Is there such a thing, and is it a good idea in these transmissions?

Thanks
Mike

 

There is such a thing. The only one I would use would be Amsoil. I use it in my LS400 with excellent results.

 

Have heard nothing but good things about AMSOIL synthetic trans fluid as well.

 

I have used Amsoil ATF for close to 30K miles, nothing but great experience. $7.5 a quart is well worth the extra flash point protection and extended drain interval.

 

If I had Amsoil ATF here, I would use it in a hearbeat.

 

You may, as long as it's Toyota Type IV or equivalent.

Beware of universal fluid that claims to work with Dexron, Mercon, Toyota, Dodge, etc. Such fluid usually just try to find a middle ground in fluid viscosity and friction characteristics, not matching the OEM spec exactly.

 

It is vitally important to match the ATF to the transmission. This may sound pretty foolish, but back in the '60's when "sports car" was defined largely by British makes, the manual transmissions on the higher-powered offerings were notoriously stiff to shift, particularly when cold.

Club racers quickly discovered a product called Molly Lube - a powdered high molybdenum disulfide content additive for transmission oil. It was a miracle! You could actually shift those old square-cut gears quickly and lightly. OK it was a little expensive, effectively doubling the cost of your tranny oil and it had to be changed at 5 or 10K, but the improvement was well worth it.

Following the busted logic of a number of club racers who knew little or nothing about mechanical devices, several dumped a slug of this treatment into the automatic transmission of their family car. Hey, if it smoothed shifting and put more power to the ground through better lubrication of the gearbox, what's not to love?

Well, if you think about the way an automatic transmission works (it's really a whole series of clutches), you might see the logic flaw here. Yup, when Speed Racer put the family truckster into gear, it began to slow down as the revs began to climb. After the additive was thoroughly mixed and distributed over the clutch plates, friction went away, as advertised. Auto trannies depend on friction, thus Molly Lube rendered them useless - or friction-free, depending on how you look at it. The car rolled to a stop, rendered inert by ATF that was now TOO slick.

I wish I knew how many folks destroyed their transmission by pouring in what turned out to be exactly the wrong product despite all their good intentions. That's why it's critical to read and follow those directions in the owners and service manuals.

 

(Sorry to highjack the thread)
I have to do my ATF flush soon too. I use a flush machine at my work...

But I have to do more research before I pick something. I usually opt for the OEM, but I may look into this for my rx330 at 45k.

Has anybody used AMSOIL synthetic (ATF) for their rx300, or their rx330??

 

I believe several people use Amsoil, I too am thinking of switching. Does anybody know how many quarts for a total flush job. I know the tranny holds about 9 qts total ( roughly) but in those machines do you need a couple extra qts?

 

Well I used that machine for my 2000 ES300 with oem fluid.

I just put 12 quarts in the machine, which we do for all cars, hook it up to the tranny lines, let it warm up, and put the flush process on.

After it was the done, the fluid did appear to be red-ish like new. It was brown before the flush so it definitely did its job.

As far as how many qts, Ill check all data when I get the chance and get back to you.