SPIII, Hyundai Elantra, 60K miles

[Tempest]

Lab is OAI. This is my Father's car. The trans was "serviced" (whatever that means) by the dealer @ 30K so this is not a direct factory fill (if the dealer actually did anything). Car is a daily driver so it sees all city, but his drive to work is ~20 miles one way, mostly freeway. The car is not beat on and is driven normally.

Iron: 95
Lead: 28
Copper: 76
Tin: 6
Aluminum: 28
Silicon: 17
Boron: 40
Magnesium: 1
Calcium: 62
Phos: 381
Zinc: 6

Visc: 5.78 cSt @ 100C
TAN: 1.27

All others are 0 or not provided. The near 2 cSt shearing is pretty lousy, IMHO.

I really want to put Amsoil in this car but I don't have my Father convinced due to warranty reasons (he let me put it his Taurus with no problems though). The trans also has a drain plug so exchanging fluids is easy.

Comments?

 

[dkryan]

Well, Tempest, UnDummy is in a far better position to comment on this than I am. But my two cents says SPIII can't be counted on for more than 30k, at very best. What makes you think the fluid was changed at 30K? Does the maintenance schedule call for an ATF change at 30K (doubtful)?

Your father would do well with Amsoil in this tranny. IMO, he'd have less chance of a mechanical failure due to ATF failure than he would using SPIII.

 

[Tempest]

Yes, the maintenance schedule for the car says to have the transmission "serviced" (no definition

) every 30K, and my Father said he did that.

 

[unDummy]

Thats the problem. The word service isn't defined.

For 60k and unknown type of 30k service, doesn't look too bad.

Wear is high and reason enough for a good full flush. If a full flush was performed at 30k, then wear might be too high. If it was a drain/refill, then its normal enough.

TAN loooks good.
Viscosity is low but not as bad as the Kia further down in this forum. 2cst shearing is pretty normal for most ATFs.

 

[sciphi]

Hyundai automatics, especially the ones in the 01-06 Elantras, have their share of problems. For the 1999 automatic transmission, there are over 110 TSB's, compared with 2 for manuals.

What year Elantra is this?

 

[Tempest]

This is a 2003.