Here recently thier has been much discussion on this subject mercon 111/dextron vs. mercon 5 for our lightnings i have even heard of someone mixing fluid which i thought was a no noThe way i understand it is mercon for our transmissions what are you thoughts on this??????

 

you might want to ask Gregg. He's the expert...

his board at NLOC is http://www.nloc.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=452

 

his rule is only mercon in the tranny, no mercon V, mercon V apparently destroys it over time.

For the 4r100 at least, don't know about the others.

 

Unfortunatly I'm the "Here recently"

You ask what to buy, people tell you Mercon,
I go to Auto Zone and stare at the wall for an hour,
trying to find something less than $10.00 a qt
OR SOMETHING
and then you See Double AA MCO for Ford,
you say, hey, who knows tranny's better than AAMCO ???
Then you read and it says, for Mercon V, OR MERCON, or Dextron III, so you say, hey, this is the stuff.

Then you use it and the next day people tell me my Clutches
and Seals are going to break down because of it,
meanwhile the Bottle says it's ok
meanwhile Ford says it's not


I'M OUTRIGHT PISSED
AND I'M LEAVING IT IN

 

you think aamco will get you a rebuilt tranny rob? Would be kinda nice if they'll at least pay for it that way you can just get a monster box and just pay the leftovers.

if so maybe this is the way to do it,

put in aamco mercon V in tranny
blow tranny
aamco pays for tranny
buy monster box.

Gregs sales would skyrocket.

 

I posted about this somewhere, but the botom line is it has to have the SAE spec on the bottle, and if you look real close, none of the dual usage fluids do, they just say compatible with MERCON, even though the fine print will list a spec number that isn't. The only two things I would put in one are Motorcraft MERCON, or Mobil 1 Synthetic, but any name brand is prolly fine, fluid is pretty much a commodity, as long as the additives are compatible, but Highly Friction Modified fluid (Mercon V and such) are not, the HFM chemicals break down the soft parts over time. That's the reason Ford did not switch the 4R100 to HFM fluid in the first place, a good argument can be made that it's better fluid, it stops converter shudder most of the time, but it don't work in a 4R100. I can't think of any of the designer fluids (Royal Purple, REdline etc...) that are remotely worth the money, excpet to say that a synthetic fluid will hold up in high temps better as a general rule. I use Mobil 1 because it's provided to me for nothing, I wouldn't pay for it living here, maybe if I was in AZ or FL or someplace hot.

G

 

Rob get it out of there this is the chea pest way go to ford and pick up mercon $1.76 a quart transmission is not hurt yet. DRAIN it/

 

You're acting outright dumb.

 

Ronbo - Change it dude. It's not worth the risk.

 

Hey Rob, just installed ftvb and went with the aamco. Front of bottle says Dexron-III Mercon. Back says Dexron III, Dexron IIE, Dexron or Ford Mercon ATF. Nothing about Mercon V. This sounds like different stuff I hope than what you used. It does'nt really all come out the same spigot does it?

While at auto zone I did the wall stare for a while too. Saw some B&M for $3.99 a qt but the only indication of type was on back of bottle - meets or exceeds type F. I would assume this is not for ours. Looked like a performance item though - maybe good for 1 or 2 tenths you think...j/k. Anyone know anything about this shtuff.

Rob, I'd be pissed off too but It's less hassle and you'll have peace of mind if you have that baby flushed for about $90. Just don't go to Jiffy Lube like I did. Search for Jiffy Lube for that story.
Good luck!!

 

Question G

After doing much research about this for a few days,
I got a Question ?
I see they sell an additive that allows Auto/Tranny shops
to only stock Mercon, and then add an additive
to convert it to Mercon V.
Seem to be standard pratice for a lot of shops.

Do they make an additive that goes the other way ???
Converts "V" back to Mercon ???

JJ, You sound Fine
My Auto Zone Reciept says
#119882 236996 AAMCO Mercon 2.99 Ea

I can tell you for a god given fact
THEE ONLY FLUID my AutoZone had for Ford Mercon """or""" Mercon V, that wasn't 100% synthetic,
was: AAMCO or Coastal "Mercon V / Mercon"

 

My Final word

Since our tranny holds up to 18 qts of Fluid TOTAL,
and I only added 6 qt's of Mercon V.

And based on this additive they sell to convert Mercon
to Mercon V, (10 oz's total is needed for a complete transmission conversion from Mercon to Mercon V.)

That would mean I only have this additive in 1/3 of my
fluid, hence meaning we're talking about 3.3 oz's of this
not reccommended additive in my system which holds 576 oz's.

If I added 1/2 or 2/3rd's or ALL of this Mercon V, I can see this being a long term problem, but 3 oz's out of 576 oz's,
I DON'T SEE AS A PROBLEM.
Quite frankly, I don't know if a Hundred Dollar Transmission
Flush would even catch that 3.3 oz's.

Schitt, I can drink 3.3 OZ's of ANYTHING, Acid Even,
and only have a small case of indigestion

Think of all the Paraquat I've inhaled over the Decades,
and I'm Normal
RIGHT ???

 

Rob,

I must have looked at the wall of fluid in Autozone for 20 minutes agonizing over which brand to buy. I knew that I wasn't suppose to use Mercon V from all the post about it.

When it was all said and done I walked out with 17 qts. of the cheap Coastal. I couldn't justify the $1 extra a qt. just to have a name brand on the bottle.

 

I always wondered about coastal brands. They are really cheap but i wonder if the quality lacks any.

How long have you had it in and hows the tranny doin?

 

Just got back from ford i purchased 8 quarts of mercon for $1.82 a quart it seems they are are a lot of lightnings out they that have changed valve bodys and put wrong fluid in. most are having transmission problems i have a friend who has a lightning and sure enough about 6 months he installed valve body with wrong fluid he notice the other day it was not shifting right. the damage has already been done talked to him last night and he is going to have to buy new transmission from gregg. mercon V=5 will not work in our lightnings i will use only ford transmission fluid so i pay a few .cents more thats a hell of a lot better than a new transmission.?????