my unofficial MerconV exsperiances

[Dualie]

Well I flushed and filled two of my trucks with fords new Mercon fluid that supercedes the old mercon standard and what is now considered the correct fluid to use in place of the original mercon.

first truck was a 1993 F-450 (F-SUPERDUTY) IDI 7.3L diesel with an E4OD. the truck has a 4.88 rear end gear if that matters. Ran fine when purchased with the fluid in it (receipts that came with it said (ford mercon dated 1998 and mileage was 40K miles.)

well I went ahead and flushed with the new mercon that for swears up and down will work in these trucks. Ran it for 7,000 miles.

My observations. Horrible shuttering between gears, shift firmness inconsistency, the fluid was visibly burned and smelled burned after only 7,000 miles. It would trip the TCM into limp home mode and flash the OD off light indicating that it was going to cost me a lot of money. I would just pull the battery cables to turn the light off. 100 miles or less and the bam flashing light again.

now this truck is HEAVY and under powered, if its moving forward chances are the throttle is flat on the floor.

second truck was a 2001 excursion with the 4R100 and a 7.3L powerstroke. Also shuddered but never flashed a transmission fault light but the shuddering in that one was so horrible that I couldn't stand it and changed it in less than 2,000 miles.

Both replaced with Chevron MD-3 and honestly could not be happier. I wish I hadn't have run out of my cash of Mobil SYN atf that was mercon rated. but for the price on this MD-3 I can flush it 3 times to everyone flush of the Mobil one.

having done that test in my own vehicles theirs no [censored] way i can reccomend this "NEW generation mercon V mercon double standered sauce to anyone with a ford light truck 4spd auto.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yes, it seems the E4OD (ONLY!) does not like M-V. The 4R70W and other transmissions love the stuff. The 4R70W like in my car and is used in the E-F150s as well, is actually the trans Mercon V was brewed for. If you want to go back to a syn you could look for a Allison TES-295 type fluid. Its Dexron III/Mercon fluid. That stuff is designed for dump trucks, garbage trucks, busses, and the like with Allison automagic transmissions.

 

[The Critic]

I wonder what the dealership would have to say about this.

 

[dnewton3]

Rather than the TES-295 fluids, wouldn't the clones such as TorqDrive, or 204S-aT, or AutoTrans-5 work as well with less cost?

 

[mechtech2]

Critic brings up a good point.
M V IS the correct fluid now.
Any chance the filter was sucking air for the first change?

Anyway, it really is unfortunate that you spent good money to do it right, and it turned out lousy.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2

M V IS the correct fluid now.


Technically, yes, Mercon V is what Ford says to use now. However, E4ODs and 4R100s seem to hate the stuff. Many of them experience drivability problems after switching, even transmissions that shift fine before hand.

In all other Ford autos (except the TorqShift, which I believe uses its own fluid), Mercon V is the way to go.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: dnewton3
Rather than the TES-295 fluids, wouldn't the clones such as TorqDrive, or 204S-aT, or AutoTrans-5 work as well with less cost?

Umm, thats why I said TES-295 type...
Oh and if you are talking about the Schaeffer's 204SAT, that stuff is Mercon V.

 

[tom slick]

I wonder what it would do with DEX-IV? Some here claim it is the best replacement for the old mercon/dexron spec.

 

[Donald]

Go with what Amsoil suggests.

 

[JustinH]

I have seen ford manuals that say do not use Mercon V in 4r100 applications.

They had two specs for the f150's, the ones that came with the 4r70w took MerconV, the heavier ones took the plain mercon fluid. It was called mercon III at the time.

I don't recall it being spec'ed for a 1993 year transmission either.

What might work best in those trucks is the jugs of generic mercon sold at walmart, under the name of supertech. They come in gallon jugs.

 

[Rob_Roy]

I concur that the 4R100 is sensitive when it comes to ATF.

Here is my story: Two years ago we purchased a 2003 Lincoln Navigator with 39,000 miles. I noticed on the service records that the previous owner had the transmission serviced at 30k. Shortly after that the owner complained of "shuddering" when the transmission shifted into overdrive. The dealership replaced the valve body in the transmission and said it cured the problem; there was no more complaints on the records so I assumed the valve body was the cure. We purchased the vehicle, which was still under factory warranty. It drove great...99% of the time. The other 1% of the time it would shudder horribly when it shifted into overdrive and the converter locked up.

I mentioned it to our local dealership, and they suggested a transmission flush and a BG additive to see if that would cure it. I decided to do it myself since I am not a fan of the flush machines they have at the dealership. At 44,000 miles I changed the fluid with AMSOIL Universal ATF, it now has 54,000 miles and hasn't shuddered since. The overall shift quality has improved and the shuddering is completely gone. I would recommend the AMSOIL product to anyone experiencing the same issues I did with the 4R100.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
It was called mercon III at the time.


