My girlfriend went and had her 2002 Eddie Bauer Expy's tranny serviced at a local quick lube yesterday (filter and pan fluid changed) and the freak's, according to the reciept, put Mercon III in the tranny instead of the Mercon IV. I called and they said that there was really no difference but it seems like I read somewhere that if they use Mercon III that they are supposed to use some sort of additive, which of course they didn't. So should I just drain the pan and put Mercon IV in or can I buy some sort of additive that will suffice? Any feedback would be helpful.

 

go back to the shop that did it and tell them your girlfreinds vehicle takes mercon V and nothing else, make them do it the right way, if they try to feed you some BS about it being the same call the local dealership service department and have them talk to the lube shop to explain that the tranny requires mercon V or just ask to talk to the manager of the lube shop they are required to put the reciured fluid, good luck

 

First problem...quick lube! Second problem...only pan fluid! Third problem...wrong fluid!

Take it to a shop that flushes out the entire tranny and specify what fluid you want...I would suggest a trusted dealer. Leave the "quick lube places" and never go back.

 

Now she gets a free transmission flush. Don't except anything else. It needs a flush to get rid of the improper fluid.

 

Um, which tranny is it? The 4r100, or the 4r70w? Does matter as both take different fluids...

Adrianspeeder

 

There is no Mercon III or IV. There is either Mercon or Mercon V. And if your mechs try to convince you otherwise, they are selling you a lie or some serious ignorance. If your tranny calls for a specific fluid, use that fluid. It's always best to ask your service shop what fluids they have before you let them do the work. Now, if they tell you that they add certain things to a fluid to make it another kind of fluid, WALK AWAY AND DON'T GIVE THEM THE TIME OF DAY. Go somewhere else, or buy the fluid you need and have them do the service. The fact is, Mercon V is here to stay. It's not going away, and all these local service shops that don't say "Ford" on them need to wise up and stop looking at us Ford guys that need tranny service to stop looking at us like we have two heads when we say that we want Mercon V in our trannies! What the *%$^%$ is the deal with these people anyway, is there like a Mercon V embargo going on? Take for instance the auto parts stores (at least in my area). You see all these bins full of all kinds of tranny fluids, and then there's one--ONE!--row of Mercon V! Get with the program!

 

Do NOT put Mercon five in the 4r100! It and the E4OD are the only two ford truck trannys that are not designed to have any type of friction modifier or whatever in them.

If it was a 4r70w, they screwed up and should have used mercon five, if it was the 4r100, they should have put in mercon.

Adrianspeeder

 

Ahhh, i have a bottle of mercon III...hmmmm i say just put some type f in it and be done.

 

Not in my truck... hahah

I remember when I was gonna have the dealer do my diesel, tech insisted on Mercon V. I said no way and talked to the service manager. Maybe cuz I'm just a "young dumb kid" he sided with the tech and said they used mercon V in the 4r100 it all the time. I left right there and never been back to the dealer since. They even offer free inspections to me, but they are not gonna touch the truck again, and I pay to have someone else do the inspections.

Adrianspeeder

 

The tranny is a 4R70W and I had them flush the entire tranny and refill it with Mercon V. They still tried saying that there was no trouble but I gave her strict instructions to never go back to that shop... EVER!!! She drove it for two days before I had the problem corrected and I was wondering what if any problems that this may cause. What is the difference between Mercon and Mercon V? Anyway thanks for the feedback.

 

Mercon V has a friction modifier that will kill a 4R100.

Adrianspeeder

 

Please educate me on the Mercon V and why it shouldn't be in the 4R100. Every bottle of MerconV it says it surpasses all Mercon,etc.... What problems would occur??
Thanks,
Rob

 

From what I've read on several Ford truck sites, early wear out is the problem. If you use MERCON V your trans won't die right away, but it won't last as long as it would have if you used the correct fluid, MERCON.

Something or things in the 4R100 are just not compatible with something in MERCON V.

How's that for the technical explanation?

 

What's a good semi or full synthetic? Will Mobil 1 ATF work? I just don't want to settle for regular mercon.

 

Mobil 1 is a very good synthetic, but it is MERCON, not MERCON V. It's great if you have a 4R100 or E4OD, but not so good in a 4R70W. AMSOIL is MERCON V, so that would work well in a 4R70W.

There are others, too, like Royal Purple and Schaeffer's, but I don't know much about them.