It really is only because you mentioned Amsoil
With so many transmissions having “lifetime” fills it pays to use a “fancy” ATF
Wow Amsoil ATF really is good!
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With so many transmissions having “lifetime” fills it pays to use a “fancy” ATF
I like Amsoil! I used to use their products all of the time. We sold it at two shops that I worked at. I use the Severe Gear still today in both of my vehicles. The ATF is very good also. For me personally it just doesn't make sense. The ATF is 2x or more the cost of other good ATF. Same case with the engine oil. I don't try to run extended intervals on everything. I know they genuinely make a superior premium product, it's just more $ than I want to spend. Nothing bad to say about it at all.
I agree with you but I would like to make an exception to that statement.
New ford 10 speeds are BRUTAL on the for mercon ULV. I think its a combo of the transmission itself and ULV's nature but it DESTROYS the transmission fluid right real quick. Those transmissions are very expensive. I know that HPL, and Amsoil perform much better than mercon ULV dirty dish water fluid.
HPL is another one I would use. I'm not sure if there is any actual testing, or how you would test how one ATF would/could/should hold up better than another? Is running something like LV instead of ULV and option? Could the higher viscosity help?
Our six speed in the Honda loves it. Just did a drain and fill in the Tundra. Now I could have top it off with WS and it would have done ok. To my surprise it was just over a qrt low from the factory. Filled it with 5.25 qrts of Amsoil. Shifts like butter now. Next spring I’ll do it again. The Tundra would jerk at slow speeds with the AC on. It doesn’t do it anymore.
Nice.....
Honestly
I feel the price is worth it. The specs are also pretty good.....very high flash points and super low pour points.
What does a high flash point mean, can you explain that?
If it works better for you and you see benefits and happy with it, it's worth it to you, then so be it.
I bought headphones recently for US$995, expensive yes, it's worth it to me, happy with my decision and enjoying it.
I bought headphones recently for US$995, expensive yes, it's worth it to me, happy with my decision and enjoying it.
Preferred pricing is worth it. I’ve used their products back in 2004. Granted I’ve used other oils during that time but used their other products along the way.
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We changed every single fluid on the 4Runner to Amsoil when we bought it 10 years ago. Had 265k miles then. It only did another 35k over the next 10 years. Earlier this year the radiator started leaking at the top, and we had it replaced. The guys at the shop told us that it had also started to crack at the bottom and was at the beginning stages of the "strawberry milkshake" mix (ATF mixing with coolant). No repercussions. They flushed the transmission with whatever they had at the shop. Now I shiver.
Ok, I lied. Not every single fluid replaced with Amsoil. I could never find Amsoil windshield washing fluid.
Ok, I lied. Not every single fluid replaced with Amsoil. I could never find Amsoil windshield washing fluid.
This stuff is very similar to Allison TES-295 which we ran 75,000 miles in a NYC Sanitation garbage truck (one of our hardest applications) then drained it out and put it in a lab transmission and ran the durability test that simulates a vehicle lifetime (with successful results). It's hard to kill.
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Ok, to my utmost chagrin, and after doing north of 1000 miles with it, I am a bit concerned.
First the background - the one the Amsoil site suggested for my 2017 Santa Fe (Long wheelbase, V6, 6-speed, apparently it's the A6LF3). Got the Signature Series Fuel-Efficient Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid Quart Bottle (ATLQT-EA), blue cap. All 9qts of them, as that's what the site said.
Got it replaced at a Kia dealership, paid for the labor only.
First and foremost - I am a bit doubtful that they got it all in, as I don't see how they'd flush it all dry, unless they are using a machine. One way or the other - there were traces of fresh fluid on the top of my transmission, and the whole engine bay had that nice sweet smell, so they DID put some in. They didn't return any bottles though, so maybe it either went all in or someone had a field day with free bottles left. Anyhow.
My problem - shifting is mostly good, but sometimes I will feel differences that concern me.
- On fast deceleration, in D, I would feel like the car is sometimes not downshifting fast enough. Sometimes I'd feel jolts as if the car downshifted say from 4th to 3rd, whereas it should have downshifted to 2nd. Not sure how to describe it, mostly like the car actually engages 3rd actively, and it's going too slow for it.
- But the notable part - once I get to a stop, and start shifting to P - it's clunk and jolt land. P to N, N to D or R, D through N to P - clunks and jolts, noticeable. Not always, but most of the time.
Blipping the throttle ever so slightly before the shift (say - to 1500rpm with shifting once it goes down to 1100-ish) is making the jolt disappear completely. So - as little as I know about auto transmissions - sounds like a pressure issue to me. Could it be too thin ?
Not sure if that's related, but driving it in manual mode in a rush would allow me to get the ATF temp to 235F sometimes. The highest I've seen with the oild fluid, in hellish traffic, was 228F. I monitor this with Torque Pro.
I think Amsoil makes great ATF and gear oil. But would not them to make a huge difference in shifting from other quality ATF that were still in good shape.
I would expect Amsoil ATF to provide quality lubrication for a longer period of time than most other lubricants.
I would expect Amsoil ATF to provide quality lubrication for a longer period of time than most other lubricants.
