Valvoline Maxlife ATF (Blackstone VOA)

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Feb 16, 2016
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Location
Florida
I have a 2011 Camry 2.5 with the U760E, that I purchased this past Sept from the original owner. The camry had 212k miles on it when purchased.

The transmission fluid was the factory fill Toyota WS ATF. So I decided to do a drain and refill with Valvoline Maxlife ATF.

I sent out a fresh sample of the Valvoline Maxlife ATF to Blackstone as shown below.

I also sent out a sample of the factory fill Toyota WS ATF that had been in the transmission since 2011 with 215k miles at the time of the drain/refill.

Figured I'd share the analysis results of both.

Valvoline Maxlife ATF.jpg


VOA Valvoline MAXLIFE ATF 1.jpg

Below is the original factory fill Toyota WS ATF analysis and what it looked like...

Toyota WS ATF U760E original factory fill Results.jpg

OEM Toyota ATF 215k miles ORIGINAL.jpg
 
Do you have firsthand objective evidence, or just speculation?

Its easy to say that, hard to back up.
Here's a quote from MolaKule: "A sample of the ATF Friction Modifiers are shown below: fatty phosphites, fatty acid amides, fatty epoxides, borated fatty epoxides, fatty amines, glycerol esters, borated glycerol esters, alkoxylated fatty amines, and borated alkoxylated fatty amines, metal salts of fatty acids, sulfurized olefins, fatty imidazolines, non-hydroxyl fatty tertiary amines, and any mixtures of the above. The exact composition of and specific chemistry (molecular structure) of the Friction Modifier(s) are closely guarded secrets."

( https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/atf-friction-modifier-purpose.308657/ )

Reading the various additives that Mola has listed, I think it would be safe to say that @ripcord is correct: many things in an ATF add pack would not show up on a $25 UOA/VOA.
 
Informative ATF video here..
Around the 44 minute mark, it deals with an ATF additive package from AFTON chemical. AFTON suggest the additive package can be added to a base oil in a reduced amount [%50] to save costs. The result will be a fluid that does not meet spec or offer the best protection but is what they call "suitable for". My guess is that maxlife falls into this category of reduced additive pack for a lower price but not meeting specs, hence not licensed.
 
So the question is: How much does the ad pack cost? How much does reducing the ad pack by half save?
Are ad packages available? Wasn't that LubeGard's thing? .....the trannie tech added small bottles to a base fluid. no?
 
Informative ATF video here..
Around the 44 minute mark, it deals with an ATF additive package from AFTON chemical. AFTON suggest the additive package can be added to a base oil in a reduced amount [%50] to save costs. The result will be a fluid that does not meet spec or offer the best protection but is what they call "suitable for". My guess is that maxlife falls into this category of reduced additive pack for a lower price but not meeting specs, hence not licensed.

That is old bottle. Now it is completely different with a different ad pack.
 
Informative ATF video here..
Around the 44 minute mark, it deals with an ATF additive package from AFTON chemical. AFTON suggest the additive package can be added to a base oil in a reduced amount [%50] to save costs. The result will be a fluid that does not meet spec or offer the best protection but is what they call "suitable for". My guess is that maxlife falls into this category of reduced additive pack for a lower price but not meeting specs, hence not licensed.

When did an "oil properties" listing become a fluid specification, 37:30? This presenter isn't using the proper terminology!

This is a Video with many inaccuracies.

At approx,. 1:00:04 he enters into his conspiracy theory as to why the California Law was repealed. We don't do conspiracies here at BITOG.
 
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Informative ATF video here..
Around the 44 minute mark, it deals with an ATF additive package from AFTON chemical. AFTON suggest the additive package can be added to a base oil in a reduced amount [%50] to save costs. The result will be a fluid that does not meet spec or offer the best protection but is what they call "suitable for". My guess is that maxlife falls into this category of reduced additive pack for a lower price but not meeting specs, hence not licensed.

No--AFTON does not say that.

Let us get our facts straight--AFTON says that if you want to make an ancient "Type A Suffix A" ATF you can use approximately less than 50% by weight of the 419R DI additive package compared to the suggested weight percentage for the full-up ATF.

There are very few transmissions out there running this ancient "Type A Suffix A" ATF.

There are some misunderstandings here about ATF technology.
 
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When did an "oil properties" listing become a fluid specification, 37:30? This presenter isn't using the proper terminology!

This is a Video with many inaccuracies.

At approx,. 1:00:04 he enters into his conspiracy theory as to why the California Law was repealed. We don't do conspiracies here at BITOG.
Prof. Kelly usually does a good job of presenting mechanical and fluid history such as here:



But using the word 'shuttering' instead of 'shuddering' made me wonder if the text banner person misunderstand his pronunciations. :unsure:
 
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