help with fluids

There were no v6 DC with a manual, only the 4 bangers in the DC were available with a 5 speed and they are super rare! I want a DC so so badly but i will not own a tacoma with a auto trans and the 3rz is a no go for me with yhe heavier DC, even the standard cabs with the 3rz is pretty...well...lacking umphh. I mean...they are pretty good for a i4, but they aint no power house!

 

Sup guys,

Sorry for not responding right away school has me pretty tied up right now. Anyways I didn't think this thread was going to turn into an oil war. Yet a lot of great information from everyone. you guys basically cleared things up for me as in what differs the price from one oil to another. Now that I have a better understanding of prices and all that stuff. I think Im going to stay with either OME Dexron and play it safe or go with Mobile one if there at a good price since mobile ones oil has been good with the motor on my truck. Probably the last questions I will ask in reference to Tranny oil and differential oil. What is the difference in full synthetic oil and regular oil as in how long does it last without changing it and any other information as to benefits besides better lubrication; or should I just stay with regular oil? The other question is Where can I get the exact specifications as to how much oil do I need in total for my transmission and differential?

Just for better recommendations I live In south Texas right next to Mexico to be a little more specific the average tempter is anything from 98 degrees to 108 degrees being the highest. I drive mostly in the city and in highways, from time to time I go to the ranch an do a little off roading but nothing to crazy.

Fizz man; My tacoma is at 113 miles right now and I like mobile ones oil. I might go with them since you had no issues, but my wallet is the one that is really going to decide on that.

undyingvisage58; my tacoma is an 04 auto v6 2 wheel drive sr5 TRD edition. I see that you have a lot of experience with cars. I don't know if you can help me out but I would like to know if theres any way I can lower the RPMs when I'm traveling on the highway for example I'm running at 75 mph and the truck is at 2,250 rpms or 80 mph to 2500 rpms can you recommend anything or I shouldn't be messing with that?

 

actually Walmart has the best price for the 5 quart jug. even better than the sales at auto parts

 

only 2 things you can really do for lowering the RPMs. bigger tires, or change the differentials gear ratio (this is easy since you only have a 2wd). slightly droping the gear ratio i believe will lower your rpms a little. but doing so, you lose towing abilities or weight capacity efficiency (meaning keep a light load, no tools or lots of camping equipment or toys. And you may lose fuel economy if the engine needs more fuel to travel at 75 or 80mph

 

I didn't know bigger tires lowered the rpm? Well since dropping the gear ratio will result in not being able to carry extra load and will lose fuel efficiency. I might as well leave it the way it is. The main reason i wanted to lower the rps was to get better mpg on the highway since i feel that the motor is forcing itself to be able to travel at 75 or 80 constantly.

 

First off royal purple is bad for shearing in differential applications ifvi recall correctly this was studied by ecgs.

In regards to amsoil look into their program where you are a preferred member and get the products discounted or if you live near me i can hook you up

 

well. bigger tires means you're traveling slightly more per tire rotation therefore you don't have to give so much gas to go 75.

dropping the gear ratio just means the transmission (and thereby engine) doesn't have to spin as much in order to turn the tires as much as they were spinning before. Since the pinion has to spin that fractional amount less to turn the ring gear.

now, i have heard that some people get better mileage by doing the opposite! smaller tires and higher gear ratio. but that's only if your engine will benefit from the opposite, not needing to use as much extra fuel to cruise with the weight of the vehicle plus the load. i honestly wouldn't bother changing anything though.

on a side note. I believe our trucks were meant to be most efficient when running at 70 mph. any faster above that, and the drag from air resistance increases significantly. i used to drive 20 miles to and from work with most of it freeway driving. driving 85 got me like 15.5 avg mpg according to my OBD2 scanner, while driving 70 got me 18.5 avg.

 

My Redline Allah is better then your Amsoil Allah.

 

first of all....
Caligula your a savage, for starting to through poop on Amsoil Allah. But its funny! lol

undyingvisage58 Thanks for the info, I think if I'm going to change anything its going to be the tires. I think it would be to much of a hassle to change the gear ratio to gain mpg. By any chance have you heard of adding a gear or something like that?

fireturk41 Thanks for the tip on royal purple. i was actually looking at it, but i think I'm just going to stay with Mobile one thats my preferred Allah lol

 

manual transmissions almost all use gear oil like differentials. GL-5 is the current in use specification for gear oil. you can read it up on the Gear Oil Wiki.

