DYI Transmission flush with pictures

[RedOak]

I have been having a terrible time with hard shifting and slipping and shudder in my 94 F-150 4by4 with the E4OD transmission. I had a t-tech flush at my local Ford dealership and told them to put in the correct fluid and a new filter. They put Mercon V in the transmission and guess what it was worse than before. I put a bit of Lucas transmission fix in it and that even made it worse. I then put 6oz of Auto-RX and it seemed to help for a bit but it went back to the same old stuff. Well with the help of c3po and some other advice from frank at Auto-Rx we discovered what the transmission was the E40D and it was to only take Mercon. Thank you, Ford garage. Well I ran the ARX for over 1000 miles and did my own t-tech today and wanted to post a few pictures of the inside of the pan and the valve body above the pan. Look what the auto-rx did, amazing. Refilled with Carquest Dex-Merc for 2.00 a quart replaced filter and finished my own t-tech job. I took a test drive a WHOA- Fixed. Operates smooth and I feel good. Here are the pictures and my kids that helped me do the DYI transmission job. I will be buying a after-market ATF pan in a few weeks. That should help with the cooling especially in mountain and stop and go driving. Derale the company name. If I spelled that correctly.

 

[RedOak]

I need to add that you can see in the bottom of the pan the liquid goo that the Auto-Rx cleaned up. The filter looked pretty good you could see some discoloration from the cleaned up crud but not bad. The Mercon V was only four months old and probably only had 4500 miles on it but it was the incorrect fluid.

 

[c3po]

How much fluid did you pump through the transmission. Also did the old fluid look dirty as I do not see any pictures of it. Looks like everything was a success, if you have any of the old transmission fluid in a bottle it would be nice too see it, great job Red Oak.

 

[RedOak]

Twenty quarts. The fluid you see in the bottom of the pan is the Mercon V. It did not look dirty at all. I will put some in a clear bottle and take a picture and post. I know nothing about placing the pictures on this web site, so it will be tomorrow. I was really pleased to see how clean the transmission was. It now shifts smooth and has no shudder. I spent about 3 hours on the job with a little help from my 10 year old daughter. I am going to order the after-market pan soon. The only thing that was a bit funny from Derale was the pan bolts were not included in the price. I assume you can get them through Summit also. The magnet did not have anything on it. No metal particles. Thanks for all your help c3po.

 

[duaneb9729]

i wish i had good helpers like you have!!!! a terrible thing happened to my daughter,,,she grew up! dang it!

good job with the transmission flush, i am going to change over to syn in the next couple of weeks and your doing it first makes me a little braver!

 

[RedOak]

Really not that hard at all. It sure helps if you have a drain plug on your pan. If not take the return line off were ever it is on your pan and start the engine, this will allow you to pump most of the oil out of the pan and prevent a ATF bath. Research your particular car and transmission and you find find a wealth of information that will save you a bunch of dollars my doing it yourself. Make sure to re-torque the bolts to transmission requirements.

 

[bmwtechguy]

That seems a bit odd that regular Dex/Merc would help with shudder better than a MercV fluid, which is usually better at preventing shudder and for a longer period of time. I'm thinking that the ARX was what realy helped you out here. That old fluid almost looks too good to throw away.

 

[RedOak]

Ford does not want you to use the Mercon V. I have visited several web sites dealing in ford transmissions and they say do not use Mercon V in the E40d. For transmissions built around this model they say Mercon V is fine to use. All I know it did not work in my application. You are correct it seems funny. This model of transmission must require more friction additives than the newer Mercon V to prevent the issues I was havig.

 

[01rangerxl]

That is good that the regular Mercon took care of everything. Ford has said to use Mercon V in all apps calling for Mercon, but this is not the first time I have heard of an E4OD or 4R100 having issues with Mercon V.

 

[c3po]

I was doing some reading last night, wish I could remember the website, but anyway they were saying anything built from 1998 on should use Mercon V and anything before 1997 should be using Mercon, in the Ford lineup of course.

