Quote:
Originally Posted by blackmax
You're prob fine so long as you're not towing, and it remains pink. Probably good for 1 million miles. BUT.......I would still drain and add 3 qts or so every 50,000 miles. Why not? It's good insurance.
Since there's no combustion in the transmission, short of heat from towing, I'd say oxidation and acidification is your only concern.
I went 100,000 before even dumping what in the pan and replacing with fresh (did it 2-3 times). I have 155k now. Never even a hint of an issue. NEVER towed anything though...and driven like a baby.
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The fluid turns blackish by about 60k, you can see this on Corollas that have dipsticks but use WS Fluid.
The problem here is that you're going to have subtle problems over time i.e. slipping, shuddering, ect as the fluid breaks down and can't do its job. At which point the fluid because a potential hazard and the transmission may or may not spontaneously fail (i.e. clutches slip too much, solenoid burns out because the fluid is now partially conductive from suspended particles, ect ect.)
I wish we could test the fluid properly to see how it wears and get a real scientific study on how true Toyota's BS line about "Lifetime Fluid" is, but I doubt we've made significant leaps in chemical engineering to really justify the lofty label of "Lifetime Fluid."
Here's my fluid at 100k on a truck whose days were spent on the freeway and city before I got her at about 86k the other 14k was spent also on the streets with one or two mild excursions off-road. The smaller inset picture is brand new WS ATF.
But this is an interesting thread none the less.