Valvoline Max Life DEX/MERC ATF in 5EAT?

Have any of you used Valvoline Max Life ATF DEX/MERC ATF in your 5EAT?

The product info sheet claims it is suitable for use in Subaru vehicles that use ATF-HP. A gallon of the stuff for $17 at Walmart is a pretty good deal compared to the $9+ per quart of ATF-HP at my local dealer.

 

Any problems using the stuff?

 

I want to do several drain and fills next weekend.

Here's the information sheet.

maxlife_atf.pdf

I guess I'll be the guinea pig.

My LGT is a 5 speed manual, but my wife's Acura TL is an automatic. More and more these days automatic transmissions are using a specific proprietary fluid. The Acura is a 2000 and from what I've read, the transmission is prone to failure. I've done a drain/refill 4 times a year since new and no problems. I can usually get a case of Acura/Honda fluid for around $80, so with a replacement tranny costing upwards of $4000, I think it's cheap insurance. My recommendatio is stick with the more expensive Subaru fluid and have peace of mind. Shop the internet to see if you can get a price break.

You flush the transmission on an Acura 4 times a year? That's insane, how many miles get put on the car? 50k + a year?

 

As per op I have no insight. 5mt.

You can use Valvoline ATF Import multi vehicle full synthetic

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/VAL0/788699/N2281.oap?ck=Search_N2281_5018006_2924&pt=N2281&ppt=C0207

You flush the transmission on an Acura 4 times a year? That's insane, how many miles get put on the car? 50k + a year?

 

As per op I have no insight. 5mt.

 

No flush, just drain and refill. Probably 10k per year but we want to keep this car a long time.

I knew a guy with a 2000 Acura. He was on his 3rd transmission within a few years. They kept extending his warranty. The 3rd transmission turned out to be good. He didn't have a problem after that. That was definitely a design or process problem.

 

I'm going to get the Valvoline Max Life. Autozone I think mistakenly listed the gallon bottle at $13.50 each. I ordered 3 of the bottles online and am picking up at the store today... I wouldn't be surprised if they are listed for double that price at the store. Hopefully they don't realize the error and try to charge me extra. They are already paid for.

I knew a guy with a 2000 Acura. He was on his 3rd transmission within a few years. They kept extending his warranty. The 3rd transmission turned out to be good. He didn't have a problem after that. That was definitely a design or process problem.

 

I'm going to get the Valvoline Max Life. Autozone I think mistakenly listed the gallon bottle at $13.50 each. I ordered 3 of the bottles online and am picking up at the store today... I wouldn't be surprised if they are listed for double that price at the store. Hopefully they don't realize the error and try to charge me extra. They are already paid for.

 

For a few dollars I stick with the factory stuff. I think though your logic is flawed.

 

As for your 2000 TL, we had the same car. The frequency of your fluid change is over the top. The design flaw that causes failures is low oil flow that results in over heating of the 3rd gear and blowing the TQ converter.

 

What you're better to do with the Acura is change it twice as often as the schedule suggests. If the tranny is going to go it won't be directly linked to oil quality as when these started popping it was shortly after production.

 

We had a 2000 TL with the recalled oil jet add. Than at 70K wrongly replaced by the dealer (no charge to us). New tranny went another 70k with fluid change every 30K. Last I heard from the owner is it was running strong. If you have the original tranny on your Acura check to see if you have the added oil jet, if not see what it costs to get added. This will be better than changing the fluid. If memory serves me it sprays more oil on the 3rd gear to keep it cooler.

For a few dollars I stick with the factory stuff. I think though your logic is flawed.

 

My logic is flawed? My car has 108k miles on it. Since 69k ive been running castrol import car trans fluid since it was the easiest thing to get to replace the dark red/ brown fluid that was in the car at the time. I also put in a cooler at the same time. The compatibility of the castrol fluid to the subaru atf-hp wasnt too clear at the time. But the transmission has worked fine. The fluid still looks pretty good but i think its time to replace it. I was just asking if people had experience using the valvoline max life fluid since valvoline states it is compatible with subarus using atf-hp. Valvoline does make an import version of the fluid that is supposed to be compatible with the 5 eat but i was thinking of using the max life stuff instead since its designed for transmissions with more miles. But i got burned. I got a message from autozone that my order was ready to pick up. I went to pick up and they didnt know about my order... And they dont have stock of the gallon bottles.. And they cant order them either.. So i ask why not just give me 12 of the quart bottles... Oh i cant do that, you paid for the 3 gallons. Fine i say, give me a refund. The guy who knows how to do that with online orders is out today i was told... Come back tomorrow they say..

