ATF: Amsoil Signature vs Toyota WS vs Idemitsu

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I'll tell you about what ATF I use for my vehicles. I use WS in my 2008 Toyota Sienna. It has over 375,000 miles and I have it changed every 50,000 miles. It is the original transmission and engine. I also have 4 Mercedes that I use Amsoil Transmission fluid in them. The 1983 240D has a manual tranny and now has 70,000 miles on the Amsoil and I'm going to change it every 100,000 miles. The 240D has over 327,000 miles and still shifts just great. My 1984 300SD has over 258,000 miles on it and over 30,000 miles on Amsoil ATF fluid and I'll change it out every 75,000 miles. Of course it runs and shifts just fine. My 1988 E300 gas car has over 280,000 miles on it and over 50,000 miles on the Amsoil ATF and when it shifts it is almost imperceptible!! Amsoil ATF at it's finest!! My 1995 E300d has over 173,000 miles and over 23,000 miles on the Amsoil ATF. And, as I'm sure you would imagine, it shifts very smoothly as well. I will change out the ATF every 75,000 miles on my 124's. WS didn't work out so well for you and you went with a great ATF. I also like the Amsoil ATF. The WS worked out very well for me. If it would not have done so, I would have went with the Amsoil ATF as well.

Wow, extremely helpful! Thank you! Honestly, I'm more impressed with the Merc trannies lasting that long. Toyota is known for making stuff that will last forever, even if poorly maintained (didn't Scotty have a 'yota in @ 100k with factory motor oil that was still in decent shape?). Their mechanical engineering and build quality is that good. You could probably run these trannies on canola oil and they'd last 300k.

But those kind of numbers are pretty incredible for Merc, especially consistently across several Mercs. I know it's not unheard of, but pretty **** rare. I would say this speaks more highly of Amsoil than WS. Not that it speaks poorly of WS, just that the performance of Amsoil seems exceptional.
 
07 Toy FJ Cruiser w/A750e tranny. Changed from WS to Amsoil ATL in 2010 @ 53k miles. Also installed a remote spin-on filter for the tranny. It now has 217k miles.

I change the spin-on filter every 2 yrs/25k miles and fluid every 4 yrs/50k miles. Not showing any sign of weakness.
 
07 Toy FJ Cruiser w/A750e tranny. Changed from WS to Amsoil ATL in 2010 @ 53k miles. Also installed a remote spin-on filter for the tranny. It now has 217k miles.

I change the spin-on filter every 2 yrs/25k miles and fluid every 4 yrs/50k miles. Not showing any sign of weakness.
Weakness?
 
Why is my new ATF almost as clean as new with towing weight at maximum to the Rav4at more then 40,000 miles. Could it be because it is a premium oil to handle the job without any question, and at the same cost? Group 2+ vs a Group 5. But then there are those "people" on BITOG that want to seem more virtuous then others on how they buy the cheapest and lowest grade "price point oil" and squeak by with good #s. Duh, I know dark oil doesn't mean bad oil, but I do know when the "crap price point WS" was dumped I got sick from the smell in a 24 x48 insulate garage and had to open up the door in a -10 below night till I could get rid of the burn't up crap WS oil. The WS could not handle the job and was so far degraded. Boy that WS is "so grand" it won the "so burn't I am going to vomit award that I need a respirator just to finish an oil change award." Go ahead use your WS with pride. I will run a "non price point" oil, and pay the same, and far far far exceed WS in performance across the board.
Lol
 
Vote here for amsoil.

used in 2006 tundra which saw heavy towing duty. Bought it at 100k, not owners had previously towed with it. Swapped to amsoil and shifting markedly improved from what it was. Added a spin-on filter which also gave me occassional visual sight of the fluid. Sold the truck 60k later. We towed heavy with it, a 6100 lb load and the truck was rated for 6900. transmission never missed a beat.

also moved the 2014 Lexus to it as well. No issues.

i prefer it over maxlife, which is probably the most popular here. IMO, amsoil has a quicker, more succinct shift feel, by a tiny margin. I have used both amsoil and maxlife in toyotas for friends.

Ams. is also my goto for Honda and Chrysler products as well. They do not have a ULV formulation which works well with ford yet.
 
Use AISIN AFW+ fully synthetic ATF thats WS compatible. I also have a Hayden 679 oil cooler with a Magnefine filter attached inline. I do full fluid exchange every 60,000 miles and my A750F transmission shifts like brand new.
 
Just bought 5 gallons of Amsoil OE Trans fluid. I have bought 3-1/2 gallons in the past, put it in my 2015 Lexus RX350. No problems.

I am planning on draining/filling my 2014 Tundra and 2013 Lexus LX570 with it also.

I'm not an Amsoil fanboy but I'm starting to think about it.
If you're going to use Amsoil, buy their Signature Series.

From their description, OE is more comparable to the many multi-vehicle fluids sold at Walmart.
 
I currently have Schaeffers 205A in my 14 tundra and its great. 234k miles. I ran 204SAT before this. Same fluid, just a little thicker. No issues with that either, got a UOA on it when changed at 45k? miles. Gonna switch to HPL trans fluid once this gets to about 40-50k, then I'll finally have the same brand fluid throughout the entire truck.
 
I had an older Lexus SC400 4 speed auto (purchase at 30,000km) which uses the Toyota Type -IV fluid. I did spill and fill every 50,000km with Toyota Type-IV and the transmission failed at just shy of 600,000km I was towing a motorcycle at that time. I was trying to push for 1M km but that didn't happen. To Toyota and Lexus credit they did make a great vehicle as most people will sell/dump their car at less than 200,000km or is considered end of life.

Toyota/Lexus is a car company and wants to sell you new cars. If they make everything to last forever they will be out of business real quick.