 

[Drew2000]

Originally Posted By: c3po
I was doing some reading last night, wish I could remember the website, but anyway they were saying anything built from 1998 on should use Mercon V and anything before 1997 should be using Mercon, in the Ford lineup of course.


Mercon V can be used back to 1980 depending on the vehicle. As far as Ford is concerned, Mercon no longer exists... "After July 1, 2007, MERCON® Automatic Transmission Fluid will no longer be manufactured, therefore, availability of this fluid will only continue for however long it takes to deplete what remains in inventory."

Ford TSB 06-14-4

Drew

 

[RedOak]

True, but when it does not work in some of the transmissions such as the E4OD the you have to go back and try Merc/Dex. They can say what they want but the Mercon V was developed to help the shudder but some transmissions will not work correctly with it. You can go to some good web sites that offer upgrades to the E4OD that say only Mercon can be used. Transmission experts outside of Ford Motor Company have worked enough of these units know what they talking about. The E4OD requires more friction modifiers than Mercon V. That is just my 2 cents.

 

[c3po]

Red Oak, just curious are you noticing any difference between when you had Mercon V and you had the transmission out of overdrive and now with Mercon driving it around and keeping it out of overdrive. If the transmission is shifting better than Mercon is the way to go. As far as Ford is concerned it seems they will not be making it and the aftermarket will continue to make it in my opinion. I would check with CarQuest and ask them if they will continue to get the Mercon Fluid, and you can probably get in contact with some of the other companies that are making the Mercon fluid and ask them if they will continue to make it.

 

[RedOak]

Hi c3po, Yes the transmission is shifting much better out of overdrive than it was with Mercon V. It was slipping even out of overdrive with the V. I had to go down into second on some of the steep switchbacks in Webster County around 4,500 ft. I have not been back to test in those conditions, but around the house it shifts fine out of OD. I have to use the OD whenever I can though. There is a difference of at lest 500 rpm at 55 which has cut mph down to 13 from 17 mpg in mountains. But I will only use it on flat roads that will not bog the transmission. Gas is expensive but the I owe nothing on the truck so that helps. I am going to research a laser gun to establish basline temperatures in different terrain and ambient temperatures. I tried to cut the old transmissin filter today and gosh it is like cutting through cement. They are tough. I will take a saw zaw to it soon. I think it will be no problem finding the dual spec mercon. Coastal makes it valvoline makes it along with carquest and Napa. Ryan

 

[c3po]

I stopped by CarQuest today and they told me there Mercon Fluid is made by Valvoline and do not see anytime soon that they will not be carrying Mercon, they told me they still sell Type F Transmission Fluid which I think may have come before Mercon, also Pennzoil and I think NAPA and Quaker State still carry Mercon Transmission Fluid.

 

[RedOak]

Yes Pennzoil actually has a good looking Dex-Merc transmission fluid. If you look on their data sheet it has excellent flow in cold weather and they say it is loaded with friction modifiers that help finicky Ford transmissions. They had it a Carquest but it was more expensive. I got the Carquest for 2.05 a quart. Next time around the Pennzoil is really tempting. Has real good approval ratings from various heavy equipment manufactures. If that means anything or not I don't know.

 

[c3po]

Red Oak, how well does it flow in cold weather, meaning what is it's pour point.

 

[RedOak]

I just tried to pull the data sheet up on our old home computer but my wife does not have it reconfigured yet. The hard drive smoked in a lighting storm a few weeks ago and we had a friend rebuild it. If I recall it was -49C which I do not know what is true F. temperatures.

 

[01rangerxl]

I guess this probably isn't too relevant to your truck, but I used the Pennzoil Dex/Merc in my previous Ranger's M5OD manual. The truck did seem to shift smoother afterwards. They sold it in gallon jugs at a local Wal-Mart for around $10 IIRC, but I have not seen it there for the last year or so.

 

[doitmyself]

If a Ford vehicle has Mercon in it now, and I do a pan drop, adding 1/2 the fluid with Mercon V, will there be any problems?

Thanks.