It's official, V**veoline Minlife will kill our transmissions
07-03-16, 03:38 PM
#1
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It's official, V**veoline Minlife will kill our transmissions
Long story short, this stuff says that it is rated for toyota's spec (forget what it is off the top of my head atm). I flushed teh tranny last summer, refilled it with Vulvaline Minlife and the car's been my daily ever since. Today it died, no reason at all. Went out to leave to return home (300 miles away). Won't shift out of first, smokes like crazy. I was afraid car was going to catch on fire.
Silver lining on this cloud is now I don't have to pay for a 1uzfe to swap into my 240sx
Don't use Vulvaline MINlife. Get the real stuff, guys.
Silver lining on this cloud is now I don't have to pay for a 1uzfe to swap into my 240sx
Don't use Vulvaline MINlife. Get the real stuff, guys.
07-03-16, 04:15 PM
#2
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I just recently did a trans service on mine and the toyota stuff was surprisingly cheap. I think i paid $50 for 9 bottles. Cheaper than amazon. And that was at the dealer. Just a safer option guys.
Times like this a fluid analysis is good to know the specifics. How many miles on car/tranny and length fluid was in tranny.
07-03-16, 07:18 PM
#7
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07-03-16, 11:47 PM
#9
Long story short, this stuff says that it is rated for toyota's spec (forget what it is off the top of my head atm). I flushed teh tranny last summer, refilled it with Vulvaline Minlife and the car's been my daily ever since. Today it died, no reason at all. Went out to leave to return home (300 miles away). Won't shift out of first, smokes like crazy. I was afraid car was going to catch on fire.
Silver lining on this cloud is now I don't have to pay for a 1uzfe to swap into my 240sx
Don't use Vulvaline MINlife. Get the real stuff, guys.
Silver lining on this cloud is now I don't have to pay for a 1uzfe to swap into my 240sx
Don't use Vulvaline MINlife. Get the real stuff, guys.
Solenoid/harness issues are not unusual for 98-00 LS400s, and neglected transmissions (what fluid was it running before you flushed it) won't magically last forever with a flush/fill.
we need way more information before you turn this into a witch hunt over a fluid that many members have had working for years without issues.
07-04-16, 01:21 PM
#10
People that actually know something about automatic transmissions will disagree with all the universal ATF baloney, I've tried to explain why its all hokum. Maybe you'll listen to this guy. And he did mention seals, and forgot about the attack on the frictions.
Using non factory approved fluid will in time cause problems.
Using non factory approved fluid will in time cause problems.
Last edited by dicer; 07-04-16 at 01:25 PM.
07-04-16, 09:13 PM
#11
No discussion is more never ending than the old "what fluid can I put in my transmission". I have a Hyundai santa fe where the consensus was that you could only use "Hyundai's fluid". But, a great many said you could go to other universal fluids with no problem. I ended up going to Castrol Multi-Import at 79k miles on my car with the usual warnings that I better start an account to pay for my new transmission. I had a standing post on that forum stating that I would change out my fluid and go back to Hyundai only fluid if anyone could find an article or published account of Castrol fluid causing a transmission to go bad. Found lots of posts where people would talk about seeing lots of transmissions ruined by said universal fluids, but no actual proof. My santa fe now has 165k miles now and still has Castrol trany fluid in it. Never had a lick of trouble with it. I changed into Max life on my Lexus the first week I bought it. One year later and 10,000 miles later, the transmission seems the same to me. All this is anecdotal, but at least with my cars it is what I have done.
07-04-16, 09:23 PM
#12
I don't think anyone will ever say X fluid will not work. Even water would work for a while. Its how long is it going to last that makes your fluid change an experiment. And for all you know it could have had that in it the day you got it too. I have a very well respected transmission shop near me, that would use Max life in a Mercedes, and they stick their necks out doing that. I sure wouldn't I've seen seals leak from mixing fluid types, personally I just don't care to chance it. I don't even think I would use max life where I have been using just dexron either, I don't want a problem. Like I hear all the time on here its your car you can use what you like. We all know what is supposed to be used, so no complaints if there is a problem.
07-05-16, 10:31 AM
#13
This parallels in my mind generic and original medications. For all intents they share similar properties and the results should conform to the basic standards. My suspicion is irregular fluid changes where the fluid at some point was beyond service life which would bring large particulates to clog the solenoids and starve proper fluid travel.
If the car made it to 250K miles with poor care, that is pretty good. Negligent tranny care usually has them going to pasture in the 170-225K range. If this was stop go driving the 150K range.
We have enough threads about transmission fluid maintenance that go back 10 years so the information is available on caring for them long term.
If the car made it to 250K miles with poor care, that is pretty good. Negligent tranny care usually has them going to pasture in the 170-225K range. If this was stop go driving the 150K range.
We have enough threads about transmission fluid maintenance that go back 10 years so the information is available on caring for them long term.
07-05-16, 11:50 AM
#14
The main KEY here is, how can there be a one size fits them all fluid? Common sense stuff here, the different transmissions have different friction materials in them. They have different pressures they use, they have different shift programming, meaning one will shift hard and firm and one will put a lot of slippage into the shift.
If you use the slippery shifting fluid in the one that is designed for a harsher shift then you will sooner or later wear it out. Back in the day that was the big difference between the type A and type F fluids. A fluid maker can spec what they want, but whats important is if it is lexus or Honda or who ever the car or transmission maker is, that they say yes we recommend this _______________ fluid in our cars or transmissions. So has Lexus approved
Valvoline Max life for our cars ?? Listen to the video.
