1998 K1500 ATF

[Jaybird79]

Hello everyone, Ive been lurking here for about a year and finally decided to join. I have learned so much from this website, I thought i knew about oil until i came here!

So here's my question, I have a 1998 Z71 w/112k on it and i am getting ready to do a trans service on it but after researching ATF here for a while I can't decide what to use, I would like to stay with a Dex III fluid as that is what is spec'ed. I can get valvoline dex/merc fairly cheap, or pennzoil from Walmart for a dollar more per QT.
Also what is the difference between Pennzoil multi-vehicle in the silver bottle and the pennzoil ATF in the yellow bottle? They both meet Dex III but is the multi vehicle fluid better? It's the only one listed on there website.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Boomer]

When I had my 97 1500 with the 460 trans, I always used Mobil 1 ATF. NMever a problem and the pan was still spotless at well over 100,000 miles. I changed the fluid twice during the 10 years I owned the truck.

 

[beast3300]

GM only supports Dex6 currently. That would be your best fluid as it is much much improved over DEX3.

 

[unDummy]

Any of the 4 Pennzoil ATFs will work fine. If it were mine, I'd use the multivehicle.

http://www.pennzoil.com/documents/Multivehicle ATF.pdf
http://www.pennzoil.com/documents/Mercon V ATF.pdf
http://www.pennzoil.com.au/downloads/tds/Pennzoil_ATF_III_tds.pdf
http://www.mil-specproducts.com/Documents%5C1119_PDS41.pdf

You can use any dex/merc equivalent. This will be the cheapest fluid.
Any Mercon-V or multivehicle ATF is a cost-effective upgrade.
DexronVI is the latest GM spec. It is more expensive and not mandatory.
Any full synthetic ATF is also an option. But, they can also be expensive.

 

[marc1]

I just sold my 1996 K1500 with 160,000 miles on it. Zero transmission issues, excellent right to the end. I used the lowest priced / on sale DIII available and changed every 50,000 miles.

 

[Smokescreen]

marc1 has the right idea IMO. These auto trans love clean ATF. I have over 200,000km and still shifts like new while I followed this regime. I tow 3500-5000lbs trailers on a regular basis and have had zero issues.

 

[Hermann]

The Maxlife Dexron/Mercon or the Pennzoil that Wal-Mart should work just fine.

 

[cronk]

I have Maxlife ATF in my 93 chevy pickup (same 4l60e yours would have), it is currently my favorite atf I have used in this truck.
They are not really picky, either the Valvoline or Pennzoil would be fine, the most important thing is to keep up on a maintenance schedule. I change mine at about 30k.

 

[meep]

If you want it to run well, and have a reasonable life, any of the above suggestions are good. If you're interested in trying a potentially superior fluid with potential small rise in mpg, I'd attempt DexVI which I ran in a happy DexIII AW4 transmission. I like the valvoline flavor. If that's a bit too "aggressive" (it's thinner), then i'd vote for mobil 1 atf.

my .02

 

[Jaybird79]

Thanks for all the sugestions, what about maxlife ATF, it is a full synthetic right . It seems to get great reviews here. And it's almost half the price of valvoline DEX VI.

 

[cronk]

Yes, maxlife is synthetic, for some reason they seem to like to keep it a secret. If you look on the back of the bottle it says "synthetic base stocks".