Oil Analysis, Redline D6 ATF 30k miles

Nice job...the 5-30 Redline actually works like a 40 weight oil at temp which is why it fixed that oil issue.

I have done the magnets on the oil filter too lol...and the magnets on the auto trans cover on another car my cop car lol.

Don't bother wasting money on testing the oil not necessary I have already performed the test for you over 15 years. Its the best oil on the market. Its all I use on any car I own. Never ever any engine issues. There trans fluid the D6 is just as awesome.

There's a better way.

 

I think there is very close similarity between DEXRON VI that Tesla also use to cool their motors with Toyota WS. They are also compatible with Honda DW1, Mercon LV, Nissan Matic S and some Benz. Aisin who made all Toyota transmission sell this fluid that will work on DEXRON VI, WS, DW1, S, Mercon LV, etc.

 

Hey Ed, I appreciate your comment. I've been running Redline D6 since 50k miles, and then extended my change interval to now (oops) @154k miles. I'm going to change it again and was debating fluid. Toyota WS vs Redline D6 again. Hmmmmm. Any data since your post? Any thoughts? Thanks

 

Guys! I just read this entire thread and it's BY FAR my favorite thread ever!! HA!! Title is a post about D6 transmission fluid, and after meandering into near fights and insults and great drama, it all went into EGR system cleaning! Fantastic! Like a novel where you can't wait to turn the next page. Seriously guys, I really appreciate you all. I've learned so much in here over years, and taken on all my maintenance myself because of all the great detailed info.

To talk about the original topic:

Yeah, I think Ed is likely right that our transaxles really don't undergo a lot of stress, so oil choice is really likely unimportant. I'm tempted to send my 100k+ D6 off for analysis. Anyone interested? (changed the factory WS for D6 at 50k, now I'm at 154k)

Ed's very possibly right that changing it now is not needed (or ever again, since I did an initial change at 50k miles). Meh. "The Car Care Nut" on Youtube had interesting experiences in that our high mileage Prii (I drive a Lexus CT200h, but same thing) tend to build up "gunk" in the transfer case after 100k. He discussed the complexity of the valve body (in the transaxle) and how this sludge can actually serve a purpose in really high mileage Prii due to this valve body. He recommended changing every 50k, but says for those who never changed it, and have well over 100k, he says he's seen a lot of problems with transaxles right after changing it. Absolutely recommended that you just leave it alone if you've never changed it before high mileage. Weird, but he showed a photo of the valve body, and he may as well have shown me a part ripped out of the Millenium Falcon. Wth is THAT thing?! Weird pistons and valves galore in some rectangular array. Seemed to have a lot of experience with a lot of Prii, so it made me worry that I'd waited too late and maybe I should be afraid to change my transaxle fluid now. HA! This is how it goes. The more I learn, the more I realize I know very, very little!

The hell with it, I think my transaxle doesn't have any significant sludge because I changed it with Redline D6 at 50k, so I'm going to go ahead and change it again with D6. That said, I'm combining Ed's idea into this cocktail and I'm making my change interval 100k miles for transaxle fluid. I'll be a useful data point, if I can.

Also, it's completely and absolutely legitimate to state, like Mendel, says, "why mess around" and advise "JUST USE Toyota WS!".
At the very least Mendel's points are of value, and in combination with Ed, we can take Mendel to at least be right that you're not likely to go wrong just using Toyota WS and it's not worth all this gnashing of teeth over which trans fluid to use. It may make very little or no difference and we've all spent exuberant amounts of energy reading and debating and studying oil analyses, when we could have been perfectly fine just using Toyota WS, and never had a problem anyway. Certainly would be the quickest, easiest answer.

I have learned a lot from Mendel and really appreciate his caring and input here. Nevertheless, myself, I'm always into experimenting and charging out into the "void" to see what we learn.

The more I've learned, the less I know. I "knew" that EGR cleaning was really important and would likely prevent head gasket problems, particularly after I cleaned it very thoroughly and installed a catch can around 120k. That was until I read this thread which asked "How do we know that we get lower head gasket failures after EGR cleaning?" HA! (Do we have experience that shows this?? I'd like to know...but the leaning of the mixture sure makes sense to me). That catch can was just emptied and was almost full with a bunch of sludge filling the bottom 1/3 of the canister. Holy cow. Seems like maybe my EGR system is cleaner for this...we'll see. It should be, with a catch can in place. I need to tear into the EGR cooler/pipe/valve and clean them again (maybe for the last time, if it looks pretty good??).

