Hi guys,

My uncle recently bought me a 2000 F150 Scab Lariat (after wrapping my Bronco around a tree and paying for it by spending a month in the hospital). I noticed that the transmission fluid looks REALLY dirty and needs to be changed ASAP. I would do it myself, but I am still recovering from the accident (I can walk now, but not supposed to do anything that would aggravate my still healing pelvis fractures). Also, I am a poor college kid that rents a room in a townhouse...so I would have no where to do it myself anyway. I took it to a local shop today, they quoted me about $90 to do the work. They mentioned that they would also have to add something to the transmission fluid they carry in order to bring it up to Mercon V standards. Have any of you ever heard of this, and is this an acceptable practice, or should I just buy the Mercon V and give it to them to put in?

Thanks a lot,
broncoboy731

 

Don't let them do it. They want to use the cheaper Mercon/Dextron fluid (since that is all they have) and then drop in a couple bucks worth of additives. That is NOT Mercon V. Our trucks call for Mercon V, not Mercon/Dextron with some crap added in.

I just had a shift kit and new torque converter put in my truck, it used 14 quarts of Mercon V. I had over $60 just in fluid.

 

Squirrel is right! Only Boris Badenov would do that. Also, get a full flush. A pan drain only only gets out about half of the old fluid. You don't have to go to Whats-a-matta U to figure out that your guy is ill prepared to do the job right.

 

To add to what Rocky is saying, there are a lot of well-known brands of tranny fluid that claim to have mercon/mercon v/dexron applications, and very few brands that are just straight mercon v. To my understanding it is best to use a straight mercon v fluid. The only brands I know of that make this is Castrol and Motorcraft, there could be a couple more out there. I would suggest going to your local auto parts stores to look for these, but you can only find Motorcraft mercon v at your Ford dealer. You don't have to go to a Ford dealer to service your tranny, but make sure you go to a REPUTABLE service shop. Now is a good time to change that fluid, as you said it was dirty. Transmissions are expensive. Good Luck!

 

I bought Valvoline Merc V at Advance Auto Parts. But like I said, it was over $60 for 14 quarts.