Do you mean DexronIII/Mercon?

 

[Big Jim]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
I have seen ford manuals that say do not use Mercon V in 4r100 applications.

They had two specs for the f150's, the ones that came with the 4r70w took MerconV, the heavier ones took the plain mercon fluid. It was called mercon III at the time.

I don't recall it being spec'ed for a 1993 year transmission either.

What might work best in those trucks is the jugs of generic mercon sold at walmart, under the name of supertech. They come in gallon jugs.


There has NEVER been a Mercon III. The confusion stems from the fact that most Mercon fluid was dual rated as Dexron III.

Ford recently (a year or two ago as I remember) issued a TSB stating that Mercon would no longer be licensed and that Mercon V was now the specified fluid in their vehicles where Mercon had been specified.

When Mercon V was first introduced, it was common for Ford to specify that Mercon V was not suitable were Mercon was specified. Such is the case with the Ford Escape. Escapes run great with Mercon V.

Earlier posts here at BITOG speculated that the original Mercon V had seal compatibly issues with some transmissions, a problem that they seem to have since addressed.

 

[Dualie]

The truck shifted fantastic with the old mercon fluid that was in it Before I did the flush. AFTER I flushed it with MERCON V it had a horrible shudder after every medium throttle shift. with 7K on the new fluid I had enough and dropped it.

Chevron's MD-3 fluid cured all its faults and shifts fantastic now. No shudder in any gear and firm consistent shifts. also the transmission fault indicator has stopped activating after ever trip.

I looked into the Allison fluid but even with my sizable discount I was still twice the price of the chevron fluid from my local distributor. 3 cases (36qts) for $100.04

A.F.A.K. Its the original 1993 E4OD in the truck. IT doesn't make enough power being naturally aspirated (170ish HP) to even begin to abuse the trans. MY 94 Factory Turbo IDI was however a transmission EATER!

I figured if I went strait to the dealer and got the CORRECT Ford MOTORCRAFT Mercon V fluid that it would work great just like they said it would. Turns out their full of SHAT.

 

[Ken2]

Just to clarify...GM's Dexron-III and Ford's Mercon specs were different specs. They were similar enough that fluids could be blended to meet both specs. Dexron-VI cannot be blended to meet the Mercon nor MerconV spec, nor can Mercon or Mercon-V be blended to meet the Dexron-VI spec.

Allison's TES-295 synthetic fluid, brand name Transynd, has never been blended nor tested for Mercon. Neither has Allison's conventional TES-389 fluid which is exactly the Dexron-III(H) spec (but not Mercon).

Just about every ATF blender makes a fluid that meets the old Dexron-III and Mercon spec, as the original poster found out.

The additive supplier companies make additive packages that can be blended into base oil to produce near-universal ATFs that do not exactly meet most specs (or any spec?) but are close enough that the transmissions run fine. Amsoil, Schaeffer, and most other ATF blenders use these additive packages for their "universal" fluids.

 

[Ben99GT]

I think Ford recently changed suppliers for their dual use Mercon/Mercon V fluid. Their fluid used to come in the normal red Motorcraft bottles (Conoco?), now it is coming in what appears to be black Chevron bottles. The label has changed as well.

I am wondering if Motorcraft switched to Chevron for the newest Merc V dual use fluids, maybe to address issues like this?

I just put in several quarts of the new black bottle Motorcraft Merc V fluid into a 2002 4R100 during a fluid exchange, and it has never shifted better.

 

[Dualie]

well let us know because im never going to bother with the mercon V ever again.

 

[bmwtechguy]

If you take down the pan to change the fluid on one of these, it would be wise to re-torque all of the valve body bolts (I think it is 105 in. lbs). This was recommended to me by my transmission builder friend. This alone can stop the partial clutch applications due to cross leaks that can contribute to the common problem of shuddering in these units. I have never had any brand of MerconV fluid cause shudder in any transmissions that I have serviced, including E4ODs and 4R100s. Mercon V SHOULD be a better overall quality fluid than the old Mercon spec fluids, but sounds like some units do better on the older spec.

Thanks for the heads up on Chevron MD-3 fluid. Sounds like some good stuff.

 

[Dualie]

I agree with your thoughts on re torque of the valve body bolts and honestly don't know why I didn't do that when I did the initial flush and fill.

shudders weren't there when I started. Added mercon V they showed up, switched to MD-3 and they went away. I don't know what other facts I could use to conclude that.

The other truck did shudder a BIT but not terribly noticeable if you weren't looking for it. switching back to MD-3 cured the little bit of shudder in that unit too.