Roadrunner777
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- February 5, 2011
- Messages
- 2,044
- Reaction score
- 346
- City, State
- Bemidji, MN
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 94 4x4 Sport 88k
I have been slowly migrating my trans to new fluid by weekly sucking 2 quarts of fluid from the dipstick tube and pouring what I THOUGHT was the correct fluid back in. The manual calls for Mercon, which is no longer available under that name, other than maybe at a dealership at $12 a bottle.
I had read that the universal Merc/Dex fluids were not exactly right either. Then, I saw this fluid on the shelf at Orielly's, friendly red Motorcraft bottle, said Mercon SP. I figured it would be backward compatible, so that's what I used. Up to yesterday, taking into account dillution and all the math, my fluid was about 50% old fluid and 50% Mercon SP. Trans is working great.
Still, in the back of my mind, I was wishing I had something official from Ford that specified the official solution. Last night I finally found it. The link below will give you the official Ford transmission vs fluid chart. The chart shows the A4LD for this year uses either Mercon straight (as per the manual, but very hard to find) or MERCON V which is readily available.
Incidently, with this information under my hat, I went back to Orielly's, it was late, nobody else was around and we are friends. I survey each employee on which fluid is correct. The store manager said Type F (which is probably the worst thing you could use). The others pointed to one version or another of the universal fluids. Note, if you read the back of these bottles, they say they are not compatible with Mercon V. This could mean the fluid meets Mercon but not Mercon V, that is, it is not forward compatible to Mercon V. I don't know that, and my last assumption was dead wrong.
I did a search on the forum to see if this information was apparent through searches, but it was not easy to find, and again, there were people answering with the wrong fluid. So, I decided to post this thread.
Finally, somebody will want to reply that they use a universal fluid and it works great for them. GOOD! I'm not saying universal fluid will lead to failure. I am only providing Ford's position that MERCON V is the best fluid to use in the A4LD.
Synthetic? Mobile 1 Synthetic ATF does meet the spec, so if you wanted a synthetic trans fluid, that would be one choice.
I had read that the universal Merc/Dex fluids were not exactly right either. Then, I saw this fluid on the shelf at Orielly's, friendly red Motorcraft bottle, said Mercon SP. I figured it would be backward compatible, so that's what I used. Up to yesterday, taking into account dillution and all the math, my fluid was about 50% old fluid and 50% Mercon SP. Trans is working great.
Still, in the back of my mind, I was wishing I had something official from Ford that specified the official solution. Last night I finally found it. The link below will give you the official Ford transmission vs fluid chart. The chart shows the A4LD for this year uses either Mercon straight (as per the manual, but very hard to find) or MERCON V which is readily available.
Incidently, with this information under my hat, I went back to Orielly's, it was late, nobody else was around and we are friends. I survey each employee on which fluid is correct. The store manager said Type F (which is probably the worst thing you could use). The others pointed to one version or another of the universal fluids. Note, if you read the back of these bottles, they say they are not compatible with Mercon V. This could mean the fluid meets Mercon but not Mercon V, that is, it is not forward compatible to Mercon V. I don't know that, and my last assumption was dead wrong.
I did a search on the forum to see if this information was apparent through searches, but it was not easy to find, and again, there were people answering with the wrong fluid. So, I decided to post this thread.
Finally, somebody will want to reply that they use a universal fluid and it works great for them. GOOD! I'm not saying universal fluid will lead to failure. I am only providing Ford's position that MERCON V is the best fluid to use in the A4LD.
Synthetic? Mobile 1 Synthetic ATF does meet the spec, so if you wanted a synthetic trans fluid, that would be one choice.
