The shifting in my 5spd Focus has become very hard in the mornings lately. I changed the transmission oil last year with Motorcraft full synthetic MTL and while the shifting was great originally, it became increasingly stiff lately. And I'm not talking a bit stiffer than normal, the shifting was really stiff, as if it were -20C outside stiff. I was quite surprised and disappointed at the same time, as I thought MC MTL's cold shift performance would hold up a lot better than it did given great opinions of it on the webs.
I went to my local dealer to price MC MTL and they wanted $40! per quart. So basically any idea of going with the same oil went out the window. I also could not find any GL4 gear lubes locally, so I decided to go with M1 ATF, since apparently my ranny did spec ATF at one point between 2000 and 2001 model years.
So while the shifting performance is night and day, I am a bit concerned about extra wear on the gears, as the additive package found in ATFs is weaker than in MTLs.
I think the tranny should be OK, as I'm not too hard on the vehicle with occasional WOT run here and there and even fewer during colder months.
What do you guys think? Could I perhaps do a franken brew of MTL and ATF or would ATF be ennough? With easier shifting I would think that synchro wear should actually be less than with MTL eventhough the add pack is weaker, but I'm not sure about the gears.
I went to my local dealer to price MC MTL and they wanted $40! per quart. So basically any idea of going with the same oil went out the window. I also could not find any GL4 gear lubes locally, so I decided to go with M1 ATF, since apparently my ranny did spec ATF at one point between 2000 and 2001 model years.
So while the shifting performance is night and day, I am a bit concerned about extra wear on the gears, as the additive package found in ATFs is weaker than in MTLs.
I think the tranny should be OK, as I'm not too hard on the vehicle with occasional WOT run here and there and even fewer during colder months.
What do you guys think? Could I perhaps do a franken brew of MTL and ATF or would ATF be ennough? With easier shifting I would think that synchro wear should actually be less than with MTL eventhough the add pack is weaker, but I'm not sure about the gears.