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

North America for the WIN!

 

Smuggling, air-lifts?

 

I have never used WS since my first Prius at 50,000 miles it now has 250,000 miles on it and is still drives well though it is my sons car now. My current plugin got changed to Millers at 50K. Only failures I have heard about are very high milage that haven't changed the oil ever!

 

Roads and parking lots are spotlessly clean in Europe. Maybe that was the purpose.

There appears to be some sort of warranty for the Valvoline substitute if you change every 30k miles. I might go for that but it does not seem cost effective as you note.

 

We have a winner! '

Glad to hear someone using an alternative without problems. Mind revealing what kind you used?

 

I used Maxlife LV in two different 3rd Gen Priuses. I have a total of 100k trouble free miles with that and I use the Prius to pull 2,000 lb trailers at 85mph for 5,000 miles of that 100k. I also drive these two cars fast enough that my fuel economy is 30mpg. I'm not having any troubles thus far....

 

MaxLife is big over at Bitog. Lots of Prius owners use it. Good product.

 

I am in the UK and use Millers WS fully synthetic I believe in the states Redline make an equivalent. Check the specs you want a low viscosity and fully synthetic. I used to be on here a lot and those that tow or drive hard can find better specs than the Toyota WS not necessarily for less bucks though

 

I put 210k on my 2nd gen and put Toyota brand was in it every 50k. That car lived it's life w a trailer attached at wtfo. It too had no issues.

Is Maxlife LV any better than WS?

 

The reason I'm asking is because I use my 2014 for rural mail delivery. Hard stops and starts, 4-5 hours a day. My wife and I started driving a Prius in 2008, put 280k normal driving miles on it and never serviced the transmission. No problems with that car at all other than front wheel bearings at 275k. The 2014 is approaching 140k and since this car is exposed to hard driving conditions I will be servicing the CVT and I want to use something better than stock. I have a gallon of Tribodyn MV-ATV full synthetic fluid ready to go in the coming weeks when I get time to change it. Toyota WS is on the 'meets or exceeds' list for this product. I'll keep up on the thread if I have any problems.

 

I don't doubt that the Prius transaxle can handle infrequent or no transaxle fluid changes...it is pretty simple and robust. In fact, I'm convinced that the majority of Prius vehicles don''t ever have this done...because most dealers don't recommend it. However, we purchased a 2012 Prius v (wagon) which was driven in pretty harsh conditions and the transaxle fluid looked pretty horrible when I changed it. So I'm sure the transaxle probably could have 'handled it'...but I didn't want to test it.

Glad to see you are going to change it. 140K seems like a good time.

 

I agree the transmission is very basic and simple with a fraction of the complexity of a conventional auto, I changed mine the first time after taking a sample. Hardy as they may be I didn't want what looked like black soup in the trans

 

I’m basing my choice on the manufacturer that has a monetary stake in making their product/WS right. People do not want to spend more than they have to for the fluid, and companies do not want to have to shell out money for someone’s replacement CVT. Valvoline’s language was questionable, so I sent them the question for out Prius v. The answer came back this morning that their MaxLife is compatible. Amsoil is the other one with a warranty as far as I know. I haven’t sorted out the details because they are based on vehicle manufacturers change interval, and the Prius does not have any.....

 

Me and my friends now have 12 Prius'. I convinced everyone I know to get one or two. Four have maxlife LV. Total miles driven w LV combined is 300k mi. No issues.

 

Works fine..........used it several times

 

How do you know, or do you mean simply that you haven’t observed any symptoms of transaxle failure in the time and distance since you began using the third-party ATF?

Have you done anything to determine whether this ATF, compared to Toyota ATF WS, has increased—or for that matter, decreased—the rate of wear or the risk of failure of the gears or seals, for example?

 

It's WS.................... and I don't use Toyota motor oil.......... zero leaks and oil consumption.....239,000
So you go to the dealer and have Toyota Oil installed????

I also have a 2010 Honda Goldwing.....never ran Honda Oil.....110,00 and going strong...

 

Conflation. Toyota doesn't insist you use their motor oil. On the other hand, they do put a very strong warning that any other fluid in the transaxle could damage it.

Myself, I'm just bright enough to know I can't possibly know better than them.