Is Toyota WS Fluid "Liquid Gold"?

Just picked up 5 quarts of WS for just a tad over $50 from my local Toyota dealer, tax included.

 

No, they are not compatible as far as I'm aware.

 

Too, with the Toyota ATF WS fluid, Toyota recommends only using freshly opened bottles. In other words: don’t store partially used bottles for next time.

 

Yes I've had burnt staters and powersports equipment before they generally run in the oil I don't see anything for my power sports equipment needing special oil because oil probably meets these requirements already would be my guess Not sure about the transmission fluid maybe the cleaners and older transmission fluid with damage the varnish or something clean it right off the part probably not too good. But that's just what I read in some Toyota tech publication on why they were saying they needed the fluid they specd. I have heard of MG1 and two burning up something happening to them I guess because they're electric motors and they can happen at any time personally and all the prii I've been involved with I've never seen a transmission or MG1 or two messed up destroyed have to be removed replaced none of it which is kind of weird because I'm used to seeing transmissions get replaced especially automatic ones in any kind of car ..vehicle. and I thought the CVTs were generally weak like Nissan's been having trouble with a bunch of them but yet Toyota not as much and maybe they're worse in gas cars or something I'm not sure

 

Check out this video on the technical specs of Toyota WS transmission fluid.

 

Electric motors failing at any time could be a matter of luck, I guess. But there's a strong tradition, at least in facilities where the motors are big and expensive, of the responsible people believing that the more care they take, the luckier they get.

 

But clearly Gen1 was the most problematic and Gen2, 3, & 4 have not had any burning up problems of note. Is that correct?

 

I don't have access to statistics to say how significantly they differ. I definitely was most aware of the early reports about Gen 1s, when I was driving a Gen 1 at the time, and what I was seeing was what got posted here, which is better than nothing, but isn't systematic sampling.

So let's posit there's a difference there between Gen 1 and Gen 2, 3, & 4.

Another difference there is that Gen 1 did not use WS fluid as those later gens do.

I can't give you a cut and dried interpretation of that either.

 

I have every class from his channel . Cool videos

 

Exactly . Just 1% of a change of an additive makes it a different fluid or what have you so the fluid that I've seen that covers these CVTs I have to go look and see what's made by it has all of these specs basically right on the back of the bottle it's like more than a paragraph worth and tiny so you need a magnifying glass to see it but I really wouldn't think of real large oil manufacturer would be making something that would seriously create or make problems come faster I mean you know it's not really to their advantage they're not in the car fixing business they sell oil. Obviously we all remember when automatic transmission fluid was just red and was just a red hydraulic fluid specialized companies made other kinds of fluids that you could just put in your automatic transmission like dryedne blue hydraulic fluid. And hoards of others. So I understand what he's saying but it doesn't take much to alter a formula for whatever reason.

 

When the professor is talking to this point, you seem to be missing his major point which is it is not even possible for the fluid to be compatible with all the standards for which the fluid claims it is compatible.

Firstly, you make the presumption they even care whether their fluid might damage the electronic transmission (which works in a way that has an effect that is similar to the way a traditional mechanical CVT works). Secondly, if it takes a few years to do the damage, how easy would it be to prove (the cause and effect) that it was the fluid that caused the damage?

 

Welp I'll be the guinea pig no problem if I make it to $600,000 with my Gen 2 and 500 with the 13 persona then I guess all otay. If it takes years to happen I have enough transmission sitting around here that you know we can make that happen overnight I guess. Not that we want to don't get me wrong here we don't do this stuff just to be doing it there has to be a fail. Not just we think something might need to be because. If I want to get in my '09 and drive it out west from the East Coast my car needs to be able to do it just because that's the way it should be I can jump on my ape scooter and drive it to Ohio so I should be able to do the same in any prii that I own . I don't really presume I just think if I was a billion dollar oil company and was going to make some fluid for people to put in there whatever it is I'm going to try and get it right so that I stay on the right side of my customer and sales base not on the wrong side but I guess that's just me and companies don't think like that cool no problem I know they're not just squirting crap out of the ground and putting it in a bottle and say here you go there has to be some r&d by someone somewhere. Some may just have a lot less faith in that and that's okay too My cars aren't showing me that I'm incorrect they're not falling apart left and right and I keep my cars for way more many years than any kind of average person 10:20 that kind of thing most here aren't even going there I don't believe.

 

I just saw an ad for a 2008 at $12,000, so you might be on the way.

 

There's one sitting right up the road here to a white one with leather interior it's just not a $12,000 car even with $140,000 on it and been well cared for here it'll sell for about eight if he's lucky people have caught on around here to this with these prii. I saw Ford bronco and reasonable condition the other day with 278,000 mi in this moron was looking for over 10,000 incredible.

 

Heck, if I saw any car advertised for $12,000 with $140,000 on it, I'd swoop right in and buy that up lickety-split.

 

If you can't find Toyota WS easily, try searching for AISIN ATF-0WS. My local Napa distributor stocks it.

https://aisinaftermarket.com/uploads/evq1y5in_ATF-0WS_Product_Annoucement_copy.pdf

 

How much does it cost?

 

A buck or two cheaper than from Toyota

 

Ok folks,
And OP Don't ever use any alternatives, period.
The epoxy lacour on the windings is especially formulated to be compatible with WS atf , also you should be changing the Cvt fluid at least every 50k miles if not sooner, all the little specs in it are little tiny knives scratching at the windings, while finding a used working Cvt at a junk place is easy replacing it is a 1000 buck job. It's not worth saving 200 bucks over the life of the car (for more frequent changes and the original for a Cvt that could last for 400k+ miles if treated nicely.
terramir

 

I used to use MaxLife LV and haven't had failures but that's far from conclusive. Truth is this generically compatible stuff is not identical. It can't be identical. I agree with others here it's not worth the risk.