Anyway, I wanted to share with you guys, since you've all given me such great detail, what I've been specifically doing and what I've thus far seen:
=====================================
Just changed my Amsoil 0W-20 after 32k miles. Engine oil. Yes, I know. Oil's off at Blackstone. I'll post. It'll likely look absolutely fine on analysis, so hold the ranting until we see what happened. This was on purpose.
I was down 1 qt in 32k miles, 1/3 of which was in the catch can.

That said, my oil is different: a) I almost always warm my engine in park (to 100F coolant temp on ScanGuage) b) been driving really mellow, overall, with lots of EV and low ICE loading (a year in CO, but mostly TX and AZ, after that) c) At previous oil change, cleaned EGR, throttle body, intake, added SeaFoam to oil prior to last oil change and ran SeaFoam spray into intake...all prior to this 30k oil run. d) Added SeaFoam to gas on occasions.

I'm very curious to see how it did. Last Oil change analysis was Mobil-1 0W-20 with 25k miles on it, and Blackstone noted it looked better than most Prii with 10k and that going to 30k looked "doable" with plenty of TBN remaining.

For this oil change:
First: took sample for Blackstone Labs, then:

1) Added ATS 505 Fuel treatment. Drove 300 miles with frequent full throttle runs, including a hard climb up Mt Lemmon (Tucson...steep road with 6000 ft elevation gain).
2) Did piston soak over 24 hours with B12 Chemtool (Project Farm--youtube--noted B12 to be better than a host of others for this).
I moved the pistons slightly a few times during the soak and cleaned the plugs (NGK Iridium).
3) Added ATS 505 Oil Treatment to oil and ran engine as recommended at ~2000 rpm for 20 mins.
4) Drained oil
5) Added Penzoil 0W-20 Platinum Synthetic 2Qts and idled for 10 mins for "flush" (Penzoil was cheap at Walmart, or I would have used something cheaper)
6) Amsoil 4Qts with Purolator One Filter (have been consistently using these after much research...very good 10 micron filtration)
7) Motorkote (new decision) 8oz in oil

Currently car is running perfectly and I'm getting 50+ mpg. I've never gotten this high of mileage before. I was usually in the mid or low 40s. I'm in Tucson, so weather is very hot, which is helping, I'm only driving 65 on freeway, and mostly freeway driving. After this oil change and cleaning, car is getting ~58-60 mpg when cruising at 65mph (ScanGuage speed is 65...speedometer reads wrong at 67-68).

I seem to have an amazingly efficient machine running exceptionally well. Thanks to this community and you guys for teaching me how to take care of this car. I'm definitely thinking I'm going to reduce my oil change intervals now. I'm thinking, at 150k+, I'll start going to 20k miles

Question: Where exactly do you place the magnets in the oil filter ? I've used them on the outside of metal oil filters, mostly on airplane engines, but want to be clear where to put them inside our plastic filter housing before I do that.

Sorry about the novel ! Thanks to you all !

 

I started an Transaxle Oil Analysis thread 12 years ago on a Prius I just bought with 112k miles.
The thread has quite a few Analysis reports and goes on and on....
ATF fluid changes ARE Required. | PriusChat

What ever you are talking about with 'valve body' does not apply to the simple Prius transaxle.
It's a box of gears and bearings with a small and a large motor/generator.
But it can generate some nasties in the old oil as seen in my first report.

Thanks for the novel! It was informative.
I have a friend getting ready to do a Piston Soak and was looking for the proper products!
Looking forward to you analysis on: "Just changed my Amsoil 0W-20 after 32k miles. Engine oil. Yes, I know."....
Sounds outrageous, but I'll wait and see what the lab has to say...

I'm about to change the Drive Unit fluid in my Bolt with D6. It's at 116k miles but was due at 106k miles. I'll get an analysis on that, but nobody here cares about the future of cars. We drive 14 year old hybrids....

 

Thanks Bill. I now realize I was watching Car Care Nut talking about a Toyota Hybrid SUV, not ours, and yeah...good to know that we don't have that valve-body contraption.