Greased Lightning Auto Trans Treatment seems to work

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The tranny in the 93 Taurus has 190k miles on it, and I've used Lubegard red in the last two or three fluid changes in order to dampen the 'torque converter shudder' (?). The Mercon ATF has been whatever the shops use,; Pennzoil, Valvoline, etc.

This last time I put half a can of Seafoam 'Trans Tune' in, ran it for a few hundred miles, decided to try changing the fluid myself, and to also try out the Greased Lightning stuff. I bought 15 qts of Havoline Mercon and used a slightly modified 'Amsoil flush'. I looked at the tranny cooling lines, unscrewed the one going into the radiator (not the one exiting the cooling lines), put on a few ft of 5/16 clear line, placed the end in a gallon milk jug (what I need to use for recycling), asked my wife to turn on the warm but not hot car, and kept my fingers crossed hoping that I had picked the right line. I had, and when the jug had what looked like 3 qts (next time I'll mark a 3qt line) I had her cut the engine. I replaced the jug with another empty milk jug, added 3 qts of ATF, and had her start it again. It went along without a hitch, and I had her cut the engine a bit late on the last jug, hoping for enough room for the additive. It worked out well as I ended up with 1 unopened qt, all of the additive in, and just slightly over the full mark. I probably won't pay anyone $100 to do a flush anymore.

The additive had the claims of smoother shifts, much reduced shudder and slippage, and so far it works as advertised, providing noticeably better performance than Lubegard red. I'll be interested to see how it holds up.
 
The stuff was interesting as it claimed reduced shudder as well as slippage. The NAPA store said that they hadn't heard how it had worked for anyone yet.

"Greased Lightning has recently introduced a Synthetic Transmission Treatment designed to instantly eliminate transmission shudder, chatter and soften hard shifting in automatic transmissions. Additionally it stops leaks in automatic transmission, power steering pumps and racks, and significantly reduces noise in the entire power steering system. Greased Lightning's Synthetic Transmission Treatment is compatible with all automatic and power steering fluids.

Greased Lightning's Automatic Transmission Treatment is the only transmission treatment in the market that has been specifically designed for automatic overdrive transmissions. The synthetic formula is utilized by numerous manufacturers as their OEM product to eliminate shifting problems in automatic overdrive transmissions."
 
Next time skip the additives and use Mercon-V!

If lubegard red doesn't cut it(being mild as it is), use one of the HFM/MV or Platinum products.

And, someone please name ONE OEM tranny/auto MFG that uses Greased Lightning?
 
General advice borders on hearsay. The ONLY Mercon-V that is not backwards compatible with Mercon is.......... anyone????

Taurus trannies make good boat anchors, rural mailbox holders, and are worth a coffee+donut when recycled as scrap. You could also get it rebuilt and upgraded to prevent problems.
 
The general advice seems to be to use Mercon in Mercon trannys and Mercon V in Mercon V trannys, and don't use a combined Mercon/Mercon V fluid. I usually use half a bottle of Lubegard red, and this last time after awhile ended up using a whole bottle. I ended up with a code for TCC slippage, a mechanical instead of electrical code, so I added some Seafoam tranny stuff to attempt to do some cleaning and maybe cut the lubricity a bit. I didn't want to use anything that 'converts' Mercon to Mercon V, and although it may in fact be doing it the Greased Lightning doesn't advertise the ability to do so, rather it seems to be a generic additive.

Next time I'll consider trying Mercon V after looking into it some more.
 
Don't forget Sable trannies! Heck if I find some of that stuff on clearance I might just put it into the wifes car. Couldn't make it any worse!
 
"Taurus trannies make good boat anchors, rural mailbox holders, and are worth a coffee+donut when recycled as scrap. You could also get it rebuilt and upgraded to prevent problems."

No denying that Ford auto trannys have problems, but why would I want to pull the tranny and have it rebuilt, as opposed to trying an additive and new fluid ? The car has over 190k miles on it, still runs, and the tranny is working better than it has in awhile. The Havoline Mercon was about $1.60 a qt, I ended up using 14 qts, and the additive was less than $10 as I recall. So, instead of spending about $30 and taking less than an hour to change the fluid, I should spend hundreds, possibly around a $1000, so that I can use Mercon V ?
 
quote:

Originally posted by 1sttruck:
So, instead of spending about $30 and taking less than an hour to change the fluid, I should spend hundreds, possibly around a $1000, so that I can use Mercon V ?

YES! Wait... what's that other word... oh yeah. No. Unless you have a particular attachment to the car, in which case I have no objections to you plunking thousands of dollars into even the lowliest Probe. Other than that, you can always put the least amount into it for basic care, and run it until it dies. Every dime you put into it disappears (to this day, scientists are still befuddled by this phenomenon).
 
I believe their oil additve product uses TEFLON, not sure about the tranny fluid stuff. I like the "specifically designed for automatic overdrive transmissions" part. I guess Lubeguard should redesign their fluid for the extra gear.
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Taurus trannies make good boat anchors, rural mailbox holders, and are worth a coffee+donut when recycled as scrap. Now how is he going to fix his transmission when you tell him that!http://www.sanriotown.com/psycho/psycho6/psycho6_us.htm
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Sometimes Ford releases software updates that fix/reduce issues with their recent computer controlled transmissions. But a little "transmission fix" with a fresh batch of Mercon V probably won't hurt at this point. Lucas makes a trans fix too that I've heard produces decent results.
 
Forgot to mention that our newer 99 Taurus has over 80k miles on it, but the tranny seems in worse shape than the 93 Taurus with 190k miles, as it too not only has shudder, it has a LOT more slip and clunk on coastdown. I used Castrol Mercon V in it the last time, and also added a bit of Lubegard red to dampen the shudder. I'll do the same to it; Seafoam trans tune for a few hundred miles, full flush with Mercon V, Havoline if I can find it, and also some Greased Lightning.
 
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