My wife's xB just hit 15,000 miles, and I'm looking at putting synthetic transmission fluid in. I was told we should wait until this point to break it in. But when I asked about it at our dealer, they said you can't use synthetic trans fluid in the xB. Is this correct?

 

Just make sure it's synthetic fluid that's made for manual transmissions.

Wait, we have gear oil, right? Hmm...I don't think it's going to harm anything, but I'll let some others chime in. I'm planning on runny synthetic gear oil when I hit 15K.

 

Oops, sorry I should have specified... this is an AUTOMATIC.

The service manager made it sound like we would fry the transmission by switching it...

 

The days of universal transmission fluid are gone. Even if chemically compatible the differences in viscosity, detergency, foam rate, adhesion etc are too significant for modern tuned transmissions. I’ve not heard anything specific in the land of Toyota but from personal experience running anything except the correct MOPAR screws up the Caravan transmission. If you have concerns just double the frequency of transmission fluid change. If you want to use one of the transmission flush services bring your own transmission fluid and don’t trust the stuff in the 55 gallon drum.

 

I switched to the Amsoil synthetic fluid at 3000 miles. I have been running Amsoil in all my cars for the last 20 years and it is great stuff.
The Amsoil is specifically recommended for the Toyota transmissions as well. The tranny has a drain plug which makes changing easy but you do need to get a new gasket for the drain plug at the dealer. Also, the drain plug uses a 10mm allen socket. You will only be able to drain about 3 quarts because some of the fluid remains in the throttle body and the torque converter. However, you could do a change now, wait a few thousand miles, and do it again. That would give you as good a changeover as possible without a completee teardown. The fluid is about 7.00 per qt, so total cost would still be half what the dealer or some tranny shop will charge using regular fluid.
BTW, I asked my dealer about using the synthetic and they wholeheartedly recommend it.

Walt

 

You can use synthetic tranny fluid. As long as it is the same type as what the manufacturer recommends.

 

That's what I've always gone by.

 

You should try B&M, they make a Trick Shift ATF. I think that would work fine.

 

I agree with Walt. Been using the synthetics since new for many years.
BUT, Red Line is way better than Amsoil in my experiences.
Check it out here:
http://www.redlineoil.com/products_g...59&subcatID=19