I'm sorry but a Lexus transmission and a Mercedes transmission are not the same, nor is an old THM400 the same as the Merc or Lex transmission.
How can they all use the same fluid? Why would they all spec the specific fluid to use? Are the engineers that spend hours and hours testing the transmissions just plain stupid? The label on the bottle of the aftermarket fluid is just more advertising. If your transmission craps from using it they will deny it at all costs, you won't recover a dime. Why? because there is no way to prove them wrong. The problem will always be blamed on the mechanical and not the fluid. And they will always say "see the label it says its approved". The only way you could win is have the Transmission design group show up. And if you use a non approved fluid in a car still under warranty and have a failure, all claims will be denied, if they test that fluid and find the wrong stuff. What it amounts to with the transmission fluid issue is there are a lot of people that know absolutely nothing about automatic transmissions arguing about their special loved bottle of magic transmission fluid.
If you use the slippery shifting fluid in the one that is designed for a harsher shift then you will sooner or later wear it out. Back in the day that was the big difference between the type A and type F fluids. A fluid maker can spec what they want, but whats important is if it is lexus or Honda or who ever the car or transmission maker is, that they say yes we recommend this _______________ fluid in our cars or transmissions. So has Lexus approved
Valvoline Max life for our cars ?? Listen to the video.
I'm sorry but a Lexus transmission and a Mercedes transmission are not the same, nor is an old THM400 the same as the Merc or Lex transmission.
How can they all use the same fluid? Why would they all spec the specific fluid to use? Are the engineers that spend hours and hours testing the transmissions just plain stupid? The label on the bottle of the aftermarket fluid is just more advertising. If your transmission craps from using it they will deny it at all costs, you won't recover a dime. Why? because there is no way to prove them wrong. The problem will always be blamed on the mechanical and not the fluid. And they will always say "see the label it says its approved". The only way you could win is have the Transmission design group show up. And if you use a non approved fluid in a car still under warranty and have a failure, all claims will be denied, if they test that fluid and find the wrong stuff. What it amounts to with the transmission fluid issue is there are a lot of people that know absolutely nothing about automatic transmissions arguing about their special loved bottle of magic transmission fluid.
Last edited by dicer; 07-05-16 at 12:03 PM.
07-05-16, 02:06 PM
#15
People that actually know something about automatic transmissions will disagree with all the universal ATF baloney, I've tried to explain why its all hokum. Maybe you'll listen to this guy. And he did mention seals, and forgot about the attack on the frictions.
Using non factory approved fluid will in time cause problems.
Community College of Philadelphia Car Corner: Automatic Transmissions - YouTube
Using non factory approved fluid will in time cause problems.
Community College of Philadelphia Car Corner: Automatic Transmissions - YouTube
The main KEY here is, how can there be a one size fits them all fluid? Common sense stuff here, the different transmissions have different friction materials in them. They have different pressures they use, they have different shift programming, meaning one will shift hard and firm and one will put a lot of slippage into the shift.
If you use the slippery shifting fluid in the one that is designed for a harsher shift then you will sooner or later wear it out. Back in the day that was the big difference between the type A and type F fluids. A fluid maker can spec what they want, but whats important is if it is lexus or Honda or who ever the car or transmission maker is, that they say yes we recommend this _______________ fluid in our cars or transmissions. So has Lexus approved
Valvoline Max life for our cars ?? Listen to the video.
I'm sorry but a Lexus transmission and a Mercedes transmission are not the same, nor is an old THM400 the same as the Merc or Lex transmission.
How can they all use the same fluid? Why would they all spec the specific fluid to use? Are the engineers that spend hours and hours testing the transmissions just plain stupid? The label on the bottle of the aftermarket fluid is just more advertising. If your transmission craps from using it they will deny it at all costs, you won't recover a dime. Why? because there is no way to prove them wrong. The problem will always be blamed on the mechanical and not the fluid. And they will always say "see the label it says its approved". The only way you could win is have the Transmission design group show up. And if you use a non approved fluid in a car still under warranty and have a failure, all claims will be denied, if they test that fluid and find the wrong stuff. What it amounts to with the transmission fluid issue is there are a lot of people that know absolutely nothing about automatic transmissions arguing about their special loved bottle of magic transmission fluid.
If you use the slippery shifting fluid in the one that is designed for a harsher shift then you will sooner or later wear it out. Back in the day that was the big difference between the type A and type F fluids. A fluid maker can spec what they want, but whats important is if it is lexus or Honda or who ever the car or transmission maker is, that they say yes we recommend this _______________ fluid in our cars or transmissions. So has Lexus approved
Valvoline Max life for our cars ?? Listen to the video.
I'm sorry but a Lexus transmission and a Mercedes transmission are not the same, nor is an old THM400 the same as the Merc or Lex transmission.
How can they all use the same fluid? Why would they all spec the specific fluid to use? Are the engineers that spend hours and hours testing the transmissions just plain stupid? The label on the bottle of the aftermarket fluid is just more advertising. If your transmission craps from using it they will deny it at all costs, you won't recover a dime. Why? because there is no way to prove them wrong. The problem will always be blamed on the mechanical and not the fluid. And they will always say "see the label it says its approved". The only way you could win is have the Transmission design group show up. And if you use a non approved fluid in a car still under warranty and have a failure, all claims will be denied, if they test that fluid and find the wrong stuff. What it amounts to with the transmission fluid issue is there are a lot of people that know absolutely nothing about automatic transmissions arguing about their special loved bottle of magic transmission fluid.