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I went down the rabbit hole after I published the above, and added my fair contribution to global warming (asked some Ai entities), and boy, never had I ever received such concise and well presented information. I almost understood how automatic transmissions work (nah, kidding, ain't gonna happen 
).
Long story short - I had to reset the adaptations (good thing I already have the Car Scanner app and an OBD adapter plugged in).
After that, things became even worse, but matched step for step what the smart silicon guy told me would happen. After following the learning procedures (which the thing also compiled) - it is way better than before, and I'm hopeful it will go even better. Will report further.
So - the dealership either didn't reset the adaptations, or my driving style makes it difficult to learn (yeah, right).
I am absolutely confident the ATF is great. I got it to 240F and it didn't flinch.
).Long story short - I had to reset the adaptations (good thing I already have the Car Scanner app and an OBD adapter plugged in).
After that, things became even worse, but matched step for step what the smart silicon guy told me would happen. After following the learning procedures (which the thing also compiled) - it is way better than before, and I'm hopeful it will go even better. Will report further.
So - the dealership either didn't reset the adaptations, or my driving style makes it difficult to learn (yeah, right).
I am absolutely confident the ATF is great. I got it to 240F and it didn't flinch.
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Which app did you use to reset the adaptive trans?I went down the rabbit hole after I published the above, and added my fair contribution to global warming (asked some Ai entities), and boy, never had I ever received such concise and well presented information. I almost understood how automatic transmissions work (nah, kidding, ain't gonna happen
Long story short - I had to reset the adaptations (good thing I already have the Car Scanner app and an OBD adapter plugged in).
After that, things became even worse, but matched step for step what the smart silicon guy told me would happen. After following the learning procedures (which the thing also compiled) - it is way better than before, and I'm hopeful it will go even better. Will report further.
So - the dealership either didn't reset the adaptations, or my driving style makes it difficult to learn (yeah, right).
I am absolutely confident the ATF is great. I got it to 240F and it didn't flinch.
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Car Scanner.
Ugly interface, but quite complete.
I probably paid for it at some point, I'm not even sure I know which version I have. It's from one of my binge sprees when I was buying OBD apps left and right.
I wish I could have it all in one app, but well. RealDash for dashboards, Torque Pro for classic dashboards, etc...
Thanks - which bluetooth obd2 are you using - -
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Now, that one is a minefield...
I did it with my old, trusty "Mestart" ELM327. This guy. I've been buying them for years, having spare ones in drawers, etc, etc.
However, this is not a brand per se. On Amazon, it's always from a different seller. And it's a clone like many others. And it's basically a lottery.
The very last ones that I purchased, two of them, simply never connected. So I compared them to my working one, and after a lot of scratching I noticed the obvious.
They all look like this:
However, the ones that work have two stacked circuit boards:
The ones that didn't work had only one board, the one towards the connector.
Having two boards is no guarantee it will work, but in my experience - having just one is a sign it won't. At least as far as ELM327 clones go.
If you get one and it connects - use it to read info extensively (for example with a Torque or Torque Pro dash) and see that it doesn't disconnect, that it reads fine, plus there's a connection and read speed check in Torque Pro that can be used, before you do any coding. Car Scanner puts it in big bold font that for coding you need a GOOD OBD adapter. My little blue one is good so far.
Now, OBD adapters are a whole rabbit hole. They depend on whether you use an Android (pretty much mandatory if you want to do anything serious) or iphone, and whether you want to have your adapter plugged in all the time, or just when scanning.
The plugged in all the time, like mine, need to be small, otherwise they get in the way of the fusebox cover. So you end up with that blue gizmo, or the smallest OBDLink you can find.
OBDLink being, THE brand for OBD adapters. But they are expensive.
Then, you need to know what you want to use it for. Torque Pro is an amazing app, but it hasn't changed in years. It barely sees any support anymore. The app is less than 10 bucks on google playstore, and the extended pack for Hyundai is less than that on top of it, and gives you plenty of ready to use extra reading capabilities, for a dashboard. But it only covers Hyundais up to say 2019ish.
If you only want to scan for codes and do occasional resets - any good OBD adapter will do.
If you have a BMW, it's a whole different book, you have other adapters there, and Torque Pro will do little.
If you're into dashboards, RealDash is the ultimate app, IF you manage to make it work with your car.
Another quite interesting adapter is the Wican by MeatPi. It's crowd sourced, less than $50, and very capable. But it's to be used on WiFi for full capability (good for scanning, a bit wonky for dashboards if you also want to use your phone). I'm not sure it's too good in Bluetooth mode.
Here's Torque Pro in one of the screens. The top six are cylinder knock detection (my spark plugs are old so I keep an eye on all misfire-related stuff), with cylinders arranged from birdview (2-4-6 towards the front, 1-3-5 towards cabin), my temps (in Celsius), and some injector stuff which I don't understand and have since removed. I since put the transmissions turbine speed and slip rates, will do another screenshot tomorrow.
Note that for the ATF temp and the trubine speeds, as well as for the knock detection, the Hyundai add-on is needed. I can't remember if it was 3 or 6 bucks on top of the 6 I paid for Torque Pro (vs Torque regular).
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