The last few days here have been highs around 0F and lows much much colder than that. The standard ATF that I am running in my FJ60 Land Cruiser is older and yesterday was having a hard time, making the pump whine and cutout until sufficient heat had built up under the hood.
I let it run until the fluid got thin enough to sufficiently drain from the low pressure hose and syphoned out everything from the reservoir. I turned the wheel several times to purge everything from the rack until the new fluid was coming out.The fluid wasn't in terrible shape but it couldn't keep up with the sustained low temperatures.
I put in Maxlife Full Synth ATF Dex/Merc (the latest version) with a -48C Pour point.
Fire it up this morning and no whine, no sluggishness and didn't need to give it several minutes of heat to build up under the hood to thaw it out. It was ready to go right as I turned it on.
I post this because I was considering M1 ATF to run in it but the store was out of stuff . I was hoping this would get the job just as well and sure enough it did. The benefit is that it still has the seal conditioners to help with weeping of the lines and though I don't have that issue even on my 30 year old Toyota, it doesn't hurt to have it.
So, if you live somewhere that has sustained low temperatures for months at a time, keep this on the short list for ATF/PS fluid.
I let it run until the fluid got thin enough to sufficiently drain from the low pressure hose and syphoned out everything from the reservoir. I turned the wheel several times to purge everything from the rack until the new fluid was coming out.The fluid wasn't in terrible shape but it couldn't keep up with the sustained low temperatures.
I put in Maxlife Full Synth ATF Dex/Merc (the latest version) with a -48C Pour point.
Fire it up this morning and no whine, no sluggishness and didn't need to give it several minutes of heat to build up under the hood to thaw it out. It was ready to go right as I turned it on.
I post this because I was considering M1 ATF to run in it but the store was out of stuff . I was hoping this would get the job just as well and sure enough it did. The benefit is that it still has the seal conditioners to help with weeping of the lines and though I don't have that issue even on my 30 year old Toyota, it doesn't hurt to have it.
So, if you live somewhere that has sustained low temperatures for months at a time, keep this on the short list for ATF/PS fluid.