I just wish I knew about aftermarket 100% synthetic transmission fluid in the past such as Amsoil then I might make it to 1M km.

I'm currently using Amsoil ATL in an Infiniti Q50s hybrid which uses Matic S fluid and Jaguar XKR which has a ZF transmission which uses Shell M-1375.4.

I like the extra protection given by Amsoil ATL when I drive my cars quite spiritedly wink wink. When the transmission are at the pointy end of very high temperatures (monitored via OBD2 port) knowing that the transmission oil is not breaking down as earlier than the OEM fluid.
 
I drain/refill the Lexus A650E with Edemitsu T-IV. If I would have known the local Monument Auto carried Aisin T-IV and Mobil 3309, I could have saved a few dollars on shipping a case of fluid.
 
Why is my new ATF almost as clean as new with towing weight at maximum to the Rav4at more then 40,000 miles. Could it be because it is a premium oil to handle the job without any question, and at the same cost? Group 2+ vs a Group 5. But then there are those "people" on BITOG that want to seem more virtuous then others on how they buy the cheapest and lowest grade "price point oil" and squeak by with good #s. Duh, I know dark oil doesn't mean bad oil, but I do know when the "crap price point WS" was dumped I got sick from the smell in a 24 x48 insulate garage and had to open up the door in a -10 below night till I could get rid of the burn't up crap WS oil. The WS could not handle the job and was so far degraded. Boy that WS is "so grand" it won the "so burn't I am going to vomit award that I need a respirator just to finish an oil change award." Go ahead use your WS with pride. I will run a "non price point" oil, and pay the same, and far far far exceed WS in performance across the board.
Redline doesn't claim it's a Group 5. It's really a Group 4 basestock ATF.
 
Most any properly specified fluid used during the first 20k of breakin will come out dark with some odor (lol there is no ASTM lubricant certified odor test). Most any properly specified fluid changed at 20k and then again 50k later will come out much cleaner. The 3rd 50k interval will likely look pristine because the breakin has been completed and all the residue from that replaced and the ongoing wear is very miniscule. When people change from OEM to a boutique fluid after the first change and say look how much cleaner this fluid is at 50k than the OEM was at 20k ... it is a well duh, of course, and it would have been with a new OEM change also. The same can usually be said for smoother shifter if you change out the OEM at 20k--you will often get improved shifting. However if you do 2 OEM changes and then change to a boutique fluid and the shifting is smoother than you can confidently say there is an improvement in shifting. However you do not know if the smoother shift comes at the expense of longevity because less friction and grab may be increasing the wear rate of mating surfaces during shifting. Only time will answer that question. The main point of fluid is to have the right lubricity coefficient for the best balance of smoothness and longevity and we typically do not know that for sure until the life of the vehicle proves it. Use a quality lubricant and a proper service interval and you will likely get good service with the OEM or the properly specified boutique fluid.
 
FWIW Maxlife has no verifications nor licenses and no fluid except the Toyota branded fluid has an actual WS license since Asian manufacturers do not typically license their fluid specifications.

But also trying to pick the “best” fluid using typical PDS values is a fool’s errand IMO.
While I get your point and certainly can’t argue that using MaxLife ATF “could” result in warranty concerns if there is a failure, there’s also lots of anecdotal evidence that it doesn’t appear to have any negative impacts on transmission life or operation.

While not minimizing the lack of approvals, if one is making the choice between changing fluid using ML ATF due to price or leaving OEM fluid in for 100k+ miles, I’d say clean fluid is more important. Clearly, having both clean fluid AND being certified is best-case scenario, but some people feel the OEM fluid is cost-prohibitive and the risks using ML ATF is a gamble they’re willing to take.
 
I prefer to use WS as I cant easily remove all trans fluid doing dump and fills.. so I think having the exact same fluid makes sense to me. I cant tell if its best , but its working great at 225 k miles on my sequoia. Many cars dont get to this mileage ever, but my toyota is running great. I also do 3500 mile oil and filter changes that some people find crazy. Thats twice a year for me and its good insurance.
 
While I get your point and certainly can’t argue that using MaxLife ATF “could” result in warranty concerns if there is a failure, there’s also lots of anecdotal evidence that it doesn’t appear to have any negative impacts on transmission life or operation.

While not minimizing the lack of approvals, if one is making the choice between changing fluid using ML ATF due to price or leaving OEM fluid in for 100k+ miles, I’d say clean fluid is more important. Clearly, having both clean fluid AND being certified is best-case scenario, but some people feel the OEM fluid is cost-prohibitive and the risks using ML ATF is a gamble they’re willing to take.
Yeah I should clarify that I use Maxlife in every application that’s listed on the container. I was just stating some facts related to Asian licenses.
 
And also a heads up with anyone with a AWD car/suv with the front wheel bias AWD, change your rear diff oil at 10,000 miles. That was jet black at 21,000 miles on my wife's Rav4 too. Get rid of the break-in oil. The rear diffs on all this type of car usally have just less of a 1/2 of a quart of oil. My Hyundai AWD I changed out at 2,000 (could not believe how dirty it was at 2,000miles) Then 7,500 still dirty and I think 15,000 and that started to stay cleaner but still dirty. I just dumped it at 28,000 and it was basicly clean. Now I can do the 30,000 mile changes as the rear diff is all broke in.
I changed the factory rear diff oil in my daughters Mazda CX-30 at 25K and it looked brand new. There was a slight amount of metal fuzz on the magnet but certainly nothing to worry about. I'll change the front transfer case oil at the next oil change at approx. 35K. If the rear diff is any indication I shouldn't have any surprises.
PS: I used Royal Purple 75w90 gear oil because I had it from an AZ 'Clearance'....it seems to be working fine.
 
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