Toyota recommends Dextron II or III ATF for my '03 Echo's power steering fluid. I went to Advance Auto Parts and saw all Dextron III ATF bottles had labels associated with the word Mercon. At the end I bought a bottle made by Valvolin recommended for Big Three and some imports. Before changing the PS fluid I want to make sure that the Mercon/Dextron III is compatible to Toyota's specs.
Is Mercon/Dextron III same as Dextron III?
- Thread starter sifan
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That just means it meets both the Mercon and Dextron III specification. A lot of fluids these days cover a wide variety of specs. It is more cost effective to make a few fluids that cover a wide range of specs rather than an individual fluid for each specification.
G-Man II, apparently you and I have been buying our Dexron ATFs from the wrong suppliers. I keep seeing references on BITOG about some mystery "Dextron" formulation. It must really be good stuff judging by the number of people using it . . . Hmmm, ya' s'pose it could be Dexron blended with teflon?
No, there isn't. The latest Dexron (just now showing up at GM dealers) is Dexron VI. For some reason GM decided to skip over "IV" and "V" in favor of "VI" for the latest iteration of Dexron ATF.
GM will cease to issue licenses for Dexron IIIH later this year, which will make this fluid obsolete. Dexron VI is already the factory fill at GM now and it will become the only recommended service fill once they stop issuing Dexron IIIH licenses.
If a recently-produced container of transmission fluid just says it meets Dexron III, is it safe to assume that it meets Dexron IIIH?
The Formula Shell Dexron/Mercon that Costco sells says nothing, on either the bottle or the data sheet, about meeting Dexron IIIH--but I would think that it does meet Dexron IIIH because GM stopped issuing licenses for the older IIIG spec.
The Formula Shell Dexron/Mercon that Costco sells says nothing, on either the bottle or the data sheet, about meeting Dexron IIIH--but I would think that it does meet Dexron IIIH because GM stopped issuing licenses for the older IIIG spec.
Dexron-IV is a spec that was never put into production. Dexron-V is likely to be confused by lots of folks with Mercon-V. Thus, Dexron-VI for the next generation of GM ATF.
Ken
Ken
Does this mean us dex users should stock up before dexIII is no longer on the market? I like to change my tranny fluid yearly so maybe 5 or 6 gallons in reserve woulod be a good investment.
Dexron, not to be confused with Dextran or Dextron has, so far, always been backwards compatible. I have nothing telling me VI won't work in I,II, or III cars....
MolaKule
Staff member
In answer to your first question no, unless it specifically says DexronIII(H).
Issuance of DIII(H) licenses to additive manf. will cease this fall, but DexronIII(H) will still be in the product pipeline for some time after the appearance of Dexron VI.
I just checked the Formula Shell ATF datasheet again and it says:
DEXRON® III/MERCON® AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID
General Motors DEXRON® III and Ford MERCON® Approved
Approved for H Specification
Recommended where Ford ESP-M2C138CJ or ESP-M2C166H is specified
Meets Requirements for Allison C-4
I must have missed that line because I was expecting to see "DEXRON III(H)" or "DEXRON IIIH". The datasheet was revised 01/03/05 and I checked it only a couple of weeks ago.
I take it that the oldest fluid spec that GM is currently issuing licenses for is Dexron III(H)?
DEXRON® III/MERCON® AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID
General Motors DEXRON® III and Ford MERCON® Approved
Approved for H Specification
Recommended where Ford ESP-M2C138CJ or ESP-M2C166H is specified
Meets Requirements for Allison C-4
I must have missed that line because I was expecting to see "DEXRON III(H)" or "DEXRON IIIH". The datasheet was revised 01/03/05 and I checked it only a couple of weeks ago.
I take it that the oldest fluid spec that GM is currently issuing licenses for is Dexron III(H)?
One Echo owner reported using Mobil 1 synthetic ATF instead of Dexron III to replace the power steering fluid with good result. I assume the synthetic one is thiner and easy on the pump. My question is this: Does M1 synthetic ATF exceed the Dexron III specs? In other words, will M1 ATF damage the power steering pump in the long run?
The "H" fluid in that description I believe refers to a now very obsolete Ford spec. In the 70's Ford had both a "CJ" and "H" spec that eventually got rolled together into "Mercon".
I think the Ford "H" spec is the ESP-M2C166H that Shell is referring on the line below "Approved for H Specification".
Seems kinda redundant to say "Recommended where Ford ESP-M2C166H is specified" and "Approved for H Specification" if they're talking about the same thing.
But there's an 800 number on the datasheet so I might just give them a call to find out for sure.
Seems kinda redundant to say "Recommended where Ford ESP-M2C166H is specified" and "Approved for H Specification" if they're talking about the same thing.
But there's an 800 number on the datasheet so I might just give them a call to find out for sure.
MolaKule
Staff member
That's why I think the Approved for H Specification refers to the DexronIII H specification. I think that was added as an afterthought to emphasize that the fluid now contained the proper additive and base oils to meet the then new "H" spec.
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