Mercon Castrol ATF for Ford's vs Mercon V - Oopsy

[searcherrr]

Hello again everyone! My 95 3.8L is still running strong thanks to all of you. Just wanted to say that before I got started.

I'm kinda mad at myself because I pride myself on detail, and those on this forum who know me, know that to be the case (lol). I realized tonight that I have been using Castrol Mercon equivalent "Automatic Transmission Fluid" (spelled out like that on the bottle) for older model Ford and GM vehicles and that on the back it specifically states "DO NOT USE THIS IN VEHICLES CALLING FOR MERCON V".

Well, I'm sure I'm not alone here, but I've been filling the transmission with this stuff as I a have a periodic tran pan leak, as some of the bolts seem to come slightly loose from time to time. The last people to completely fill the transmission were the ones that installed it (aftermarket) and I don't know if they knew about the Mercon change to "V" or not, but I've put in maybe 1.5 - 2 quarts of this Castrol Mercon since then to keep it topped off.

Is this doing some bad type of damage to the tranny now that the two are mixed or is it pretty moot at this point?

I think I may have over 20k miles on the new tranny now and I extracted 1.75 quarts from it last night cause it was a lil over-filled and I wanna swap out the fluid too some time soon to keep this thing in good shape. I've been experiencing some late shifting, 2 to 3 or 3 to 2, very intermittently and not every drive either. Maybe I'm catching my fluid on the edge of its life? Either way, I bet the tranny rebuilder put the regular "wrong" Mercon in like I've been doing too. Thoughts?

[searcherrr]

Thinking this may be my answer:
http://www.lubegard.com/C-110/Transmission
That gray bottle of protectant. Seems it upgrades the fluid to Mercon V status and if thats the case and I have a "mix" of Mercon V and Mercon already, wouldn't this convert everything and just "add" to the Mercon V properties already in there?

[wiswind]

The 1995, like my '96 ORIGINALLY called for Mercon, not Mercon V.
So the stuff you are using should be OK.

FORD discontinued the Mercon and told folks to use Mercon V in its place.

They USED to say NOT to use Mercon V in our older Mercon transmissions.
I don't know if there was a issue, or if they just had not fully tested the Mercon V in the Mercon application.
They were having tranny issues, as you and I know, and they may have just been trying to not change too many things at once.
Or, there may have been some compatibility issue....that they solved in the newer Mercon V.
In any case.....Mercon V is a tighter specification, so I would tend to prefer it, but using a Mercon fluid should not cause any issue.

I like to use synthetic fluids, as they have better cold flow (not as big of an issue for you down south as it is for me in Wisconsin) and better heat tolerance (better for all of us).
I also found that it seemed my shifts were a bit more "crisp" when I added AutoRX (available online) to the tranny, in the amount recommended on the AutoRX website, and ran it for about 1500 miles before doing a fluid exchange.
It helps to clean in the fluid valves.....which is critical in modern transmissions.

I am VERY happy your ride is running very well now......you certainly deserve that after all the work and stress you went through with it.

[searcherrr]

Hey Wiswind!

Well, we'll see what happens on this 1200 mile roundtrip I'm about to make.

I just topped off all fluids and found an engine oil leak at the crankshaft seal I'm thinking (if you lookup from underneath and see a spikey gear its leaking from the seal that is before it), a tranny pan leak (cork gasket; I hate cork gaskets) and my coolant has again changed its fluid level which is concerning me, yet it seems to run great. I wonder if Jasper covers seal leaks on their engines?

I also put me some B12 Chemtool in the fuel tank too. Running strong. Cleaned the K&N filter as well and did a filter recharge and I let most of the excess oil soak off before putting it back in and wiped the excess too.

On the note of the Mercon stuff, I saw where Lubeguard puts out that protectant that makes the fluid magically turn into Mercon V. I bought that today for $14 for just 1 10 ounce bottle. Should've read it before I left the store, because it says to add 1 of those for every quart of oil in the tranny and I put in only 1 bottle for the whole tranny. Ya think this will be ok? I think it will, but people have posted elsewhere about Mercon V and Mercon mixing being bad and if the lubeguard converts it to V then maybe what I've done is create a strange soup of Mercon that is like 1/12th the Mercon V now. What ya think? Think that 1 10oz bottle will offer any protection or cause problems?

Yeah, with all the stress I've had... I'm happy its still going. Very happy.

[wiswind]

Lubeguard has a good reputation.
As I mentioned.....FORD USED to have an issue with Mercon V in Mercon applications.
They no longer do......they may have changed something in the Mercon V specification before changing their mind, or maybe the found that there was no issue.
However, the latest TSB, which states that it supercedes the earlier TSBs, states that Mercon V is recommended for all years of Windstar.
But FORD spend a number of years saying NOT to use 1 in place of the other, so I can understand all the chatter still out there about that.

I was getting a slight leak at that engine to tranny point also....it was still slight enough that I did not track down which it was from....engine or tranny......I suspect it was the engine.

