Originally Posted By: JOD
Both of those UOA's seem to contain only a portion of DW-1 (a single drain/fill, or 30-40%?), and the viscosity of DW-1 is 6.8 out of the bottle, so I don't think this is really much evidence that the fluid shears heavily. If anything, considering the viscosity of the remaining fluid, I think just the opposite may be true. We'll probably need to seem fo UOA's on units with all DW-1 to really tell. I will say that the DW-1 seemed to improve shifting (which was already pretty good) in an older CR-V.
I can yield to that (partial fills of DW-1). The MSDS for DW-1 shows a 6.8 cSt virgin viscosity, but I swear that I read that it was closer to 7.5 or more. I could be wrong on that (and apparently I am).
That begs the question about the Castrol Transmax IMV product. If its viscosity at 100 deg C is 8, how are they saying that it meets the specifications of DW-1, a fluid that may start out some 15% lighter?
I could run the DW-1 in our CR-V just fine; I generally like how it shifted in that car. I simply use the Castrol because it's easier to find. But in the Acura, I just didn't like how DW-1 performed in it. As the fluid got hot, shifts got pretty sloppy. I wasn't all that impressed with it as time wore on. I think the fluid was getting degraded. If I changed the ATF every oil change, it might have been better, but I can't justify that. The MaxLife runs very well in the Acura, and its performance doesn't degrade over time like the DW-1 did.
"Shift quality" in terms of smoothness certainly improved with DW-1 in the Acura. It improved so much, you couldn't even feel them. You could hardly tell when the transmission shifted under most circumstances. Under more pressure (long trips with hot fluid), you could actually feel it shift, but only because it was shifting slowly. The shifting didn't feel "positive" like it does with MaxLife.
Both of those UOA's seem to contain only a portion of DW-1 (a single drain/fill, or 30-40%?), and the viscosity of DW-1 is 6.8 out of the bottle, so I don't think this is really much evidence that the fluid shears heavily. If anything, considering the viscosity of the remaining fluid, I think just the opposite may be true. We'll probably need to seem fo UOA's on units with all DW-1 to really tell. I will say that the DW-1 seemed to improve shifting (which was already pretty good) in an older CR-V.
I can yield to that (partial fills of DW-1). The MSDS for DW-1 shows a 6.8 cSt virgin viscosity, but I swear that I read that it was closer to 7.5 or more. I could be wrong on that (and apparently I am).
That begs the question about the Castrol Transmax IMV product. If its viscosity at 100 deg C is 8, how are they saying that it meets the specifications of DW-1, a fluid that may start out some 15% lighter?
I could run the DW-1 in our CR-V just fine; I generally like how it shifted in that car. I simply use the Castrol because it's easier to find. But in the Acura, I just didn't like how DW-1 performed in it. As the fluid got hot, shifts got pretty sloppy. I wasn't all that impressed with it as time wore on. I think the fluid was getting degraded. If I changed the ATF every oil change, it might have been better, but I can't justify that. The MaxLife runs very well in the Acura, and its performance doesn't degrade over time like the DW-1 did.
"Shift quality" in terms of smoothness certainly improved with DW-1 in the Acura. It improved so much, you couldn't even feel them. You could hardly tell when the transmission shifted under most circumstances. Under more pressure (long trips with hot fluid), you could actually feel it shift, but only because it was shifting slowly. The shifting didn't feel "positive" like it does with MaxLife.
