Email from Amsoil about ATL trans fluid

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Here was my inquiry about the compatibility of ATL with WS.

Regarding the new ATL trans fluid. I have a 07 Toyota Tundra that i use strictly for towing most of the time. I've come up on 25k miles now, and would like to incorporate the new ATL fluid into the transmission. What do you recomend? I'm thinking of just doing a drain and fill at this time, then continuing this regime on every oil change. Would there be a problem doing this? Will the ATL fluid be 100% compatible in my WS transmission? Thank you for your help. Your quick response would be greatly appreciated.

And their response was:

Thank you for contacting AMSOIL.



In response to your inquiry, AMSOIL ATL would be compatible with the Toyota WS fluid and if you drain and fill approximately 3 times you willl have exchanged out approximately 90% of the oil.



Thanks again for the opportunity to respond to your concerns. As always, please feel free to contact us again if we can be of further assistance.



Sincerely,



Steve Pelach



Tech Services


Wow! D&F 3 times gets me to 90%? Is this possible in a 11 qt total capacity trans? I'm figuring about 4 qts per drain, but i don't know for sure.

Any tips please comment:
 
It takes time for the Amsoil to completely displace your OEM fluid, even with a fluid exchange you will never get close to the 100%. Only draining and refilling a few times will ensure that you have mostly Amsoil ATF in the transmission.

I would just drain and refill with Amsoil and drive to the normal OCI for your transmission as outlined in your manual or 50K KM (30K miles) and drain/refill again with Amsoil.

This is what I have done to convert my Santa Fe over to Amsoil.

Steve
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
It takes time for the Amsoil to completely displace your OEM fluid, even with a fluid exchange you will never get close to the 100%. Only draining and refilling a few times will ensure that you have mostly Amsoil ATF in the transmission.
Steve


So you think that a system flush will not get close to 100% new fluid in there? While there is nothing wrong with drain and refills, the only way to get even close to 100% is a complete flush. Think about it, every time you drain it out after the first refill, you throw away more and more of the newer fluid and get out less and less of the old for a diminishing return.

I prefer a complete flush whenever possible so that I throw away maybe one quart at the most and get it all changed over at one time. I think of drain and refills as similar to changing out only 3 quarts of motor oil every oil change. A transmission fluid flush is really not that hard.

But I would have to really disagree about your statement above that draining and refilling is the only way to completely displace your OEM fluid. Actually the opposite is true, based on years of personal experience.
 
Yeah Im gonna say that info is a bit misleading. If you switch to an expensice syn like ATL you will be better served with a complete cooler line flush. The last thing you want is to contaminate that fresh amsoil with WS! Get enough fluid, flush and be done with it.

I have noticed you seem to be an anti flush (fluid exchange with no chems is what Im refering to here) kind of guy. As you are probably aware from my prior posts I have fully flushed a 2006 tacoma with 50K or so without issue along with many many other cars. I opt to always drop the pan on cars/trucks with more than 75K but beyond that its easy and the best way to get near 100% replacement.
 
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you are looking at about 70 - 75% if you get 4 qts out every drain, on a total capacity of 11 qts. THis assumes you drive a bit on each D&F to achieve really good mixing.

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Originally Posted By: AzFireGuy79
Yeah Im gonna say that info is a bit misleading. If you switch to an expensice syn like ATL you will be better served with a complete cooler line flush. The last thing you want is to contaminate that fresh amsoil with WS! Get enough fluid, flush and be done with it.

I have noticed you seem to be an anti flush (fluid exchange with no chems is what Im refering to here) kind of guy. As you are probably aware from my prior posts I have fully flushed a 2006 tacoma with 50K or so without issue along with many many other cars. I opt to always drop the pan on cars/trucks with more than 75K but beyond that its easy and the best way to get near 100% replacement.


I'm sure i would be better served to do a complete replacement, but in my situation the truck only has 25k on it. And i don't beleive the fluid in there is contaminated; maybe a little used up but i don't think it's bad yet.
I guess you could say i'm a d&f kinda guy; it's all i've ever done on my vehicles and every one i ever did shifted better afterwards. But it was with cheap dex III fluid; and it was inexpensive back then.

Don't get me wrong here, as i greatly appreciate your knowledge when it comes to this issue. But i just don't know if a complete exchange is necessary at this time. But yet, i want to do something now as i plan to keep the truck for a looooong time.
And really, the money isn't the issue much right now. It'll cost me $35 a year or so to do it, and it'll be done the same time i change the oil. I may even consider a twice a year d&f for a couple years to replenish more ATL.
I just changed the oil at 11 months and only 6700 miles on the fill. So i don't drive it a lot, but when i do it's usually got a 8-10k lb trailer behind it.

Oh, i DO plan to drop the pan, clean the screen and refresh at the 60k mile or 5 year mark.

So with that, what do you think i should do?

If it's compatible, do you think this could cause any issues?
 
That's interesting...... of course it's figured if i drive a bit between fills.

I just hope i'm not doing an injustice by introducing a high end fluid with a mid-lower end, and mixing them together.
I don't know if there's much info with this new WS stuff; i think there's plenty with the old T-IV and i beleive it's worked well??????

