I accidentaly put 1 quart of (I don't even remember what kind) of transmission fluid in my 98 F150. The truck soon died, but needed an engine rebuild...after this the truck still felt like it had a transmission problem...and soon wouldn't go into any forward gear (though it feels like it wants to engage, but just can't). It does, however, still go in revese. I drained the pan, changed the filter and refilled with the required Mercon V, but still no forward. Would draining the torque converter help solve this problem? Could one quart of some generic fluid cause this kind of problem. When I changed the pan the fluid was dark, but not burnt smelling, and ther was little debris on the magnet...so I'm not sure the trans was in bad shape...I'm trying so hard to (after engine rebuild) not have to do the same to the transmission....Thanks for any advice.

 

If you put something odd in it, it could have roasted it. Chryslers a few years back (and still some today) cannot run ATF, they have to have ATF+3. Running ATF will destroy the tranny in just a couple miles.

Make sure you didn't add type F as that will kill it, although not as quickly.

 

yes, using the wrong fluid can (and pretty much guaranteed) will kill your tranny.

 

With the capacity of these transmissions I don't think 1 quart would hurt anything, but you might get a shudder now and then. I say the tranny was toast before that.
Alan