Xspsi after rebuilding MANY transmissions personally and with my step fathers shop I can promise you that the multi-qualified/certified fluid on the shelf that is aimed towards our certifications will work just fine.

Do you honestly think TOYOTA makes their own in house fluid specially made for an electronic controlled transmission? The last car I had was a FWD new galant with 50k miles on it with a self-learning intelligent transmission and I used mobil 1 in it. The guy I sold it to is at 143k with no issues what so ever and I hot lapped the hell out of the car.

Not trying to start a pissing match just don't want to see people waste money on generic Toyota fluid as the service manager him self said it doesn't matter. Mobil 1 will be better in the long haul under severe duty. If I gave a **** what service people thought I would be bone stock right now , but I have improved my car part by part, fluid by fluid.

I promise you, you guys will be the first to know if it fails. Money is not an option to rebuild. I could care less about rebuilding it over a bad fluid choice at the expense of helping people know not to run the wrong fluid.

Again not mad just the way I am, I don't listen to snake oil bull**** from people (like omg sea foam will foul your spark plugs out and bend a rod. Lmfao WTF ever. There are Internet warriors and then the leaders. I'm sure Titan Motorsports isn't running genuine generic Toyota fluid in their drag cars or anyone for that matter.)

 

Ok well I also have worked the last 10 years in a trans repair shop and have seen this happen 1st hand and I am also a mitsubishi master tech so it's not like I am new at this either which btw Mitsu can use dex/merc with no ill effect but I just felt compelled to warn you from my 1st hand exp and what you choose to do with it is totally up to you which I see your mind is made up so best of luck to you and I never ment to try to challenge your knowledge just a friendly heads up from somebody who used have the same mind set as you.

I will say that fluid is fluid but the friction additives are what makes it a non universal fluid.

Service managers are often misinformed.

 

Not to throw a wrench in your theory or anything But. My old supra automatic transmission was the exact same transmission in my Jeep. So, if it's in my toyota I should only use toyota fluid but if it's in my jeep I should only use mopar fluid? ; p

Before I swapped out the auto in the supra it ran valvoline fluid for some 40k miles with no problems. Who knows what the PO ran in it but I guarantee it was not toyota fluid. My jeep transmission (again the exact same as the toyota) has also seen valvoline fluid for 50k miles with no problems with the same PO expectations.

Just a side note, I was at the toyota dealer today and on the counter they had a little counter mat thing. It showed various fluids and right next to all the toyota fluid was mobil 1, go figure. I am not a real fan of mobil 1 products either, I only use it in my supra power steering and the sc300 engine because it was cheap and I had leaks. Next oil change I am switching to castrol.

 

That is an early version of these transmissions so the same does not apply and I agree with you since in my old mk3 supra I used to run Mobil 1 with no ill effects either.

 

what your talking about is the sc400 transmission.
shuddering and premature wear due to overheating is caused by people putting crap in their transmission and not the toyota IV trans fluid.
but the sc300 auto transmissions dont require the toyota fluid specifically, in that case any ATF designated for it will be fine..

but your half right

as for the rest of you tsk tsk on not knowing that, instead just bashing the comment made.. hes 50% correct since we know most of you guys are using autos and its like 50/50 for uzz30 and jzz31 owners

 

I'm also not trying to start a pissing contest. However, do you really think all the cheap SC owners out there are all running toyota fluid and that all the rest running cheap fluid all have failing transmissions? Especially if you are making the claim that a drain/refill of non-toyota fluid will kill it within a few miles. That's what 1/3-1/4 of the fluid being replaced and it will kill it within a few miles? Will you be shocked or willing to change your opinion if TechGreek's transmission is still going strong in 500 miles?

I would bet that most of the failed transmissions being blamed on fluid changes were already dead. People wait to change the transmission fluid until they notice a problem which by then is usually too late. They change the fluid and the transmission is already dead but they blame the fluid because it was the last thing done to it. I see tons of threads on many different car forums warning people to just Not change the fluid at all. Saying that if the transmission has a lot of miles merely changing the fluid is a guaranteed way to kill the transmission. All that is based on people neglecting the transmission until it's too late, then blaming a fluid change as the killer.