In your opinion, am i necessarily doing the trans justice by doing d&f's then?

So 40 quarts times $7.13 per quart equals $285.20 over probably a 5 year span if i did it twice a year?
Over a 5 year span, that doesnt seem like much but yet i could save almost a couple hundred by doing an exchange now.
I guess i could do an exchange now, then at 60k do a pan service then continue with d&f's after that????? That's an idea.

Crinkles........i appreciate that graph; it helps a lot.

Thank you!!
 
no worries mate.

I am no expert, but,

If you start early (which it seems like you are) AND change often (your interval is at your own discretion) AND the tranny is running fine, AND you stay with WS just drain and fill every say 10,000 miles if you towed a lot. (i am sure the experts would overrule my opinion)

Personally I am staying with T-IV, don't tow, and am a cheapskate, so I drain and fill every 20,000 miles (which is probably overkill).

Personally if i were to consider changing to amsoil, i would do a cooler line flush to get the benefit straight away. Then follow up with regular drain and fills using amsoil.
 
I appreciate that.

I'm going to seriously consider it. But the problem i have is, WS IMO is not worth $5-$6 per quart and i would much rather spend $7 for a higher end fluid.

Thanks again.
 
Another thing i've been thinking about is this. From my experience ( with motor oil anyway ) is, the oil does some cleaning and the first run of Amsoil has been less than stellar due to the cleaning. So, maybe best to slowly introduce it to the system?

I don't know; am i way off base here?
 
Amsoil ATF has been around for some time now and has proven itself. The WS version ( ATL ) is basically the same fluid, just thinner, so I have no doubt it's a good product and safe to use.

Just guessing, but I'll bet Amsoil did quite a bit of research and testing before releasing ATL to the market.

I'm slowly putting ATF into both of our 06 Toyotas ( which take the T-IV fluid ) with drain and refills every 10k, so far it's working very well. But because of what I've read on here, I'm considering doing a flush on my truck this next time using the ATF product.

Which way should you go? I'd say do the drain and refill this time and keep your options open for what you want to do next time. That gives you plenty of time to think about it, and it will be good for your tranny to get some fresh stuff in there right now:)
 
If you change your ATF fluid often enough a complete flush is never needed IMO, plus you are always renewing the additive package in the transmission fluid with the short OCI's versus flushing the entire transmission at a longer OCI.

IMO even with a flush, you don't get 100% exchanged fluid, but it is much closer than a drain/refill. But if you keep changing your fluid on a regular interval it's not needed IMO.

Just drain/fill your transmission regularly and replace with this quality fluid. Has been working great for me.
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HEy if you feel good about drain and fills its not going to hurt anything. I just like the idea of starting with all new fluid. This approach is not only economical but gives you the full impression of the new atf (no watered down effect from the old and new mixing). But if you stick with it you will eventually be close to about 90%+ ATL.
 
Why start exchanging the fluid at 25k? WS is a very long life fluid. What's your engine service interval?...30k? How about sending a fluid sample to Blackstone ($22.50) or other testing lab every 30k and KNOW what's what instead of guessing and throwing money at what might not be a problem. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with ATL, nor that it isn't any better than WS...I'm saying that WS is good and might remain good for many more miles--and keep money in your pocket.
 
I have never flushed/filled any fluid anywhere in a cars "system" only changed and kept going. Never had any problems and I usually drive the cars to the scrap yard with all original engine/transmission parts.
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IMO FME you don't need to flush, just fill. Only time a flush is good is if the fluid was over exhausted.

Keep on top of things and it's not necessary IMO.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I have never flushed/filled any fluid anywhere in a cars "system" only changed and kept going. Never had any problems and I usually drive the cars to the scrap yard with all original engine/transmission parts.
21.gif
IMO FME you don't need to flush, just fill. Only time a flush is good is if the fluid was over exhausted.

Keep on top of things and it's not necessary IMO.


+1, I never do flushes either.
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I have never flushed/filled any fluid anywhere in a cars "system" only changed and kept going. Never had any problems and I usually drive the cars to the scrap yard with all original engine/transmission parts.
21.gif
IMO FME you don't need to flush, just fill. Only time a flush is good is if the fluid was over exhausted.

Keep on top of things and it's not necessary IMO.


+1, I never do flushes either.


That's what I used to think until I performed my first transmission flush last Sunday. My dad's Toyota minivan had 86k on it and I had done a drain and refill at the 44k and 68k marks. Both drain and refills did not improve the shift quality at all.

After I flushed the transmission on Sunday, the shift quality improved significantly. The acceleration is much, much smoother and you can barely feel the shifts. My dad even swears that the car feels more powerful.
 
But what was the previous maintenance like? Did it miss a change or was the fluid over exhausted at one point?

My Santa Fe has never had anything but clean, new looking fluid on the dipstick.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
But what was the previous maintenance like? Did it miss a change or was the fluid over exhausted at one point?

My Santa Fe has never had anything but clean, new looking fluid on the dipstick.

As I said in the last post, the transmission received a drain and refill at the 44k and 68k marks. At the time of the flush, the transmission had 86k on it. In other words, the transmission had been maintained properly.
 
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