Transmission fluid recommendations

Toyota fluid is higher quality than aftermarket in this case. Oem fluid all the way

 

Valvoline Maxlife or OEM.

 

Did a 12 qrt change with Maxlife. 80K I changed the pan to a deeper one and used Amsoil SS blue cap ATF. 40K since the change and all is good. Going to wait 30K to change it again. All is good with either.

 

Only Toyota WS for me. It's what's designed for it and Toyota has an excellent reputation with long lasting vehicles. I trust this over any other brand.

 

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Valvoline doesn't even have the licensing for the Toyota fluid or even Dexron/Mercon specifications. The Maxlife PI sheet says its NOT an OEM licensed product and not recommended by ANY OEM manufacturers.

Toyota doesn't even claim WS compatibility with previous type 4 or earlier specs. I'm not trusting Valvoline over Toyota.

https://youtu.be/xUFY0L_zFek

 

Don't think manufactures license any off brand fluid, and always recommend there own brand of fluids, you using Toyota brand diff, engine and Tcase oil to?

 

It says doesn't have the license for the specifications. You left out one word. It would be dumb to think a manufacturer would license another brand. But they can however have the licensing for the specifications of the fluid.

I actually did have them change my diffs but won't next time considering I had a locker installed. AT is a different animal than a differential or transfer case.

Don't understand why it's so difficult to stay with the fluid that is made for it. You can get it at nearly the same price.

 

Price is not even close my man, you can get 4 quarts of maxlife for 25 bucks, your lucky to get ws for 10 bucks a quart. It more commonly closer to 12$ bucks a quart. If by "them" you mean the dealer there is 0% chance they put Toyota brand oil in your diff, they use whatever oil they can get in bulk the cheapest, they have no obligation to use Toyota brand fluids, if you need 75w85 (think 2015s need this spec) its most likely the wrong weight as well.

 

I'll stir the pot more.
When I did a complete drain/flush per the procedure on TW, I used Valvoline Maxlife and with about 40,000 miles on it, I haven't had any issues.
When I change my oil I use full synthetic versus conventional and change at about the 5000-mile mark. So far no issue.
When I did drain and fills on my rear end, transfer case, and front diff. I used synthetic, even with the EGGS bearing installed. So far no issue.
When I change my coolant, I did go with the manufactures recommendation, but with the auto store brand, not Toyota branded. So far no issues.
When I bled the brakes on both the Tacoma and HHR I went with DOT 4 instead of DOT 3. So far about 7 years on the HHR and about 2 years on the Tacoma and no issues.

 

I can understand why guys would want a dipstick.. but it doesn't need constant checking. If the trans is not leaking anything red, you're probably fine. Where else can the fluid go?

 

My truck has been fluid filmed, finding leaks based only on drips is tricky. Not really worried about the trans itself leaking, but I've had cooler lines fail in the past and they would be hard to spot in my Fluid filmed engine bay.

 

Yea, that’s the trade off. No good advice except check the levels periodically. I’m in the same boat.

 

Idemitsu is another good reputable manufacturer of WS. Made in Japan, I believe. And it comes in a 5-qt jug. Used it once but price has gone up, but more affordable than stealership. MaxLife has not let me down either. Wife’s old Lexus ES350, that we sold to daughter’s BF, has about 120K on two flushes of MaxLife.