan I like is to drain the reservoir and re-fill it at each trans service.

Personally, I would also buy a 10oz bottle of lubegard red and put an ounce in the PS reservoir and the rest in the tranny. I and many have seen good results with this stuff, and the chemistry is solid. At a minimum, the ester oils will do good things for your seals and help prevent leaks over time. I was afraid of the stuff in the past because I thought it was just added friction modifier and did not understand fully.


May look into the pan drop 1st. I'm fairly certain the Yaris has electric steering not hydraulic

 

[jj51702]

Originally Posted By: Mainia
Toyota WS what a horrible ATF. Was totally burnt in my Wife's new 19,000 lease return Rav4, MaxLife #3 choice would be far better then WS ( div>


Lol @ judging atf based on color and/or smell

Lol @ talking [censored] about a fluid that has been proven across the entire Toyota lineup for many years with people putting hundreds of thousands of miles in their factory fill of WS

Lol @ keyboard lubrication engineers

 

[Hogwash]

Ok. DAF #1 is done. I went ahead and did the pan drop and filter change 1st. 126k on the clock and I don’t think the tranny has ever been serviced. At the most, perhaps a DAF. But the pan had never been off.

Under "normal driving conditions" Toyota does not recommend a fluid change. My guess it was the OE juice in there. Still had a bit of color to it though. I was very pleased with the pan condition. Very little contamination in it and the magnets were nearly clean. So much for WS being junk.

I still went with the MaxLife because it's OTC and only $5 per quart. I will do at least one more DAF in a few days...maybe 2 more. But the 1st one netted me about 3.25 quarts in a system that holds less than 6 to begin with

 

[edwardh1]

Not much discussion on maxlife vs T-IV, discussion seems max version vs WS only

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Not much discussion on maxlife vs T-IV, discussion seems max version vs WS only

Maxlife is a low viscosity fluid; definitely a great WS replacement.

T-IV was discussed here, and I’ve also used Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle with success.

 

[edwardh1]

do dealers still sell T-IV? its sunday here

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
do dealers still sell T-IV? its sunday here


The one here does and is at least $6.99+/qt if not higher. They also sell Mag 1 right next to it for $3.99/qt. Which is tempting and a good deal imo.

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
do dealers still sell T-IV? its sunday here

Yes. You can also order T-IV and its many equivalents online. There are a handful of OEM transmission fluids that are all rebottled Mobil 3309.

 

[Hogwash]

2nd DAF is done. Nothing to report. Tranny is shifting just fine with no odd behaviors. I will do a 3rd and final DAF in a week or so.

Had trouble finding MaxLife at the local Walmarts...but found it at Meijer for $4.99 a pop. Most of the chain parts stores wanted $8 or more for it.

 

[edwardh1]

do any chains sell t-IV trans fluid?
or can they order a few quarts?
Toyota Dealers here are at $10 a quart.

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
do any chains sell t-IV trans fluid?
or can they order a few quarts?

No.

 

[MaximaGuy]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
do any chains sell t-IV trans fluid?
or can they order a few quarts?
Toyota Dealers here are at $10 a quart.


$10 for T-IV, that is insane, a complete rip off.
Buy it from Jegs/Amazon

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: MaximaGuy
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
do any chains sell t-IV trans fluid?
or can they order a few quarts?
Toyota Dealers here are at $10 a quart.
$10 for T-IV, that is insane, a complete rip off.
Buy it from Jegs/Amazon

It’s $10 on Amazon, sourced from Toyota dealers.

 

[MaximaGuy]

Haven't bought T-IV for a long time, the last time I bought a box (12Q) was close to $65.

This is complete madness and complete rip-off, shop around, there may be some dealership that hasn't jumped onto this $10/Q bandwagon

 

[edwardh1]

compared to maxlife the t-iv has a higher viscosity--- 7.1 for t4 vs 6.1 for the maxlife and ws I think. .

how much does atf change with temperature?is the maxlife thicker like on a cold day all the time?

 

[edwardh1]

mobil 3309 seems a replacement for t-iv

 

[Hogwash]

Just thought I would give an update. Back in January I did a pan drop, filter change followed by 2 more DAFs on my daughter's recently purchased '10 Yaris with 126k miles. We didn't have the service records. So I figured it would be prudent to service it with that kind of mileage on it.

She's only put about 6k miles on it in the last 8 months. But nothing negative to report. The tranny is shifting flawlessly.