ATF for Kia specifying SP-III ATF?

[dubber09]

Valvoline Maxlife works great in my 2014 cars.

 

[nbpt100]

If you've only done one drain & fill on the transmission then I would do at least two more before assessing it's condition. I would definitely drop the pan to inspect and to clean it and the magnets. Your fluid will never be functioning properly without magnets that are actively pulling metal out. The magnet loose effectiveness as they load up so keep them clean (once a year or two, 10k-30k miles?).

On this particular Kia you can not drop the pan with out removing the transaxle from the vehicle. Therefore the filter has never been changed and likely never will be. There is a magnetic drain plug that allows for draining. Each drain removes about 5 quarts. About 45% of the capacity.

Today I went for a short trip with it and it started to act up again once it got hot. It may be toast.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I used Valvoline Maxlife (red bottle), Valvoline Import (blue bottle) and Castrol Import MV in my daughters 2008 Elantra...all worked great. I don't think the SP-III spec. is so unique that 'multi vehicle' ATFs will hurt.
OTOH, I stick with Mazda FZ approved (blue fluid) in her Mazda CX-30 (I've done 2 D&R's with Aisin's version) because there is much debate on whether Valvoline Maxlife type replacements would cause issues? I've read on this site that Mazda would deny warranty if the fluid is red on a failed unit?

How blue is Mazda blue? HPL has green, blue, teal and they do some custom requests for fleets, BITOG and others also. The Blue is a little higher viscosity than the green. For me on emails that was closer to original Honda Z-1 than the DW-1.

 

[dubber09]

Just do drain and fill, and if drained ATF doesn't look good, may be another drain and fill at next oil change.
I do D/F every 30k miles and transmissions are working great and smooth.

 

[GSCJR]

On this particular Kia you can not drop the pan with out removing the transaxle from the vehicle. Therefore the filter has never been changed and likely never will be. There is a magnetic drain plug that allows for draining. Each drain removes about 5 quarts. About 45% of the capacity.

Today I went for a short trip with it and it started to act up again once it got hot. It may be toast.

I would drain and fill it 2 more times, because you only removed about 50% of the fluid, and then reassess.