OEM Power Steering Fluid?

Anyone have an idea what Toyota uses for power steering fluid? Manual says Dexron 2 or 3 ATF but obviously whats in there from factory is not ATF since its not red.

 

I think Toyota uses an undyed ATF. I’ve been using Wallymart synthetic oil in my cars for years but I looked at their power steering fluid and noted a small print warning to only use as top off not full fill. The flaps sell several types of PS fluids one of which is marked Japanese car PS fluid.

 

Just answering my own question incase this comes up in a search to help someone else. Found the answer in the 2nd gen forum. Heres the part number 00718-ATF00.

 

Beautiful ! Now the mystery has been solved. Thanks for taking on this project.
I've merely been using ATF in my power steering reservoirs. According to my repair manual that's all that's required in my 1Gen Tundra and our older Lexus.

Everybody wants to build a watch when all you need to know is the time of day ?

 

Just did the fluid change today, glad I did the fluid was dark and smelled burnt at only 33,000 miles. Super easy by draining the reservoir and then removing the return line, plugging the connection that goes to the line. Fill the reservoir, put return line in am empty water bottle, turn wheel left and right, refill reservoir. Keep doing it until fluid comes out red. Took about 2qts but I'd get 3 just incase.

 

I wonder what would cause yours to be dark and burned. I just did similar interval and mine was cherry and no burned smell. Looked almost as good as new.

 

anything that puts wear on the steering system will cause it to deteriorate faster. Age, big wheels, big tires, lifts, suspension upgrades, maybe bad alignment, environment, how much turning, etc.

 

I'm all stock, so that might explain good condition fluid, but she's also 13 years old now. I guess that's not a lot for a vehicle these days.

 

Cherry as in red?

 

Yes.

 

Did you have your truck since new? The stock fluid is normally clear, it was in my truck.

 

Yes. I changed fluid before already. Been using ATF from auto parts stores. Owner manual calls for dexron 3 I think, but it expired towards end of 2011 and got superceded by newer versions.

 

How can you add Toyota ATF which is red color in the power system, if from the factory it has power steering fluid (not ATF) there of yellow color?! I have no idea actually why the demand Dexron or Toyota ATF if the rest of the world uses this power steering fluid for Toyota Tundra 08886-01005

 

The bottle above says both toyota and power steering fluid on it, the same as what you posted. It just happens to be red. Slight difference in color are common in manufacturing. The reasons could be and usually are as simple as not wanting to stain equipment and ease of inspection for non dyed fluid and also cost. They have 10,000 gallons of that stuff so not paying for dye adds up.

 

ATF Dex II/III is what Toyota tells you to use in the power steering system on the Tundra. As stated above the factory fluid is just not died red.

 

The matter is that this yellow color power steering fluid even smells differently compared to ATF. It smells more like any power steering fluid, not like Dexron AT fluid.


"The bottle above says both toyota and power steering fluid on it, the same as what you posted. It just happens to be red. Slight difference in color are common in manufacturing. The reasons could be and usually are as simple as not wanting to stain equipment and ease of inspection for non dyed fluid and also cost. They have 10,000 gallons of that stuff so not paying for dye adds up".

 

Trust me man, I went down this rabbit hole already, Toyota says to use Dex II/III ATF, the cap on the reservoir says to use what Toyota tells you to. If you want to use regular clear power steering fluid I wouldn't bother buying anything OEM specific since it will be wrong anyways.

The Tundra is only sold in the USA, Canada and Mexico which they all call for Dex II/III. Where do you see a Tundra calling for power steering fluid? Searching that part number it doesn't even exist on Toyotas part website and even comes up as suspension fluid on some other websites.

 

"Trust me man, I went down this rabbit hole already, Toyota says to use Dex II/III ATF, the cap on the reservoir says to use what Toyota tells you to. If you want to use regular clear power steering fluid I wouldn't bother buying anything OEM specific since it will be wrong anyways".

- Thank you, I really appreciate your opinions that my why I made this post. I had a very bad experience with adding Dexron III fluid in my Toyota Avalon 2008 and Toyota RAV 2009 4 and they both leaked after some time hitting my wallet with $900 and $1,150 respectively for replacing pumps and hoses. Now I have this Tundra 2021 that I do not want to screw it up again with this goddamn Dexron. And I would not even ask this question if it was Dexron there in the p/s tank, but it is clearly visible that it is not Dexron there for sure.


"The Tundra is only sold in the USA, Canada and Mexico which they all call for Dex II/III. Where do you see a Tundra calling for power steering fluid? Searching that part number it doesn't even exist on Toyotas part website and even comes up as suspension fluid on some other websites".

- In Asia and Europe they use this particular part number 08886-01005 and most likely from the way it looks - the color and the smell this is exactly what they put in there from the factory. I contacted several oil and lubricants importers from overseas and they provided me with this part number and they sold tons of it with no problems.

 

What did you use for ATF in them? Many ATF fluids spec Dex on them. This is why I went with the OEM Toyota Fluid that is actually labeled power steering fluid as well the part number is 00718-ATF00 and its not very expensive and you dont need much of it.

Also if you want to quote a post on the forum you can hit "quote" or "multi-quote" to quote multiple posts and then you can insert them into your post like I did above. Then the person you are quoting will get a notification.

 

You need to make sure you dont type your reply in the quote or as you can see it looks as if the person you are quoting is saying what you reply.

I completely understand what you are saying and its why I started this thread to begin with. I guess the best thing you could do, since I haven't seen anyone else do it, is take a sample of the clear fluid that comes from the factory and send it off to Blackstone for analysis and compare analysis of power steering fluid vs ATF. Many people use Valvoline Maxlife as a one size fits all fluid and I personally can't comment against it since I have no personal experience with it. That said I choose to use OEM Toyota WS in my transmission and OEM Toyota Dex in my steering system.

I'm sure there are people out there that have also put power steering fluid in their system as well and maybe it works just fine but for what ever reason, Toyota specifies Dex II/III and purposely labels 00718-ATF00 as power steering fluid as seen in my photo in this thread. My assumption is that Toyota doesnt actually require that specific fluid in any transmission but makes it solely to replace the fluid in their power steering systems that require dex II/III since I dont think there is any other product out there marketed with a label claiming to be ATF and power steering fluid. I have been using it without any issues for over 10,000 miles now.

I have yet to come across anyone anyone on the forum using actual power steering fluid though many choose to use Maxlife.

 

I think you are correct. Still many people use this OEM Toyota Dex and do not report any problems with it. Many even use some other ATFs and also do not complain. I believe I will have to flush the system completely to avoid blending. Hopefully 00718-ATF00 will work with no issues. Thank you and take care! it's been a pleasure.