Transmission flushes in a bottle.....good or bad?

[imq707s]

I'm starting to get a little shuttering in the tranny of my 97 Mountaineer AWD. This happened a few years ago and I changed to AAMCO Mercon V Synthetic Blend fluid and the problem went away. Well now it's back so I'm going to drain the pan and convertor and put all new fluid in it. Before I do this, is it a good idea to dump in a bottle of "tranny flush & cleaner" that is sold and most autoparts stores? It's supposed to clean out any gunk and deposits that may have gathered over time.
Can that stuff cause any problems? Good or bad idea?

Also, should I add a bottle of "tranny conditioner" that is supposed to re-condition all of the bands in the tranny?

Or am I better off to just change the fluid and be done with it?

By the way, my mountaineer has 125,000 miles on it.

Thanks for the help,

 

[Opera House]

Avoid those bottles like the plague.

 

[aldive]

Avoid those bottles like the plague.

Wiser words have not been posted.

 

[jayhawkexplorer]

Yep, I agree too. The fluids may temporarily make the problem disappear, but it won't go away forever. Better to do it right.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Fresh Merc V has the correct seal swell additives, friction modifiers, and detergents for your transmission. I'd beware of "fixes in a bottle".

 

[imq707s]

Maybe I worded my question wrong......

I'm not asking about the "tranny tune" that you add to your existing fluid to fix any problems......I'm asking about the stuff that you add and then run it for a few minutes to clean out any gunk or varnish in the vlave body/clutch packs.....then drain it all and install new fresh Mercon V fluid. The "tranny flush" is supposed to clean out any deposits and stuff....and then you just drain all of it out.

Kind like that stuff you put in your engine oil and run for a few mintues and then drain it all out and fill with fresh out.

I figure that if there are any solenoids or valves that have varnish or buildup on them, this "tranny flush" stuff might be a good idea to run through the tranny before I drain out all the old and put in all new.

Did I explain it any better this time??

Thanks

 

[aldive]

Did I explain it any better this time??

Thanks

... and I have the same answer for you.

 

[Glacier991]

as bad or worse. IF they work at all.. all the gunk in the trannie will be free floating around... potential SOLENOID CLOGS HERE WE COME! (in other words, don't). (please do not ask about a flushing machine..... it'll start a war.)

 

[imq707s]

thanks....I guess I will stay away from the " flush".

 

[aldive]

thanks....I guess I will stay away from the " flush".

Chenical flush, yer; however, a physical flush is a good thing.

 

[Opera House]

I hear this varnish all the time. What is this, an old 75 v8 engine? Maybe in the days of old fluids like F there might have been. Metal and clutch material do get impacted into the spinning sections of the transmission. Just a bad idea to have this all coming out at once and it wouldn't likely come out at the time you do the flush. In any case, you shouldn't have that much. Add a couple extra magnets if you find grey sediment.

 

[Eneurb]

They way I see it is, if these additives were so great, why does Ford not put their name on the bottle, or even put it in at the factory??

 

[Jeeps&Fords]

97 AWD? Isn't that a 4r70w? If so, it should get Mercon, not Mercon V.

 

[imq707s]

I was told that the Mercon V synthetic blend fluid was better than the Mercon. Switching to the Mercon V did get rid of the overdrive shutter I was getting. So far I'm very happy with it.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

i think there was a tsb that updated all the 4r70w's to merconV instead of mercon to fix torque converter shudder.... its fine to run eithe rof them in it put in low temps merconV works better...

 

[Jeeps&Fords]

Interesting. There is a F150 bulletin that says NOT to do that. There have been big discussions about this over on the F150 forums and the concensus over there is that Mercon III and Mercon V are not interchangeable up or down. In fact, a couple of the guys have had warranty claims denied because they were running V in a trans that was designated for III.

 

[imq707s]

All I can tell you is that with Mercon fluid, my tranny would shutter every once in a while while in overdrive. I've been running Mercon V for a long time now and have not had any shuttering problems at all as long as I change the fluid and filter every once in a while. I'm not sure what the real difference is between the Mercon and Mercon V, but what ever it is......it does the trick.

 

[Jeeps&Fords]

Another solution to the shudder problem is to get the updated valve from Baumann. I'll actually be installing one over the weekend when I install my shift kit.

 

[imq707s]

Thanks, I'll check it out.