Valvoline MaxLife Trans Fluid For PS Fluid?

I know the manual says to use WS trans. fluid for the PS fluid. I want to use Valvoline MaxLife synthetic trans. fluid as it’s a really good trans. fluid.
It has friction modifiers that the WS fluid does not have. Will this harm my new rack and pinion I’m installing?
I would think it would be better than the standard Dexron III WS fluid but I wanted to make sure. Thanks.

 

The Repair Manual is not picky about the type of power steering system fluid used . Dexron II, Dexron III or equivalent is recommended. WS fluid is not mentioned, which implies that any good quality Dexron II or III fluid is fine for the PS system.

MaxLife will be certainly be a cheaper alternative than WS. MaxLife is synthetic providing some advantage regarding higher operating temperature. Many Toyota owners have reported good results when substituting MaxLife for WS in their transmissions. MaxLife also offers advantages as ATF, which is the more critical design application. I wouldn't read too much into the claim of "friction modifiers" added...sounds like marketing to me.

 

I use Maxlife for the trans. Anything extra goes into PS fluid swap.

 

I use it for both the transmission and pet steering fluid.

 

I don’t see “or equivalent” for power steering fluid, would use what is recommended by Toyota.

 

I'd assume that's because Dex3 is a standard. If it said Toyota Dex3 the "or equivalent" would likely have been added since it's a specific product.

 

As I said, my information from the Toyota Repair Manual, not the Owner Manual. If the OP uses exactly what the Owner Manual says, he'll be safe: