Just did a drain/fill of my 98's transmission with a MityVac.

It went great! I used some MaxLife ATF I had for the power steering system.

I'm getting a 12 pack of Mobil 3309 in tomorrow, and once I use up the MaxLife, I'll slowly start transitioning to adding just 3309 into the transmission.

I'm just curious, since I had a half-full bottle of TransX in the trunk: should I add some TransX? My tranny has been acting completely normally. But should I add it anyway as "preventative maintenance"?

 

No to the TransX. "Preventative maintenance" isn't necessary with a properly function transmission. Additives have been discussed following their addition and subsequent problems with slippage or poor shifting. Then you'll have to get all of that stuff out for the Type IV or compatible fluid replacement.

 

 

I drain and fill 2.5qts of T4 in my 97' every 15k (3 oil changes) to keep it in good shape since it does have higher mileage, its cheap insurance.

 

I'm getting my 12 pack of 3309 tomorrow. Should I just go ahead and drain and refill my tranny until I run out of 3309, or should I spread out the drain and refills??

 

If the tranny is working well and the fluid is in good condition then doing the partial drain every 15K is fine. The Maxlife ATF is Type IV compatible so no rush. We've had some discussion on maintaining the same fluid and not mixing so depends on your preferences. I bought by the case so I've only had Toyota's Type IV. Was in the $ 4.20/bottle range I want to recall.

What was the price on the 3309?

 

The price was about 6 dollars/bottle.

I'm going to be honest. Transmission flushes are addicting. I've done about 3 or 4 partial drain+flushes with my MityVac. I get about 2 liters out each time, and I put in about 2 liters of fresh fluid. The process takes like 5 minutes and is very, very satisfying.

I've only driven about 300 miles but I've done all these drains+flushes. Is this going to be problematic? So far, I've noticed nothing different with the car. Okay, maybe the transmission is shifting smoother, but that's more than likely me just imagining things. I do feel better about taking care of the trans; in all likelihood, the trans was never serviced in the last 20 years. The fluid that came out was black. Not quite burnt, but definitely dark.

 

Good job. Your transmission will be happy/happier.

 

Smart IMO.

 

I'm guessing soon we will hear about more problems, its now a max life poisoned transmission. I say 5000 miles left maybe a bit more. And so funny how max life is even good for Mercedes, and power steering, etc. etc. and a few hundred more transmissions, sorry but just wow. Ought be some nice slipping clutch packs now, that is what dexron is known for. Yeah what a marketing ploy, just say it meets and exceeds all these specs. Then why are there special fluids? Specific to Mercedes and to Toyota??
They should all just use max life at the factory.

 

I had an issue today, transmission was shifting erratically. It wouldn't hold RPMs on the highway. Every time I let off the pedal, it would fall back down to ~800 rpm.

Turned out I had slightly overfilled the transmission. My mityvac's hose fitting fell apart when pumping in fluid once...so I ended up pumping a bunch of fluid onto my car's paint and on the ground. I had to guess at the amount I had spilled on the floor. Turned out I had guessed a little over but after running the car for a bit and checking the dipstick while the engine was hot helped me siphon out an appropriate amount.

 

 

What's wrong with maxlife? Too thin?

 

There's nothing WRONG with Maxlife. I'm sure it's fine for a thousand other cars on the road today, just not the LS. The Aisin gearbox, albeit truly wonderful, is rather finicky regarding fluid type and level. Valvoline uses the term "suitable" or "exceeds" on the product, but as an example a fluid simply can't be simultaneously compatible with both Type-IV and WS. Live by a very simple rule when it comes to an LS- if the manual says to use Type-IV in your car then use Type-IV, if it say use WS then you use WS. These are the "intended" fluids which are "preferred" and not merely "suitable". Consider for a moment how much ATF Valvoline sells by maintaing their long list of compatible fluids on the back of the jug.

 

Whats wrong with max life? For 1 all automatic transmissions are not the same, the many different types of friction materials used are part of it. Then there are all the different shift schedules that are used by all the various manufactures. Now why are there different automatic transmission fluids? Because there are many different ways to formulate them, meaning mostly the friction modifiers, in lets say GM transmissions they design them to slip more than say an old ford transmission so they add friction modifiers that allow slippage, where as ford didn't want the slip so they did not have those same friction modifiers. And what determines the amount of slip is the way the valve body applies the clutch pressures as well as the composition of the clutch friction materials and how that material interacts with the friction modifiers in the fluid. And then common sense tells us, that if all the transmissions where okay using the one brand of gimmick snake oil fluid then the manufactures would have just used that and not have a purpose formulated fluid.
There would be no different choices available only the one. So in the end there is a reason to use the correct stuff. Using the wrong stuff I feel can impregnate the friction material and you could flush it forever and never get all the modifiers out. The only fix would be a transmission overhaul replacing all friction material and a good clean of all the parts. Oh and maxlife can say they warranty etc. etc. but in the end if something happens they will for sure not take the blame, they will just say the transmission failed because of something other than the fluid. That's my 2 cents.