It seems cost was the factor in picking the ATF. I find that logic to be flawed when there is no evidence to suggest Subi spec'd fluid is subpar. Based on your other comment re: TL you appear to be concerned about tranny life. This car has no history of the tranny failing early, so I'm at a loss why you'd risk changing fluids. Not saying the Max Life stuff won't work, just not sure how you ended up switching brands for minor savings.

 

I flush every 30K at a local tuner shop for $160 (including fluid). Stage 1. This car is driven harder than most. For the tranny I only run subi fluid.

 

I think the only real way to determine the quality of the fluid is to have it tested. Then run the subi and test. Compare results and see which one has the tranny wearing down faster.

?? blusuby is the one with the TL. He mentioned that he changes the fluid several times a year because he is aware of others with that car that have had transmission failures. I commented that i know someone that has that same car who is on his third transmission. The first two transmissions failed withina couple years of ownership. I believe that was a design or process flaw when they built the transmission...i.e. not something that frequent fluid changes will fix.

 

As far as the cost issue... Yes i believe that $9+ for a quart of subaru fluid is excessive. If i can use something just as good for 1/2 to 2/3 the price, I'll do it. I do all the repairs and maintenance on my cars. I dont use dealer parts or oil/fluids unless thats the only place i can get it. I havent run into any problems thus far with that philosophy.

Valvoline Import Multi-Vehicle Automatic Transmission Fluid

 

http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/multi_vehicle_atf.pdf

 

 

 

?? blusuby is the one with the TL. He mentioned that he changes the fluid several times a year because he is aware of others with that car that have had transmission failures. I commented that i know someone that has that same car who is on his third transmission. The first two transmissions failed withina couple years of ownership. I believe that was a design or process flaw when they built the transmission...i.e. not something that frequent fluid changes will fix.

 

As far as the cost issue... Yes i believe that $9+ for a quart of subaru fluid is excessive. If i can use something just as good for 1/2 to 2/3 the price, I'll do it. I do all the repairs and maintenance on my cars. I dont use dealer parts or oil/fluids unless thats the only place i can get it. I havent run into any problems thus far with that philosophy.

 

We got the oil jet recall done years ago. For anyone who has an early TL and the oil jet has not been installed, I'm sure Acura will do the update for free. Still, Honda's philosophy of starting with a clean sheet of paper when designing an auto trans resulted in some mistakes. I'm a believer in clean ATF fluid to make sure it circulates well and does its job. Over 90k so far and no issues.

I noticed something interesting while looking at data sheets. The valvoline max life fluid had a lower vicosity than either the regular Valvoline import fluid, Amsoil ATF fluid or Mobil 1 ATF fluid. Does anyone here have any insight as to why that would be? Its not a huge difference but the other 3 have much more similar viscosities with Amsoil ATF having the highest by a tiny bit.

 

Mobil 1 ATF is the only one of the 4 fluids that doesnt state it is recommended for applications requiring subaru ATF-HP.

whats cheapest?

As far as the cost issue... Yes i believe that $9+ for a quart of subaru fluid is excessive.

 

Really? Over $9.00? I sell it over the counter and in the shop all day every day for $7.43 per quart (which is SOA MSRP). Stop getting ripped off.

We'll I flushed the fluid(via cooler line) using 10 quarts of the Valvoline Max Life stuff this past weekend and have driven it about 200 miles. No noticeable difference in shifting. The car runs fine. It was about 40k miles since my last flush. The oil fluid looked clear on the dip stick but it was darker than the new stuff I just filled it with. Won't do this again til I hit almost 150k miles.

Still using the max life?

Yes. The transmission is shifting fine.

Awesome. I am picking some up today for my 03 Sportshift GT wagon.

Cool, I'll be getting some soon.