Taurus Mercon V - MC > Amsoil

[MarkStock]

MC Mercon V is rated for 3 years / 30k in a Taurus.

Amsoil say their ATF is Mercon V compatible and will last the longer of 50k severe service / 100k normal service or manufacturer's recommendation.

So if I do 5k a year, I could do 20 years on this?

Would you recommend it for that long and as a Mercon V compatible fluid?

 

[dave123]

For u yes

 

[SuperDave456]

If the car only has 30,000 miles on it then I would drop the pan and clean it out really good. Most of the solid contaminates are created within the first 30,000, although there is a small percentage through 60,000 miles.

You will never get 100% of the original Mercon V out, so you would have to do multiple drain and fills on it, probably over a period of time. This would be a good thing.

If you do 5K a year could you do 20 years on it?
Sure, I don't see why not. As long as it eventually gets up to temp to burn off any condensation.
You will be chasing electrical grimlins by then.

I got a 1983 Ford LTD with 13,000 miles when I began to drive... in 1994. It had had some oil changes, but nothing else. That car only drove to the grocery store, one mile away and one mile back once a week for the first 8 years, then sat the rest of the time.

If you only drive 5,000 a year it's my bet you will have dry rot and other gasket problems within the 20 year period you speak of above. I know I did.

 

[fdcg27]

Mercon V is very good stuff.
It probably wouldn't need to be changed every three years.
I'd be embarassed to tell you how long I left the FF ATF in our old Aerostar, yet a pan drop, filter change and refill of about the four quarts lost with Valvoline Mercon V restored the transmission to like new operation.
If you only drive 5K a year, Amsoil ATF is a waste of money, especially since any Mercon V is really good.

 

[MarkStock]

At 1.5 years of age / 30k, the dealer changed the ATF. Don't know if it was a complete exchange, but Ford procedure is through the cooler line so it should have been.

At 7.5 years / 66k, I had my mechanic drop the pan, change the filter, and do a cooler line refill with MC Mercon V. Nothing significant found in the pan, filter was black though. Fluid had a brown tinge to it.

Between 30k and 66k, the car had seen a lot of short trips. Since then, it is used more gently and gets out on the freeway for much of that annual 5000 miles.

I think I should have put in the Amsoil on the last change which was a year ago. The fluid would only have been $70 more than I spent on the MC, and it would have been effectively a lifetime fluid.

Somewhere between 2 and 5 years from now, I will have to change the current fill.

 

[doitmyself]

IF I remember correct (highly unlikely) member Jim Allen here posted some good data indicating how good it is to get the wear particulates out of the transmission either through better filtration and/or timely fluid changes.

Most transmission filters are not too efficient.

My thinking is that even if the Amsoil fluid's characteristics last much longer, there will still be particulates accumulating in the fluid that will increase wear (unless the Amsoil also reduces wear significantly).

So, more frequent changes with a "lesser" fluid might do the transmission even more good than the super fluid at very long intervals.

Just a hypothesis.

Isn't the Taurus transmission considered to be on the weak side to start out with. Kudos for the care you have given it to date.

 

[MarkStock]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Isn't the Taurus transmission considered to be on the weak side to start out with. Kudos for the care you have given it to date.


Yes that's why I began investigating this topic more closely.

I actually missed servicing the transmission by 3 years. Although I was not too far out from a mileage point of view, there were a lot of short trips during those 3 years and even before.

So I've only more recently begun being more attentive. The transmission definitely improved after the overdue change.

My goal going forward is to change fluids before there is a deteroriation in performance. After all, that's what we do with oil changes.

 

[oilboy123]

Been using Amsoil ATF for 17 years. I had it in my dads transmission for about 4 years 85K. It still had very good color when I changed it. I run it with the magnifine filter as a rule.

20 years might be pushing it..... But change over and see how it goes after about 7 years......

The Taurus trans after about 96 are pretty decent.

 

[04SE]

I ran MaxLife in my 04 SE for 30K and Valvoline Mercon V back when it was officially licensed. I ran the Mercon V for two 30K OCI with filter changes in it. The Mercon V felt much better than the MaxLife. When I ditched the car at 114K the transmission was the least of my worries. The CPS failure, front engine cover gasket failure, oil pan gasket failure and heater core line failure, and leaking firewall was the reason I now have an Optima holding my garage floor down.

The big thing with that transmission is simply keeping clean fluid in it. I never had much of anything for shavings on the pan magnet.