phillipin

I just picked up an IS sportcross with 70k on the odometer. I am going through and changing fluids that were never done at the dealer. The previous owner had every single 5k maintenance done at a dealer but the PS is yellow and the Tranny fluid is brown/red so that needs to get swapped.

My question is why the heck is my PS fluid yellow, it looks like a yellow mineral oil. Is it safe to swap it out with ATF at this point? The steering is fine on the car but I was a little worried someone put off the shelf power steering fluid in the car at some point instead of having it replaced with dex3 ATF.

How should I proceed?

snowmaker

Never seen that.. Use a nice synthetic ATF in the PS and be done with it. I use Amsoil in my tranny and Ps...smells mint and always red..unlike the Toyo t4 junk.

phillipin

So you don't run the Toyota Type 4 in your Tranny? If its not not necessary I can totally swap out my tranny fluid tomorrow, of course I would need to run something close/compatible that I can buy at autozone etc...

I bought this amazing hand pump, 3200 psi and it sucks up about a quart in less than 1 second. It was the same price as the generic hand pump at pep boys.

I swapped in almost a quart of dex3 so far for power steering. Its already looking more red than yellow now.

On a different note I did find that my IS has an LSD rear.

snowmaker

No on the T4 in my ES's. Overpriced for non-synthetic. You can use anything that is good for T4 fluid spec..I just like Amsoil since it performs well. I am sure redline and some other select others are just as good. I just use what works well for me and my analysis results.

I do not know if anything on autozone, pep boys etc is as good. You would have to read the label.

raytseng

Take a look and try MaxLife ATF for your tranny if you want to pick something up from the store. It should be relatively inexpensive compared to other products.


It will list Toyota T-IV on the back.
Be sure whatever you do get has T-IV on the label if that's what your car calls for. Many oils now have that spec on their label (as compared to years ago).


The factory fill powersteering fluid could be clear-I would be more worried if it was brown/burnt...

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Yellow cause it's Original. Just flush it out with ATF Dexron III a few times and you are good.

gemigniani

Yellow because the factory fill is undyed Dexron auto trans fluid. Nothing to worry about

snowmaker

OKay, but after this many miles/times it was not changed????? Sad, since I do not know what else to say...

gemigniani

Mobil actually admits Toyota T4 is better than its own Mobil 1 synthetic ATF.

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/...smissions.aspx

Mobil says:

"Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF and Mobil Multi-Vehicle ATF are suitable for use in Toyota applications where Toyota T-IV type product is recommended. However, the Toyota/Lexus ATF is specifically designed for those vehicles and will provide optimum performance."

snowmaker

Mobil, ya, they are the ones that HAD a 25K drain and then backed down in the low 80's...

OKay, have you called Mobil CS? They suck and are rude. Sorry T4 is poor and I change it out in my 06. You want pix since it was black after 50K with a lifetime fill (per the dipstick). I put in Amsoil and was cheaper and WAY smoother...Just saying...YMMV