This evening, on the 97 Stratus, I tapped into the trans cooler line, hooked up a hose and started the engine, letting as much fluid flow out as possible until it stopped. 7qts were pumped out, so I refilled with 7qts of Castrol Mercon-V. WOW! The transmission doesn't shudder, the shifting is quicker and A LOT more smooth! I am very amazed! After some miles, the trans pan will be dropped and a new filter, gasket and drain plug will be installed, which are already purchased, and the refill will be more Castrol Mercon-V! It has been a test, but so far I can certainly observe differences and they have been VERY pleasing! The 93 dakota has been driving much better, also. I hope the positive results continue with the Dakota and Stratus. For good measure, I will install a bottle of Lubeguard-Chrysler additive with the upcoming service. For what it's worth, using Mercon-V in these Chrysler transmissions requiring ATF+3 has been quite a nice experience! If a failure occurs, I will definately post. lol.
Installing Mercon-V in 3 Chrysler trannies
- Thread starter DSteven
- Start date
- Status
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2002
- Messages
- 1,326
I just bought 10 quarts of Castrol Mercon V at WalMart for $2.83 at the Apple Valley location (south of Minneapolis).
I've run Toyota T-IV ATF in a Nissan D-matic required transmission. Nothing negative to report. I'm actually due for another flush and am considering the SPIII fluid for this Nissan.
I think that ATF fluid specs are becoming a little excessively proprietary solely for profit.
I see no reason why MerconV can't be used in an ATF+3(or SPIII or T-IV or D-matic) application especially if the transmission is older and doesn't have multistep(controlled slip) shifts or variable TC lockup. If it knowingly does, toss in a bottle of HFM additive. Lubegard is just one of a half dozen brands out there. I don't know what the HFM ppm % is between the red/green/black/platinum lubegards, but I haven't noticed any major difference among them.
BTW, I didn't care for the Castrol or Pennzoil MerconV in one Mazda transmission. Seems that the Motorcraft and AAMCO MerconV's gave the smoothest shifts.
Noone here knows truly the frictional characteristics of all these OEM ATFs. Some of it might just be the byproduct of better basestocks, newer additive technologies, better cold ATF performance(lower pour points), better hot ATF performance(less sludging), cleaner ATF passages......which leads to longer fluid life, longer transmission life,, and more consistent shift feel over the life of the transmission.
Years ago I remember switching owners to Redline/Amsoil/ and Mobil 1 ATFs. Everyone always said that the transmission shifted more smoothly and consistently. Noone back then talked about HFMs. Was it because of the fluid? the cleaner transmission? the synthetic basestocks? or unmentioned HFMs already being used by the boutique crowd???????
Another thing to consider is the range of the HFMs required by an OEM. Could it be possible that the requirements have an overuse of <>'s for the performance requirements? Would it be possible for one fluid to fit into multiple specs?
Of course it can. This is why Dexron/Mercon are pretty close. This is why multivehicle or multispec fluids exist. This is why most MerconV's are backwards compatible with Dex3/Merc and why I bet that the new Dexron-3h is probably even closer to the MercV.
I think that ATF fluid specs are becoming a little excessively proprietary solely for profit.
I see no reason why MerconV can't be used in an ATF+3(or SPIII or T-IV or D-matic) application especially if the transmission is older and doesn't have multistep(controlled slip) shifts or variable TC lockup. If it knowingly does, toss in a bottle of HFM additive. Lubegard is just one of a half dozen brands out there. I don't know what the HFM ppm % is between the red/green/black/platinum lubegards, but I haven't noticed any major difference among them.
BTW, I didn't care for the Castrol or Pennzoil MerconV in one Mazda transmission. Seems that the Motorcraft and AAMCO MerconV's gave the smoothest shifts.
Noone here knows truly the frictional characteristics of all these OEM ATFs. Some of it might just be the byproduct of better basestocks, newer additive technologies, better cold ATF performance(lower pour points), better hot ATF performance(less sludging), cleaner ATF passages......which leads to longer fluid life, longer transmission life,, and more consistent shift feel over the life of the transmission.
Years ago I remember switching owners to Redline/Amsoil/ and Mobil 1 ATFs. Everyone always said that the transmission shifted more smoothly and consistently. Noone back then talked about HFMs. Was it because of the fluid? the cleaner transmission? the synthetic basestocks? or unmentioned HFMs already being used by the boutique crowd???????
Another thing to consider is the range of the HFMs required by an OEM. Could it be possible that the requirements have an overuse of <>'s for the performance requirements? Would it be possible for one fluid to fit into multiple specs?
Of course it can. This is why Dexron/Mercon are pretty close. This is why multivehicle or multispec fluids exist. This is why most MerconV's are backwards compatible with Dex3/Merc and why I bet that the new Dexron-3h is probably even closer to the MercV.
The 2.83 price was my basis for saying "I can't even buy castrol mercon-v at Walmart for much less than $3.00 a qt."
Maybe I missed the point of your post..
DSteven--Any update on the Mercon V in your DC applications? Thanks!! I am of the opinion if the Schaffer's, Amsoil's, etc. universal fluids claim this application, why wouldn't this Mobil Mercon V with essentially the sme claim be just as good. I know a lot of guys on a Dakota forum I visit use the Amsoil with no problems reported.
If your transmission isn't slipping or rough shifting, probably it's safe to use the fluid. Use your own judgement and let us know how the experiment unfolds.
It's a bit of a cr*p shoot. My experience was negative and ATF+3 went back in ASAP. I might try ATF+4 at a future 20K increment full flush, but ATF+3 is working well so why fix something that isn't broken? I put money into an external full flow filter and external cooler rather than unproven fluid that claims to meet widely varying friction characteristics. It can not.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked