Amsoil Vs. Red Line (atf And Motor Oil)?

[homemechanic]

Guys,

I am a little confused. Some recommended Amsoil filter and motor oil which is good for 25,000 miles or 1 year. Some also recommended Red Line ATF. I don't know which one I should go for. Both Amsoil and Red Line sell motor oil and ATF. What do you recommend for engine and tranny?

If I were to replace my existing ATF with either Amsoil or Red Line, do I just drain and fill? and do that like three times? Or is there a better way to remove the existing ATF more efficiency without going to a shop?

Thanks guys!

[lenore]

I believe on the Amsoil site they have a procedure for doing a tranny flush yourself by removing one of the cooler hoses and running car. Doing it with two people would probably be the safest and easiest way....

[smooth1]

I'm not knocking Redline products. But I have used Amsoil for many years now. My dad runs an 8 sec. Mustang, and I have had alot of "slow cars" do the 1/4 mile much faster than they were ever intended to, and I race motorcycles, and we use Amsoil in everything, and so do alot of other teams. Just an experienced opinion. Redline makes a great glycol free coolant though. Which is what we use in all our radiators. And we never go 25,000 miles on a single oil change. At the most I would do half that or every 6 months. I actually change my oil at every 7,500 miles. I don't care what the manufactures says about it. I've had alot of oil reps in our tent who all say how long the oil can go before it needs to be changed. I only know that when I drop the oil at 7,500 miles and put new in, I feel really good about it. ^_^

How many miles do you have on your car and how many times and when have you had the tranny flushed before?

[mburnickas]

I'm not knocking Redline products. But I have used Amsoil for many years now. My dad runs an 8 sec. Mustang, and I have had alot of "slow cars" do the 1/4 mile much faster than they were ever intended to, and I race motorcycles, and we use Amsoil in everything, and so do alot of other teams. Just an experienced opinion. Redline makes a great glycol free coolant though. Which is what we use in all our radiators. And we never go 25,000 miles on a single oil change. At the most I would do half that or every 6 months. I actually change my oil at every 7,500 miles. I don't care what the manufactures says about it. I've had alot of oil reps in our tent who all say how long the oil can go before it needs to be changed. I only know that when I drop the oil at 7,500 miles and put new in, I feel really good about it. ^_^

How many miles do you have on your car and how many times and when have you had the tranny flushed before?

It comes down to the person. I like Amsoil products since they perform great. Redline is a good oil but their drains are short. If you drain Redline engine oil at 7,500 miles you are nuts. Just Walmart for that price and duration since Redline, in this app, is adding ZERO value. In fact test both oil at this drain and I bet they are close in results. The group 5 will not help till "down the road".

Why you ask, at even 12,300 miles my Amsoil engine oil (ASL) tested fine.

PS. Amsoil ATF can go about 40 to 60K miles and be 100% fine too. I do 35 to 40K drains and the product smells like new and color is, well, like the new gallons I have!

[smooth1]

I'm not knocking Redline products. But I have used Amsoil for many years now. My dad runs an 8 sec. Mustang, and I have had alot of "slow cars" do the 1/4 mile much faster than they were ever intended to, and I race motorcycles, and we use Amsoil in everything, and so do alot of other teams. Just an experienced opinion. Redline makes a great glycol free coolant though. Which is what we use in all our radiators. And we never go 25,000 miles on a single oil change. At the most I would do half that or every 6 months. I actually change my oil at every 7,500 miles. I don't care what the manufactures says about it. I've had alot of oil reps in our tent who all say how long the oil can go before it needs to be changed. I only know that when I drop the oil at 7,500 miles and put new in, I feel really good about it. ^_^

How many miles do you have on your car and how many times and when have you had the tranny flushed before?

It comes down to the person. I like Amsoil products since they perform great. Redline is a good oil but their drains are short. If you drain Redline engine oil at 7,500 miles you are nuts. Just Walmart for that price and duration since Redline, in this app, is adding ZERO value. In fact test both oil at this drain and I bet they are close in results. The group 5 will not help till "down the road".

Why you ask, at even 12,300 miles my Amsoil engine oil (ASL) tested fine.

PS. Amsoil ATF can go about 40 to 60K miles and be 100% fine too. I do 35 to 40K drains and the product smells like new and color is, well, like the new gallons I have!

I don't disagree with you about the change intervals. I just do it because I can. There is just something in my mind that relaxes, smiles and loves knowing the oil is allways fresh. And I love workin on my ride, so oil changes gives me something to do regularly. LOL!!!!

And your right about the brand preference. Royal Purple, Lucas, DSI, Aimalube, Maxtron, etc.etc. It's all up to you.

[homemechanic]

well, i never tried these products. may be i go w/amsoil this time and see? i never flushed my tranny, just drain and filter changed.

