The main three brands of synthetic fluid are Amsoil, Redline and Mobil 1. Expect to pay $7-10 a quart depending on the brand and dealer. Mobil 1 atf is the cheapest and easiest to find, look at Autozone or Advanced. I have done 4 drain and fills with Mobil 1 over the course of the last year. No difference in shift quality. Any fluid that is Mercon V (Castrol, Valvoline, or Supertech for that matter) will work fine. Don't stress over it.
Ford does make a Synthetic MERCON Multi-Purpose Automatic Transmission Fluid the idea was to help tranny's that require MERCON run a little cooler but still meet regular MERCON specs. MERCON V has different specs.
The main three brands of synthetic fluid are Amsoil, Redline and Mobil 1. Expect to pay $7-10 a quart depending on the brand and dealer. Mobil 1 atf is the cheapest and easiest to find, look at Autozone or Advanced. I have done 4 drain and fills with Mobil 1 over the course of the last year. No difference in shift quality. Any fluid that is Mercon V (Castrol, Valvoline, or Supertech for that matter) will work fine. Don't stress over it.
I'd add Royal Purple to that list...it is readily available. Most of those listed cost about $7.79/quart around here. I never priced the Mobil though. I put Amsoil ATF in mine. My brother used Royal Purple. Seems to work ok. One of the rice burners is using Redline and it is working fine too.
one benifit of full synthetic vs all the others is that synthetic will maintain a lower operating temp. not a drastic one but it will be lower do to the way it's formulated. and the other is that it can reach higher temps for longer periods w/out losing viscosity or other properties, but the higher temps can still damage some parts of the tranny. but if your not going to tow anything really heavy than it's not really worth it and you should just get whatever the owners manual calls for. but if you still want to do it I would buy Amsoil, it costs a lot and is hard to find but is a superior product with a good rep, or Mobil both of them would be a good choice.
MerconV is semi synthetic anyway. I use only merconV in 4r70w transmissions. I build alot of these transmissions and tell my customers use merconv or you have no warranty. Royal purple,redline,amsoil, might as well be snake oil. Go with what works. OE equipment fluid and regular service. Why everyone wants some high dollar oil is beyond me I think the merconV is high enough.
Alan
but if you still want to do it I would buy Amsoil, it costs a lot and is hard to find....
Hard to find? Just order it from their website and they send it straight to you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dirtydog
Royal purple,redline,amsoil, might as well be snake oil. Go with what works.
Snake oil does work. Do a dyno, it proved without a doubt that snakeoil works better than OEM at lowering operating temps and decreasing drive train drag. We did the tests because we didn't believe it would. We were wrong.
Is it worth the extra costs? That is up to the owner.
Hard to find? Just order it from their website and they send it straight to you.
Snake oil does work. Do a dyno, it proved without a doubt that snakeoil works better than OEM at lowering operating temps and decreasing drive train drag. We did the tests because we didn't believe it would. We were wrong.
Is it worth the extra costs? That is up to the owner.
Okay put 20,000 on it and then look at the frictions. The merconV was designed to correct some friction issues on these transmissions. The dynax frictions do not cooperate well with other than merconV fluid they will glaze. As far as driveline drag I don't buy that at all and if cooler temps is what you are after install a cooler. No fluid can reduce driveline drag on a lockup system that is working properly. If you are talking about a non lockup transmission like a c6 yeah sure I believe that. We are dealing with lockup
4r70w's that have delicate electronics,grooved lockup clutches and dynax intermediate/direct frictions. It's a fine balance making one cooperate the way I work one anyway. I still stick to my story OE fluid and regular maintenance for long life and proper operation.
Alan
Okay put 20,000 on it and then look at the frictions. The merconV was designed to correct some friction issues on these transmissions. Alan
the synthetics listed are all mercon V equivalents. So there should be no issues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dirtyd0g
No fluid can reduce driveline drag on a lockup system that is working properly.
Then exlain the reduced ftlbs to achieve the same hp, ie, increase horse power with synthetic at same rpm compared to using OEM lube. If what you say is true, then my brother and I both have trannys that are not working properly....sorry, I don't buy it.
the synthetics listed are all mercon V equivalents. So there should be no issues.
Then exlain the reduced ftlbs to achieve the same hp, ie, increase horse power with synthetic at same rpm compared to using OEM lube. If what you say is true, then my brother and I both have trannys that are not working properly....sorry, I don't buy it.
The transmissions gain is impossible. The loss is due to the weight of the rotating components. No special fluid will reduce the weight of those components. You had to have worn out fluid causing slippage. The OE fluid should be changed every 30k. Your theory sounds great but it doesn't hold water.
Alan
The transmissions gain is impossible. The loss is due to the weight of the rotating components. No special fluid will reduce the weight of those components. You had to have worn out fluid causing slippage. The OE fluid should be changed every 30k. Your theory sounds great but it doesn't hold water.
Alan
Well, we did change out the other lubes...I forgot to mention that. How would I have worn out fluid at such low mileage? Is that a factory issue? It wasn't a theory at all. We did a pre and post dyno run with the OE lubes as the control. Switched over to syn, then did it all over again. The dyno is objective.
Ok I'll bite, any proof? How on earth is any fluid going to increase horespower through a transmission. Do you mean just int he range where the converter is not locked where thicker fluid could deliver more through the hydaulic halves of the converter? Or you mean everywhere because this stuff actually lightened the rotating mass of the transmission? Also I want to see barometer reading and temps from the time of all the tests. No dyno test to prove something unless the atmosphere was identical as well.
Alan
Ok I'll bite, any proof? How on earth is any fluid going to increase horespower through a transmission. Do you mean just int he range where the converter is not locked where thicker fluid could deliver more through the hydaulic halves of the converter? Or you mean everywhere because this stuff actually lightened the rotating mass of the transmission? Also I want to see barometer reading and temps from the time of all the tests. No dyno test to prove something unless the atmosphere was identical as well.
Alan
I would imagine it was through the tranny, diff, transfer case, and motor in combo. Proof? Well, I don't know, this was done last year. One difference was that the initial reading was done in the early morning and it was cooler, afternoon readings were late and it did get quite a bit warmer. I'll have to see if we still have those papers. I'd like to look at them again myself.
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