Castrol TRANSMAX ATF DX III Multivehicle

Worth knowing

Most of the approvals in this fluid’s data sheet concern commercial-vehicle automatics, and ZF TE-ML 04D concerns marine gearboxes. Allison TES 389 is recorded as an approval, and on the Allison TES 389 page it is the only one of four fluids with official status. Allison, however, now recommends TES 668 for on-road automatics, keeping TES 389 among the approved fluids, and TES 668 is not in this fluid’s entry. For its Ecomat bus gearboxes, ZF ties class TE-ML 14A to a change every 30,000 km or once a year, and in ZF’s lists the fluid is registered under the number ZF003368. The ZF classes, MAN 339 types and MB 236 sheets are decoded in the article on ZF TE-ML, MAN and Allison approvals.

For cars the data sheet names only two groups of gearboxes: GM units built before 2005 for Dexron II or III, and Ford units from 1983 to 1996 for MERCON. The data sheet, for its part, gives GM Dexron III-H and Ford MERCON with the word “Meets”. For automatics that call for Dexron VI or MERCON LV, the range offers TRANSMAX ATF Dexron-VI Mercon LV Multivehicle, which holds the GM and Ford licences.