[smooth1]

well, i never tried these products. may be i go w/amsoil this time and see? i never flushed my tranny, just drain and filter changed.

How many miles on it?

[homemechanic]

well, i never tried these products. may be i go w/amsoil this time and see? i never flushed my tranny, just drain and filter changed.

How many miles on it?

120K miles.. . bought the car when it was 95K miles. did all the tune up, timing belts, belts. . .

had a tranny fluid changed at 95K miles, so about time for another round. i drive up and down the hills a lot and inclines on freeways.

[smooth1]

OK, well don't do a tranny flush. You can change the fluid in the pan,should be about 2 quarts. But I don't recomend flushing the tranny.

You see, if the tranny went more than about 30k miles without being flushed, there will be tarnish on the bearings and speed bands and valves and journals and gears and so fourth. If you start flushing the tranny now, your gonna clean all that tarnish away. Which is going to leave pits and spaces between those valves and bearings and speed bands. Which will lead to the tranny slipping and not shiftings and other problems. At this point, you would be much better off just changing the fluid slowly over time to keep the lubricating and heat dissapating qualities up in the tranny.

[mburnickas]

the pan alone on an Es should be about 3.0 qts. the diff is like 0.75 qts

[smooth1]

the pan alone on an Es should be about 3.0 qts. the diff is like 0.75 qts

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the ES. The IS only holds just over 2. Fords carry 8-12 qts!! I figured the ES would carry more than the IS.

So maybe just drain 1 quart at a time and replenish it. And just do that at scheduled maintanence intervals.

[homemechanic]

the pan alone on an Es should be about 3.0 qts. the diff is like 0.75 qts

Yeah, I wasn't sure about the ES. The IS only holds just over 2. Fords carry 8-12 qts!! I figured the ES would carry more than the IS.

So maybe just drain 1 quart at a time and replenish it. And just do that at scheduled maintanence intervals.

I have the newer ES300 tranny for that year. It's the U140 model. The Chilton manual said it holds 8.7 quarts total. Drain and filter is about 3.7 quarts.

Before I bought the car, the previous owner rebuilt the tranny. The tranny was dead and he thinks he can't sell it w/o rebuilding it.

Now the tranny has about 20K miles on it. Should I still flush it?

I was reading the Amsoil tech notes and talking to another mechanic. They said drain the fluid in the pan. Then loosen the tranny hose from the radiator and drain the remaining fluid out by idling the engine. It's not going to hurt the tranny as long as not put into gears. The remaining fluid will drain out in like 20 seconds. Afterward, refill about 3 quarts and drain again. Do that twice and that should pretty much remove the old tranny fluid. Looking at about 15 quarts total to flush and refill.

[smooth1]

Well, then it depends on the quality of the rebuild. This is just my suggestion.

Forget doing full flushes. If the car was new and you did a flush every 30k miles, then great. But I think your taking an unnecassary risk. You should consider just replacing about half the tranny fluid at most at a time, with stock tranny fluid. Don't convert to the synthetic. Your not going to get any more benifits from doing a flush on a rebuilt tranny. If your looking for smoother shifts and all that, it's not going to happen. And if it does, it may be at the expence of the long term life of the tranny. I know that changing tranny fluid sounds like it should be a good idea, but when your guessing about the condition of the tranny, it might be wise to guess it safe than be sorry.

And if you live in an area with alot of hills and your trying to extend the life of the tranny, get a tranny cooler. They aren't that expensive and it will prolong the life of the fluid and the tranny for you.

[homemechanic]

I debated a little about tranny cooler and look under the hood. There doesn't seen to be room for a tranny cooler. It's not recommended to install it behind the fans. The other option is in front of the AC condenser/behind the front bumper. There is a high pressure AC line right between the condenser and bumper. It's kind of hard to place the cooler there with so little room.

Any suggestions? Has anyone tried installing one on a 99 ES300 VVTI?

I might just go with the Amsoil ATF for now and hope the tranny will run a little cooler.

Thanks!

[fittvr]

I posted this question already with no answers! I have a "97" ES300 with 209,342 miles. I recently changed the tranny fluids and the diff. and it calls for just shy of 4 qts. for both. After putting the fluids back and running it to warm it up, it shows a qt. low. I'm wondering if I have the correct dip stick? I don't want to overfill it and possibly blow some seals ect. Could anyone who knows that they have the factory dip stick Please measure the metal portion of the tranny stick and tell me the lenght? In other words from the end of the dipstick to the plastic handle. There is no part # or any info on the stick and the local dealer did not have one in stock to make a comparrison. I went with what the dealer told me and put 4 qts in and left it at that until I know for sure. For those doing there own change of fluids, there is two drain points on my 97. One for the transmission and one for the differential. One fill tube for both the tranny and diff.