Transmission Issue Help!

Hi and welcome to the shortest I can make this long story. I italicized the less important parts.

(First, this forum has been tons of help over the years; but I've always found my answers just by searching, and never had to post. Here's hoping posting draws just as many of you good people out of the woodwork!)

Okay, in 2017, I replaced my rear struts and wheel bearings. The car had about 170k miles, so you can imagine how rusty and awful doing those wheel bearings was! I took a 12k mi road trip over 6 weeks and all was well.

In 2018, I replaced the CV axles, and some transmission fluid came leaking out when I removed them. I put the new ones in, and did a bit of googling, and decided to drive it to see how it did. It only lost maybe a cup or two of fluid.

I was heading on another road trip, drove about 400 miles, and was noticing (perhaps in my imagination) some extra shuddering and small changes in how the car was driving. I called about six different Toyota dealerships, and all swore that these were lifetime fluid, and they never drained and replaced the fluid. They didn't seem to understand that I lost fluid when I replaced the CV axles...

I put the car on jack stands (just in the front; I had 2) in the most level spot I could find, and added some fluid until it spilled over the fill hole. I added what said it was an acceptable alternative for Toyota WS, since nobody had Toyota WS. I added a full quart, but a fair bit spilled out the fill hole when I put the car back down to be level.

The car behaved most of the rest of the 5-6k mile trip, but coming home, I started noticing a minor clicking noise.

The click was/is a single metallic click that you can hear and sort of feel when accelerating from a stop or near-stop. It's most pronounced when the engine kicks in just as I accelerate, but is noticeable regardless.

Over the following year, the click came and went. Sometimes it would go a week without clicking, but usually it was just a day or two. When it's clicking, it clicks on pretty much every acceleration from a stop/near-stop.

Fast-foward to now. I'm on another road trip, driving up and down mountains in Colorado. The car has started making additional very slight clicking noises at times during acceleration, in addition to the old "big click." So as I accelerate from 0-10mph, I hear CLICK click click click, but not always in that order.


My questions for those that know more than I:

• Is my transmission getting ready to die? The car now has 213k, and doesn't really owe me much, given the $600 I've put into it other than oil/gas. But I'm certainly not going to sink $4k+ into a car that old, and I can't imagine this is a repair I can do myself like the others. So really I just want a little advance notice if it's going to die on me!
• I can add more fluid, if that will help. It's hard (maybe impossible) to find level ground, so I'll be totally guessing at the actual levels of fluid.
• I found this (photo attached) "LubeGard CVT Recharge and Protect Supplement for all CVT Transmissions" at the auto parts store. It says it protects belts and pulleys.... but this has planetary gears, not belts and pulleys. It also says at the bottom it provides superior metal-to-metal protection. Would it help any to put this in?

What are your thoughts? Should I top off the fluid and add the LubeGard Recharge and Protect? Just wait and hope for the best?

Thank you!