Additive to make fluid Mercon V?

Trixie

Trixie

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I'm ready to leave.

Hubby had tranny fluid changed at Jiffy Lube yesterday. So I asked last night, you had them put Mercon V in right? Well, apparently what they do is put in bulk fluid and then add something to make it like V?

Is this OK? Have you heard of this before?
 
NO!!! I would be going to see that manager and complaining....or have him/her PROVE it to you by calling Ford and see if it an approved Mercon 5 replacement! Or by calling Ford yourself and getting an answer B4 you go get your fluid replaced with the right M-5

Now you will need a complete FLUSH!
 
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Yes, I have heard of this. The very first time I had the fluid changed way back in the day when I first bought The Mark, the service tech said that is what they do - Merc V additive to a base fluid. I had a slight trans shudder while at interstate highway speeds, and the car had about 50k on it. The shudder went away and never came back after the fluid change. I remember that Mercon V was hard to find at the auto parts store back then too - 2002 or 2003 time frame.
 
I have heard of it also - seems to be the modus operandi of the chain lube joints. All it is is a friction modifier.
 
OK, well, it is red, not as smelly as I remembered. They did manage to overfill it too, hubby's doing that now, cause apparently the "leave as soon as you can" means I'm gonna mess around with your car for as long as possible.
 
Hubby is cheap, Merc V is a synthetic blend, I have also heard of the additive. I would have gone with a full synthetic; they should have that at the shops for extra money. I have Amsoil in my Mark now.
 
Make sure Mike drives the car like 20 miles or so and check again before draining any overfill. Read the owners manual for more info. Most of the machines that flush fluid, are very accurate replacing what has been removed, since a lot of damage can be caused to the trans by overfill.
 
The Mark tranny dipstick is VERY hard to read accurately......I'd go by what Mike said. Do not drain. I found reading the stick cold works better than hot. For a cold reading use the lower of the cross-hatched area.
 
I had the tranny fluid changed at Jiffy Lube about 5,000 miles ago and have not had any problems with it at all. They used the machine to suck out the fluid and I asked they guy what was going in; he said Mercon V. I didn't verify it was Mercon V since I saw him look it up and he knew what was going in. No problems here, so i'm sure you'll be fine Sharon.
 
OK, well, I've driven about 400 miles so far. Suppose I should have checked tranny fluid, will go out and do it as soon as I'm done here. In the dark. All by myself. With a very sore arm.

Thanks for the quick replies.
 
I know how to change trans fluid. Have done it a hundred times (seriously). The car did get driven arround for a while after it was changed 2 days ago.. Ran it through gears repeatedly. checked it warm. checked it cold. Also fully aware of how difficult the dipstick is to read. Mark's are not the only cars like that. It was high cold and hot. I sucked out about a pint. Sharon wanted it changed before the trip so it was really the only quick option. The knuckle heads barely knew how to use the machine so I was not confident they did it correctly. I kept an eye on it for the last 2 days hoping it would settle down.

The fluid used was Merc 3 with an additive ot bring it up to Merc 5. probably not the best, but I did look it up on the web and found it detailed out several placed. I also bought some MErc 5 today and it is not stinky.
 
I can't even reach the dipstick.... Tried last night and this morning. Car is running great though.
 
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