Is Toyota WS Fluid "Liquid Gold"?

I pay about $10 a quart at my local dealership. 4 quarts about $40. This lasts me 60k miles before I have to do it again.

But you know Toyota calls this stuff their lifetime fluid, you don't even have to spend the $40 if you don't want to.

 

You’re talking about windshield washer fluid, right?

 

There have been numerous discussions, but no definitive answers. A few people have used alternative fluids with seemly no adverse impacts. For me personally, when I priced alternative products they were either not cheaper or barely cheaper. Secondly, my take on this is per km/mile it is not a lot and given I'd only be doing this once or twice, I couldn't be bothered trying to save a couple of cents per km/mile.

Nope, it is the transmission fluid used in the transaxle.

 

Honestly...just use the Toyota product. Changing the transmission fluid is one area you don't want to skimp. Plus, changing it out is something that is only done once or twice for the life of the vehicle ( or never if you ask Toyota )...so not worth fretting over a few dollars.

 

The "WS" in this thread is Toyota's "World Standard" transmission fluid. Bit obscure, possibly, to the uninitiated.

 

It is the “elephant in the room” though.

 

Just use the gas savings to pay for it. Gas prices have gone down significantly from their highs 2 months ago. So just think of filling up at the prices from 2 months ago when you buy this WS fluid.

 

It was $9.14 CDN for me, per liter, back in September of 2016. But it’s gone up recently, and I can’t recall exactly how much. Maybe $11~12.

 

I bet if we did enough research we'd find the manufacturer that Toyota buys from and then probably sell to more than one label... And of course the theory is because you got magnets and copper windings inside this transmission that the fluid needs to be different than standard transmission fluid. But has anyone done research on what specifically is different compared to standard?

 

The consensus around here has always been to just use WS and not worry about the cost....I'm sure you know this as well since you have been around here got a long time.

As I said above, a transmission fluid change literally only needs to be done once or twice for the life of the vehicle. And millions of them that have never had it done ( per Toyota ). In fact, the only ones that are changing transmission fluid regularly are some of the 'enthusiasts' around here.

 

I use the I'm not sure what brand it was but it's a universal CVT fluid that covered every standard in the mix on the bottle including the Toyota. low you know not catch fire kind of thing. Or electrical conductivity problems

 

Toyota has cars with conventional CVT boxes. You need to be clear that the 'equivalent' to which you are comparing is the ATF WS fluid. I've seen aftermarket labels that claim equivalency to Toyota ATF WS, so would be comfortable using them. The fly in the ointment is they were not cheaper than Toyota's ATF WS. A case in point is Redline D6 as used by edthefox5.

 

Think WS is expensive. Check out the cost of Toyota FE CVT fluid.

Genuine Toyota Parts - CVT Fluid Fe 4L (08886-02505)

$106.67 ($3.33$3.33 / Fl Oz)

 

Thanks

 

You pay what you want from what I see that's not making any difference on any of these transmissions or vehicles lasting any longer That's for sure other things happen way before any transmission madness and something happens in the transmission it's usually MG1 or two which don't really use any transmission fluid I think that's what they're trying to keep the transmission fluid away from.

 

The oil isn't kept very far away from the MG windings; it is directed onto them to cool them.

 

I thought the big deal with the Toyota CVT fluid was its anti-fire catching capability or something along those lines not so much that the fluid was that much better pumped better or was a better transmission fluid it just meets the standard of not being electrically conductive or something along those lines?

 

It's not about fires. Electrical conductivity is the right general idea, but conductivity of the fluid isn't really the question.

Motor windings are copper wire baked in an insulating varnish. It doesn't matter much whether the oil conducts, because, after all, the windings are insulated already. If they weren't, the MGs would never have worked from day one.

It does matter what the oil does to the varnish, though. If the varnish deteriorates, you can get a P0AA6 code, or a burned winding spot (or both). It won't be a fire per se (though a burned-out winding can look pretty crispy). It just won't be conducive to driving the car.