Did i buy the right type of fluid for my M5OD-R1 transmission?

[Alex8706]

I want to do a fluid change on my M5OD and i am starting to second guess the type of fluid i bought after reading a little more about it on the forums here. What i bought is Valvoline MAXLIFE Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF DEX/MERC, MERCON LV. I recall reading in another post before i bought it that is would work great. But after doing a little more research i am becoming hesitant to use it. Can anyone give me a little more insight it would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Amazing Fourms by the way. Has helped me a lot.

 

[Alex8706]

Decided to drain the fluid since i have another car i can use to exchange the MaxLife with something else if i need to and noticed that the fluid was dark gray and kind of clear not red like i thought it would be. I know i have the M5OD cause i dont have a pan to drop just the fill plug on the side and the drain at the bottom. To my knowledge the Mitsubishi Transmission takes gear oil and the Mazda Transmission takes ATF. Do i need to flush all the gear oil out or is letting it drain for a day good enough?

 

[swshawaii]

Interesting thread regarding Mercon V. Must be the increase in friction modifiers.

what fluid is best for my M5OD transmission? - The Ranger Station Forums

 

[Alex8706]

People seem to be getting good results with the DEX/MERC. I am just worried about it being to thin since its for MERCON LV too.

 

[Centaurious]

If you don't have a pump for the fluid remove the shift boot (4 screws) and then the shift lever (3 bolts) and pour the fluid in from the top. I would highly recommend that you pull back the carpet and remove the access cover in the transmission tunnel and see if you have 3 rubber plugs behind the shifter. These should be replaced with small freeze plugs as the rubber plugs loosen up and cause a fluid leak and transmission damage.

 

[Alex8706]

If you don't have a pump for the fluid remove the shift boot (4 screws) and then the shift lever (3 bolts) and pour the fluid in from the top. I would highly recommend that you pull back the carpet and remove the access cover in the transmission tunnel and see if you have 3 rubber plugs behind the shifter. These should be replaced with small freeze plugs as the rubber plugs loosen up and cause a fluid leak and transmission damage.

I recall reading another post saying the same thing about the freezer plugs. Would i be able to access them from under my Explorer or do i need to go in from the access cover?

 

[Centaurious]

The transmission has a top cover that contains the shifting parts. The shift rods slide in machined bores in the cover, the plugs cap the ends of these bores so, only access is from the top. If I'm not mistaken the top cover is removable through the transmission tunnel that would mean that you could unbolt it and install the plugs at a bench. Sorry I am not sure because I did mine while doing a transmission change so the whole transmission was out of the truck.

 

[Alex8706]

The transmission has a top cover that contains the shifting parts. The shift rods slide in machined bores in the cover, the plugs cap the ends of these bores so, only access is from the top. If I'm not mistaken the top cover is removable through the transmission tunnel that would mean that you could unbolt it and install the plugs at a bench. Sorry I am not sure because I did mine while doing a transmission change so the whole transmission was out of the truck.

Just wanted to give an update. I was able to take off my shifter boot and center console which gave me enough room under the carpet to get the four 8mm bolts to the access cover off. Getting the access cover out was pretty easy to just had to wiggle it around a little.From there i was easily able to see and remove the three plugs. Gettting the new plugs in was a little difficult but with a little patients i was able to get the new doorman plugs in (#555-108). I also went ahead and got a shifter rebuilt kit at my local autoparts store for $22. The lower bearing looked good but the upper was none existent. I thought that was a little odd maybe the person who did it before didnt put it in. Replaced everything in the shifter, put the new cover on, reinstalled everything else in reverse order and everything works much better now. My shifter is much tighter now and i havent seen any kind of leak yet as i did have one before but thought the gasket was bad or something.

So thank you very much for the idea to fix those rail plugs Centaurious. It fixed a problem that i thought was being caused by something else. Saved me a headache for sure.

 

[Centaurious]

Glad it helped and thank you for letting us know the outcome. The more Results for problems, good or bad, that get posted the better the Forum is for everyone.