 

well dont take anyonelses word for it, look up what happens when you have a 1uzfe and put non toyota t-iv atf fluid in its tranny.

its not just the all mighty usa that has a word on the issue. theres thousands of those engines/trannys in europe, australia, japan and rest of the world. hell if you want call your local lexus dealer and ask.

the only problem was the slight mis-interpretation that that means you have to have toyota fluid in ALL toyotas. just the specific transmissions require it. and theres quite a few different ones majority are all equipped to v8s

 

If its certified for Toyota it has the appropriate additives, flash point, etc required for Toyota.

Iwannadie nailed it. Again not a pissing thread good way to fix information

I'll be beating the **** out of my car for 500 miles to test it.

 

Are all these failed transmission using a suitable substitute fluid or just some random transmission fluid? Were they all properly maintained up until the fluid change, was it a full fluid flush, drain refill, TQ drained? There's just no real data to back up claims like these so I see them as just opinions that people take for fact. Again, I would bet that the transmissions were all showing problems and when the fluid change didn't solve the problem and the transmission failed, the person blamed the fluid.

Call my local dealer who happens to want to sell me the fluid....

 

Probably a lot of people also just dumping random fluid in because it happens to say "transmission" on the bottle. It has to meet or exceed the specs for the transmission, not be a certain brand name on the bottle.

 

regardless of failed transmissions - grab a sc4 put crap in it. see how it shudders.. drain it put the proper stuff in. volia its sudder free.
coincidence ? i think not.
point is the guy was right and arguing that hes not is a moot point.
thats like saying you can put 5-50 in turbo engines that have been running for years miles and need the thicker oil.. (ppl do)
doenst mean its supposed to be. But years down the road they complain that their stock ceramic twins blow at 120k kms..
well mines been going for a lot longer than that and never had a problem. maybe its cuz i kept with 5-30? or maybe im just lucky.

we never will know right? too many variables.. i get your point.. but still you dont put orange coolant in your green coolant engine why? corosives will eat away at the metals and plastics that werent designed for it.
but it works doenst it for years even before you may notice anything.. must be from somethingelse right?
cuz theres never been a study to prove the above statement about its corrosive properties when mixing orange dexcool and standard green antifreeze, right?

if all atf was the same there would only have been one type.
theres a reason your manual says use toyota t-II fluid only not dex II or III etc.. (if you drive a sc400)
its not because toyota didnt spend millions on R&D of its engines and tranmissions

 

I would never put Green coolant in a motor that requires Red coolant you are right. However, I would certainly use Red coolant with a different brand on the bottle as long as it meets to same same specs. You can buy suitable replacement for toyota red coolant online no problem.

All transmission fluid is not the same and I've mentioned that several times, I'm glad we all agree. Fluids all have certifications and specifications, if two different brands of fluids meet the same specifications then they are interchangeable regardless of brand name on the bottle.

Besides all that, Dexron is just a name. The Dex3 fluid is no longer labeled as Dex3 because they can't call it that. The new Dex/Merc fluid exceeds the specifications of Dex3 and is a suitable replacement. By your logic however, all the vehicles that claim Dex3 is required can no longer use any fluid as it is not sold by anyone.

There's no magic pixy dust in these fluids, all the super fancy omgbbq special friction modifiers are available in the MSDS so any company can see and make their own. Not to mention toyota doesn't make the fluid, they buy it from another company who I'm sure sells the same fluid to other companies all under different brand names.

It's clear no one will change opinions though of course.

 

The crazy thing is that most people opt for the more convenient/cheaper options when in the end they will end up paying much more and I hate to see this happen, If I had a dollar for every newer Toyota that came in our shop for a trans rebuild because the quick lube talked them in to a trans flush of which they use dex merc then I could retire by now

I was talking about the sc400 trans so if the op has a sc300 or an older model a340 then I would not worry as much however I would still run the oem fluid which is only 5.69 per qt if you buy a case at a time at the dealer.

All I pour in my sc400 is type t-iv.

 

A quick google search shows, t-II fluid has been discontinued, you can't buy it anymore. What do people use instead? A fluid that meets or exceeds all the specifications that t-II used to....

 

Type T-IV which is the replacement for type II