I hate cork gaskets also.....for my Sienna, I searched and found a filter "kit" that came with a rubber gasket for my tranny. It had a cork gasket on from the factory.
I have not located a rubber type gasket for the oil pan......I bought a cork gasket....but the oil pan is RTV'ed on like the Windstar one was.
I decided to leave mine alone......unless some problem shows up.
The oil pan on the Sienna is easy to remove otherwise......no exhaust pipe in the way.

[searcherrr]

Thanks Carl.

Well, the Winnie made it the 1200 miles there and back, and I'm gonna flame FIRESTONE right now cause I'll never buy another one of their tires again... but first...

The "engine oil" is leaking at a rate of 3/4 a quart per every 500-600 miles from what I can tell. I had to pour that much in before we came back.

The "tranny oil" leak I did check and it was about 1/8 quart low though the shifting seems fine and in my experience with this thing, if you are even 1/8 to 1/4 low on tranny fluid it will let you know in late or early shifts..... usually late ones though, but since I have put the lubeguard in I think that is picking up the slack. I really needed 2 bottles of the 10oz lubeguard container to make a full 12oz's for the Winnie, but I figured 10 would do for now.

Tires - I noticed, once we'd gotten to the beach, the back end of the van would wobble left and right (like minny fish-taling) when we'd be going somewhat slow and it'd kinda level out after about 35mph. Before the trip I had just put on 2 backup tires I had in storage, cause I had a flat on one of the rear ones that were mismatched and the 2 I put on looked better (no sidewall cracking like the ones that were on there).
Well, low and behold I had a bad belt shift or break in the face of the pass. rear tire to where it was bulging out about 1/2" to 1". Very easy to see. So, the last thing we did was go get 2 new tires on the back of the vehicle at the local Wal-Mart. I ended up getting 2 Uni-Royal 80k mile tires so I could be rid of those damn Firestones. I have had nothing but trouble with Firestone tires my whole life and I've never bought one (that I can recall) on purpose, but just ended up with them. I know Uni-Royal is an old name and it was one of their brands that had few sizes to choose from, so I hope its good to go for a while now. They look beefy and 11 on tread too.

Tranny oil change - Since my stupid CORK gasket (yes I absolutely HATE cork gaskets too because they assume that every installer will always torque correctly and this is kinda like a programmer not doing error checking for the user) is leaking, I wanna replace it with rubber and change the tranny oil.

I have an idea for changing "all of the tranny oil", but I'd like to know what some think of it first. What I wanna do is the following:

Idea 1:

1. Vacuum pump drain as much tranny fluid as I can into my mity-vac
2. Engine cold; start it up for 2-3 seconds at most and IMMEDIATELY turn OFF
3. Vacuum pump drain as much tranny fluid as I can into my mity-vac, AGAIN
4. Repeat #2 and #3 until I have nearly 12 quarts
5. Refill phase: Start it up for 2-3 seconds at most and IMMEDIATELY turn OFF
6. FILL the amount I got on the 1st drain (lets say its 4 quarts for example) and stop filling
7. Repeat #5 & #6 till I've used 12 quarts

Idea 2:

1. Have 2 extremely clean 5 gallon buckets
2. Add extension hoses to the suction tranny line and one to the return tranny line
3. Put the suction extension tranny line in a bucket full of fresh new tranny fluid
4. Put the return extension tranny line in an empty bucket
5. I stay to monitor the 2 buckets
6. Have a partner start the engine
7. Cut engine off as soon as the fresh tranny fluid is all gone and quickly cap (fingers or whatever) the hoses and reconnect them as they should be.

I love the beauty of Idea 2, but Idea 1 would sure be a lot less messy. What ya'll think?

[wiswind]

Method #2 will NOT work because the transmission pump will NOT suck the fluid up through the return line.
The pump will push the fluid out, but not pull it back in.

I drain the pan, measure the amount of fluid that came out, then remove the pan, wipe it down.....do the gasket thing and re-install.
Then I fill the pan with fluid in an amount equal to what I measured came out, remove a cooler line and direct it into a container.
START the motor, and keeping the tranny in PARK, I idle the motor until the flow out the cooler line slows significantly or starts spurting bubbles.....as which time I turn the motor OFF.
I measure the amount that came out when I idled the motor, and add an equal amount to the tranny through the dipstick tube.
In draining the pan, I have used the cooler line method below to get most of the fluid out, or your vac through the dipstick tube idea will work very well also......however there will STILL be some fluid in the pan.

2 things I add to help out......I use a clear hose (2-3 feet) over the end of the cooler hose, so that I can see the fluid flowing through it.
I have a 5 quart Mobil 1 jug that has a sort-of clear line up the side with hash marks for quarts (use the quarts, no liters) to help me get close on my fluid out measurements.

When I am all done......I check the transmission fluid level (motor warm, at idle, in PARK, on level ground) and adjust the fluid amount as needed.

[searcherrr]

Why would you have to remove the starter? or does this mean to remove a "cover" that covers both the starter and the torque converter?

Thanks.

[wiswind]

Starter?, you must be talking about a post in the oil pan gasket leak thread.
I don't know if the starter is in the way for that or not......should become obvious when you look around down there if it is somehow in the way or not.