A couple of WS Alternatives.

Btw, Welcome back Pat.

 

It really confused me that why you guys have so much discussions but not one guy send an e-mail to experts(real expert) for our questions. So I did send an e-mail to Valvoline; they responded in 24 hours and the answer: " The maxlife DEX/MERC ATF is fully met the Toyota WS spec. and WON'T VOID THE WARRANTY OF my 2010 Prius." BTW, their list of compatible fluid had been changed, I remember that old list stated it's compatible with Toyota WS(except Hybrid), the exception had been removed from new list. So it's another prove that Valvoline did their homework.

 

If you use their fluid, who pays for any damage or failure of your transaxle should it occur? Yeah, that's what I thought.

So, unless they're willing to back up their claims with some kind of guarantee, I think I'll stick with oem fluid.

 

I did. I talked to Dave at Redline which is what I have used for 90,000 miles in my G2. I have used Redline for more than 20 years in all my cars trans. They offer an excellent product there D6.
I pulled a UOA on the D6 after 30K and it was perfect. Its up top in the trans fluid sticky.

Plenty of people over at Bitog have used Maxlife in a Prius with good results. Maxlife is very good. Plenty of people here have used other fluids in there trans also. All the trans needs is a high quality low viscosity GL4 fluid.

But there's still a small bunch of people here that think WS is a miracle fluid instead of what it is a low viscosity fluid with a D6 pack.

From what I have seen the fluid in a G3 is pretty bad on the initial dump. I would do a dump at 30K and another at 30K. That second dump at 30K may look really good so you could extend it to 50K interval. The intent is to get that initial wear / manufacturing product out of there.
Just doing that will really help. Your car will love you.

I would send out that oil to be analyzed to Lubeguard. Make sure you get a TAN. Its $25 and would be a valuable help on our trans fluid drafts.

 

If someone tells you to do "A", the kneejerk reaction is to "B". This is one time to not go with your knees, lol.

 

Talk about knee jerk.

 

Just went to the Valvoline website. It still says not recommended for CVT which is the transmission for the Prius. Just saying. Wondering if you did put the Valvoline in your tranny. I just did a transmission fluid change at 100000 miles. Will do another change at 40-50k. Wouldn't mind saving a few bucks if it works in the Prius.

 

For one, the transmission is not a CVT in the true sense of the word, since it has no belts and is actually simpler. CVTs require special ATF to make the belts grip properly.

Second, Valvoline has been asked about this before because someone else had the exact same question/point of confusion: 3rd gen 2011 Toyota Prius ATF - Bob Is The Oil Guy
Their answer? No different from any other ordinary WS transmission.

 

Thank you. I appreciate the follow up. Yes did more reading and it seems that Valvoline is just fine.
I will probably use Valvoline the next transmission fluid change and post here. I just did mine with Toyota atf ws. My old 2012 Prius got totaled in april and I bought a 2013 persona with 98000 miles. My 2012 had 208k miles when totaled with only one transmission fluid change by dealership at 100k miles. I wanted to do it at 200k but a different dealership said it wasn't recommended and wanted to charge close to $500 to do it. Pfff. I decided to buy the parts needed and do it myself. Didnt get around to doing it and I got rear ended. Decided that the 2013 I bought needed a good fluid changing since I didn't own it new like I did the 2012. Just changed the transmission fluid today and it was dirty and smelly. Definitely smelled burnt. Mileage is good before change. I hope it improves or I notice a significant improvement. Regardless, it needed changing. And my 2012 wasn't showing any signs of tranny problem and mileage was still good. I'll probably change the tranny fluid at 30-40k and see how it looks.

 

Wouldn’t you post you results for your 2013 in the Gen 3 area? This it the gen 2 area 2004-2009.

 

Rebooting this thread:

Looking to avoid holy wars as to the personal perspectives and justifications on OEM transmission fluid, so no need for all the personal explanations of logic behind one perspective or the other.

Who here has actually used a third party such as Wolf's Head WS in place of the Toyota AFT WS in their Gen 3 Prius?

what have been your results and experience? Would you do it again?

 

12 years and 140000 miles on Redline D6 trans fluid. Trans still runs great.

6 years and last 60000 miles on Redline engine oil. 5-30 which is touted as a 40 weight oil at running temp.
It fixed my minor engine oil loss and really quieted down the solid lifter top end noise.

 

Instead of a holy war about transmission fluid could we have a holy war on people that ask gen3 questions in the gen2 threads?