Japanimal

My car was in for service and to make a long story short the service guys accidentaly put some Amsoil synthetic ATF in trans on my 98 LS400. I have been under the impression that Toyota T-IV and only Toyata T-IV was the only acceptable fluid. How urgent do I need to be in getting the fluid switched back??Any suggestions appreciated..

Lvangundy

It will still work.

It won't kill your transmission unless they didn't fill the fluid all the way or anything, but most people feel safer knowing toyota transmission fluid is in their smooth toyota transmission.

Japanimal

Amsoil recently changed the listing of applications for it's fluid to meet Honda Z-1 specs. Both Honda Z-1 and Toyota T-IV are highly friction modified fluids...so that makes me feel a little bit better. Guess I will just go with the Amsoil stuff.

CaptBud330

I just had the trans fluid changed in my 1997 LS400. I was going to relace it with Toyota type IV but nearly fainted at the price. I spoke to a Penzoil rep and he assured me, their new fluid is compatable and comparable with the Toyota fluid. Trans works great and shifts smooth. Cost...$79.00

persian451

stick Type IV only... the others wont perform as well in the long run... its smarter to pay the extra bucks and go with Type IV.. search around and you'll find people buying it for as much as $2.90 / quart

Pilot

I just bought a case of 12 quarts (3 gallons) of Toyota IV trans fluid at the local Toyota dealer. I paid 45.00 for the entire case. I had been paying about 29.00 for a gallon can at the Lexus dealer. This is a huge difference on pricing for the same product. I had been changing trans fluid at each oil change in an attempt to clean up the dark colored trans oil in my 91 LS, with 142K miles. With only draining the trans pan, and not getting the fluid out of the torque converter, my fluid was always dirty, even with the constant fluid changes. Today I decided to flush the entire system and was shocked how easy it was to do sitting in my driveway! I simply took off the rubber trans cooling hose on the drivers side of the lower radiator. I slipped on a foot long piece of plastic hose and pointed the plastic hose into a bucket. I then started the car and watched all the trans fluid being pumped into the bucket. By taking the drivers side hose off, I was also changing all the old fluid out of the radiator. I had a funnel inserted into the trans dip stick, and started pouring in new fluid as fast as the old fluid was being pumped out. I then had someone get in the car and change from Park, to Drive, to Reverse, to Neutral, etc all the while I was pumping old fluid, and adding new fluid. By changing gears, I was flushing fluid out of the clutch packs, as well as the entire system. I stopped adding new fluid after 9 quarts and let all the trans fluid pump out of the plastic hose. As soon as the flow started to slow, I immediately shut off the car, and then added the remaining 3 quarts to fill up the transmission. I then put the rubber hose back on, and started the car and checked the fluid level. I ended up using all 12 quarts, and now all the fluid is clean and bright red! The entire job only took about 15 minutes! I then poured all the old fluid into the empty qt jugs, and will take them to my local service station to be recycled.

Pilot

91 LS400
01 RX300