Suitable substitutes for the Toyota ATF-WS transmission or transaxle fluid?

Yeah I’ve heard prices like that. Odd, usually things are cheaper in States.

 

Not really. I think the guy just gave me a slack since he remembered me from 2 years ago when I bought all that 100k miles service parts and including all 3 electric water pumps and the mechanical too. I remember he said,. Are you sure you wanna replace all of these? I said NO but I'll take em' anyway...

 

yeah and 344 were from you.

Bwahahahahahahaha........love you!

 

One hell of a deal, paid for 3 water pump replacements on a 100k maintenance visit.

 

I know. Atleast I gotta get something back. My wife has a 2018 and she's barely even hitting 6,000 miles in it. I asked her why are you not driving it? She didn't say but I think she doesn't wanna "scratch the mileage." I cant understand it for we paid for the total of 7-1/2 year mile full service on it. The one that's gonna be benefiting that is the next owner of the car. I gotta get even on somewhere else.

 

To be honest, Toyota won't say "Hey, it's fine if you give your money to 3rd parties.." I work for a Toyota dealer, i won't tell a customer that a Fram Ultra filter is okay and Redline transmission oil is good even if i use just that on my Honda. FRAM ultra filters, Redline MT-LV and 0w20 during Winter and 5w30 during summer/race season.

As for the warning in the manual, i personally thing it could be aimed at some dummy who would put Canola oil in his transmission, not some enthusiast who actually research what they put in there, and also to protect themselves.. Damn for what little we know of, i would be curious to know if some Redline MT-LV Manual transmission oil would be fine in that transmission seeing as it's nothing like a conventional automatic transmission. I obviously won't try it, but i still have 10 quarts of MT-LV that i use in the Civic..

 

Just a heads up. I just changed both oils at the 10k km mark.

Now, i used bulk WS as it's inexpensive at work, at my discounted price, but i may very well try Redline D4/D6 next time at about 50k km. Always had good results with Redline in my Civic and Mazdas transmissions. The Transmission oil was beginning to turn black but wasn't as filthy as i assumed it would be.

For the engine, i used Toyota 0w16 with a twist. 4l of 0w16 went in along with a can of Liquimoly Ceratec and a 90915-YZZF1 oil filter. Again the reason is i had good results with Ceratec in a bunch of different cars (my 2012 Civic Si, a friends Mazdaspeed Miata, another friends Mitsu Evo..) so i wanted to try that. (Works wonder, engine sure is smoother but hard to quantify how much on the prius as it doesn't have the same race urethane powerplant mounts as my Civic.. haha) The F1 filter was used purely because it holds about 50ml more oil and has more filtration media/dirt capacity/should be less restrictive/has same bypass setting/can physically fit.

 

Wat do u think of Slick 50?

 

U can run 3 in one oil in the trani if you want. I ran Walmart 10w 40 in mine.

 

I have an interesting Slick 50 anecdote to share.

Back in 1992 (approx) I put a qt of Slick 50 into my 1987 Volvo 240. The engine temp gauge immediately showed cooler and never changed after that. Shared that with a couple buddies. They both put in a qt and had the same results.

 

Slick 50 helped a conventional automatic transmission, in another century, granted. Still, I think I’ll stick with Toyota’s emphatic recommendation, to ONLY use their ATF-WS fluid.

 

You know you want it........10w 40 or 3 in 1

 

Since Toyota is not an oil company and has their oils produced for them by an oil company, I believe that there must be other brands of fluids that will work without a problem.

Valvoline Maxlife is good fluid, but does seem to have a different viscosity than does WS. The WS will turn to varnish more quickly when it is heated, so it isn't great for places with hot climates.

 

What about olive oil. It's organic

 

Synthetic olive oil is my preference; it outperforms organic 2:1 in pasta research.

 

I really did run walmart 10 w 40 motor oil in my 2013 v.

 

Yeah but divulge the backstory; the transaxle was near-knackered, and it was a "what have I got to lose" thing?

 

It actually quieted the trani....ran it for 25,000 miles.....have the synthetic stuff in now.

 

Honda used to spec motor oil for their manual transmissions. Mechanically, a Prius unit is easier on fluid and running motor oil vs ATF should be a non-issue there. People like to talk about electrical properties of the fluid being important, but I'm not convinced that really is a factor, but maybe.

Running 10w-40 in the transmission is more like running a 15W-40 in the engine. Thicker then required, but at least in hotter climates, unlikely to cause any damage by doing so.

Personally I've been running Amsoil ATF for just over 100K in mine. I changed it out when it had 90k on it and used the same fluid. It's slightly thicker then Toyota WS and I've noticed zero effect on fuel economy.

 

There are electrical windings in there. They carry 650 volts, and what keeps them from shorting is a coating of insulating varnish. They're in direct contact with (whatever you use for) the transmission oil.

The direct electrical properties of the oil aren't really the main issue. (Do we care if the oil conducts? Well, not really, as long as the winding varnish is intact.)

On the other hand, any chemical effect of the oil on the varnish, that's going to be an issue. One a Honda manual transmission would not have had to deal with.