"API Category GL-5 designates the type of service characteristic of gears, particularly hypoids in automotive axles under high-speed and/or low-speed, high-torque conditions. Lubricants qualified under U.S. Military specification MIL-L-2105D (formerly MIL-L-2015C), MIL-PRF-2105E and SAE J2360 satisfy the requirements of the API GL-5 service designation."

automatic transmission fluids are specialized gear oils. they have specialized lubricants and detergents that keep the clutches inside the auto tranny nice and lubed and preserved, while being able to clean the debris of the clutches and other gunk off and out of other parts like the shift solenoids and the torque converter. and because automatic transmissions can be patented, vehicle manufacturers make their own patented fluid formulations specifically for their specialized technology.

companies like purple power do NOT make fluids according to manufacturer specifications. cool thing about this, they can make a fluid that does it ALL. bad thing about this, because it exceeds manufacturer specs, it cannot be called a OEM equivalent like dexron 3, mercon, toyota type-4, or dexron 6. my parts store sells at least 9 different OEM ATFs (VW has their own, honda has 3 depending on wether it's CVT or not, ford has several, toyota), and many more that can be ordered from our aftermarket supplier WorldPac.

fun fact, all OEM tranny fluid specifications include a color! after market suppliers that want to meet OEM specs put dyes in their fluid to do just that! the same thing is done with radiator coolant. Zerex (subsidiary of Ashland, who is also the owner of Valvoline) makes a conventional green, asian or european pink or blue or orange, newer domestic oranges like chrysler and ford G-05 and chevrolets dex-cool all have dyes in them in order to meet OEM required specifications. it's honestly unnecessary....

so to debunk any of the wars mentioned earlier in this thread, purple power doesn't meet OEM specs because they refuse to waste their time by adding a dye to their liquid to please the OEM false-gods...

lol

 

as far as I know, all you can do is change your tranny entirely with something else. wouldn't be worth it since you have to retrofit the electronics of the other tranny to work with your ECU. You might be able to regear the tranny, that would be your best bet. but regearing the diff is easier and cheaper.

here's an after thought regarding changing tires or gear ratio.

if you change tire sizes, you need to, I guess it's called, re-gear your speedometer as well to compensate for the difference in the circumference of the tires.

if you regear your differential, you don't have to do anything since the speedometer is calibrated to your current tire's size.

tires cost around 600 to 1200 depending on if you want rims. re gearing might cost around 200. it's harder, but I think it's much more cost effective.

 

undyingvisage58 back to the oil debate an all. What type of oil do you use? You kinda made me just want to go an buy OEM toyota type-IV instead of messing around with mobile one.

As to the gear situation I'm most probably going to keep my tires for a while since they are still good and then just upgrade my tires when it is needed. Ill leave the gears alone just to play it on the safe side since sometimes i do carry some heavy things. I was going to ask you what major upgrades have you done to your taco if you don't mind asking? Im looking to do some upgrades later on but I'm not to sure with what brand an all to go with.

 

Hah! Just checked with Mitchell's tech guides. Your truck uses regular Dexron 3 for ATF! Nothing special at all!

 

really I though it used T-IV? If i give you the vin number do you think its a lot easier to look up?
Mitchells tech guides looks legit over all the other websites I've seen. do you use it a lot?

 

I haven't really done any major upgrades to my truck aside from a simple 2.5 inch lift, a bluetooth stereo, and some custom shift knobs (i got another one and put it on my 4wd selector).

 

Mitchell's is used by a lot of dealers and garages much like Alldata. They're the Chiltons and Haynes for professionals. But yeah, if Mitchell's says it's Dexron 3, it's Dexron 3.

I use it a lot for customer information. It has information like torque specifications, clearances and tolerances for engine internals and the rest of the vehicle.

here's the top part of the fluids page. .

 

if you want to be sure what ATF you need, use what your owners manual says. ill be surprised if it doesn't say dex-3

and no the vin won't make a difference. so long as it's really an 01 tacoma.

 

the speedometer sensor/gear is matched to the gear ratio and tire size (4.10 and 31" in my case). change either and you will be off.

that being said most people know the speedo is off from the factory anyway. pretty sure a lot of vehicles are like this, <insert conspiracy thoughts here>, so it's not a secret.

if you research tire posts and other drive-line related threads you will see that bumping up fro the stock tire size of ~31" (or 265-70r16, 31x10.5x15, etc) to the ~32" (or 265/75r16, 265/70r17, etc) will correct the speedo and not be a loss in power (unless you get steel wheels with heavy LT tires).

my best gas mileage with stock setup was in NC, tires at 38 psi, going 75 mph on cruise, I got 21.2 mpg with a fairly light load.

 

Funny thing is that I use cheap Boss (local independent that buys wholesale base from shell and adds their own additive package) synthetic oil in my differentials and it's holding up better, colour wise, than Mobil, Amsoil, or Valvoline synthetic did. Then again I've had to do a few changes due to some water ingestion before I found this site and moved the breather