Good luck trying to find any ATF+3 on a shelf. It was phased out of
productions when ATF+4 came online.
brian cropp
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of
jon@dakota-truck.net
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 6:53 PM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: Re: DML: 134k - To Synthetic or not to synthetic?
Matt Beazer <teseract@moparhowto.com> wrote:
[...]
> The tranny I've not decided on yet... I could use the
> Mopar ATF+4 I have laying around or fork out the money for some
> synthetic ATF.
FYI - ATF+4 *is* a synthetic, at least, as far as "synthetics" in
the USA go anyway. Its made of Group III base oil stock, which is the
highest refined dino based stock. The next step up, Group IV is truly
synthetic. However, here in the USA, oil producers are allowed to
call an oil "synthetic" even though it technically uses a dino oil
base stock. Most "synthetic" oils on the market use a Group III base
oil, and ATF+4 also uses a Group III base.
In most other countries, you must use a synthetic base in order to
call your oil synthetic, but here in the USA, some idiot court
somewhere (see: Mobil vs Castrol lawsuit) decided that the word
"synthetic" was a marketing term as opposed to a descriptive one and
so if your oil basically meets the same properties you could get with
a truly synthetic base stock, you are allowed to call it synthetic,
even though it may not be, in the strictest sense of the term. (This
is why courts should not be allowed to implement policy decisions.) ;-)
Anyhoo, I just wanted to bring that up, in case you didn't know it
already. If you pass up that case of ATF+4 on your shelf in favor of
a "synthetic" ATF, the stuff you buy may not be any better or may not
be any more "sythetic" than the ATF+4 you've already got.
I'd probably stick with the ATF+4 myself, as opposed to some other
ATF which may or may not meet the standards. An ATF needs to be
tested and approved by Chrysler in order to be called ATF+4, and ATF+4
was specifically designed by Chrysler (with outside help) to be
compatible with their transmissions and with ATF+3. (Actually, if it
were me, I'd probably save some money by going with the ATF+3, but
since you've got the +4 already...) :-)
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
`-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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