Transmission fluid mixed. Redrain or am I fine.

[Cryosong]

Last night I decided to change the trans fliter and fluid. I bought 5qts of Valvoline MaxLife since it was on sale and saw others use it over Mercon V with positive results. I guess there was less fluid then I thought since the 5qts wasn't enough, and since it was late and I still needed to drive home, I stopped at Walmart to get a qt. Didnt have any mercon V so I opted with supertech mercon lv/dexcon vi, half way thru the bottle I noticed the words "Not Recommended for use with Mercon V" I stopped pouring it immediately, and checked fluid level and it is only at the very bottom dot. With the many mixxed answers I've found online, I wanna assume that if I top it the rest of the way off with the correct stuff it'll be fine and I'm probably over thinking it, but being my only transportation to work, and knowing how temperamental transmissions can be I wanna be sure. Should I just go ahead and eat the 5qts and drain and refill? Maybe add some Lucas Transmission conditioner? Thanks for any input you guys have.

 

[donalds]

Drain and refill a couple times to get all the old wrong fluid out unless you didn't start it then just what's in the pan
Suck it out the dipstick tube with a auto parts store transfer pump
Use Mercon V Only
And I wouldn't put in any additives the new fluid would be the additive

 

[Cryosong]

So damage will occur with just half a qt of Mercon LV? And that's why I didnt grab Lucas as the full syn already had the needed additives.

 

[boominXplorer]

Your probably fine with just half a qt in there. There's 11 qts in there when full, I'd just make sure its fully topped off with Mercon V. Don't use any additives.

 

[Cryosong]

That's what I thought, just hit 230k and I doubt much maintenance outside of oil and plugs ever got done unless is needed to be addressed. Old fluid was dark and brown, so I'll probably be changing the fluid again around tax season since I'll be replacing/upgrading basically the entire top end then aswell. Thanks!

 

[Cryosong]

A little off topic but 1st pic are the old struts I replaced last week, I'm surprised the explorer still drove fairly smooth for the condition. 2nd pic is a missing transmission mount bolt. I got a new bolt from the junkyard but the treads are stripped in the tranny , Logically I want to just take a nut and bolt and tighten it down like that for now as I'm trying to find a vibration that started two weeks ago. Any opinions?

 

[boominXplorer]

You can get a nut to sit ontop of that and through bolt it. Worst case you can replace the tail housing.

 

[Gary Crist]

I would not worry 1 bit.
Back in the day, a couple of quarts of type F firmed up the
shifts.

A good read that might help.

Techtips - Selecting the Proper Automatic Transmisison Fluid

 

[410Fortune]

actually you should not be putting anything but Mercon V in there
BUT a quart of some other ATF is not going to kill your transmission when it mixes with 12-13 quarts of mercon V
There is some additive you SHOULD add to help with the mixing and stop any issues with that Mercon LV being in there

Lubeguard trans additive is a GOOD IDEA now with the wrong fluid in there this will put back some of the stuff that is missed/needed
Automatic Transmission Fluid Protectant - Lubegard

 

[boominXplorer]

^^^ Lubeguard is the only additive I'd use but it's not as readily available as Lucas or other options.

 

[CDW6212R]

Given the old fluid was dark and brown, and just about half replaced, the fluid is overall still in bad shape. I would get as much as possible out now, and put in Mercon V with a Lubegard additive. Poor ATF is a big cause of issues, and is a great indicator of internal conditions.

At that mileage, the solenoids are all old and due to be replaced, besides accumulators and minor VB updates. At the least, I'd do the fluid again because there is so much which is trapped inside, with just dropping the pan. The new filter is fine for years, but with high mileage, more needs to be done in the near future, than the fluid.

 

[Cryosong]

I'm sure it would appreciate some more attention, it wasn't really giving me any problems before just figured it could use fresh fluids. Changed both diffs and tcase fluids aswell. Seems to shift a little firmer and quicker but could just be me looking for an improvement lol. I was gonna check the bands this weekend and I am gonna look into doing a valve body kit, I'm just holding off til tax season as I'm already gonna be getting new heads built and ported and polished and can address the transmission while its parked for a little. I guess I should just go ahead and get more fluid to drain an refill it this weekend. Opinions on best way to drain it? Should I just drop the pan again?