so much for mercon 5

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BAD97LSC

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my 93 has had a shudder for a little while but it was very slight most of the time you wouldnt even feel it, nothing i even worried about, but for the hell of it i decided to flush it last weekend and change the filter and fluid, what a waste, this is the first time i have done this and gotten worse results. the trans shudders 10 X worse now all the time. ive heard in the past that if a ford tranny doesnt have problems dont touch it, because 9 times out of 10 if you do, it will have problems. looks like i wasted 65 bucks, now i'll drive it till the tranny dies. oh well lol what can ya do.
 
Whats that stuff you add to help cure shudder? Lucas something or other? Do you know what i mean? It's some kind of anti slip additive. Be worth a try as a last resort.
 
Jamie, truly sorry about your tranny problem. For sure it's an expense no one ever needs. I had mine replaced by Aamco about a year ago. I keep meticulous records of everything I do to my 94. Only seldom do I really open my Mark up speed wise. Mine went out at about 130,000 miles w/out looking it up. They gave me a real good price, I knew the manager. Then about 5 months later they went belly up. With all of your experience, is a rebuild something you can do yourself ? I hope so. Gary in Elmira, NY.
 
jamie you ever used Royal Purple Max ATF, I have been selling RP here for years and you can't believe how many people have commented about it removing shutter and even some slipping
 
ive used some stuff from napa in the past in a red tube called dr. tranny, stuff is awesome, kills tranny shudder in 5 miles or less, now that the fluid and filter are brand new, i'm gonna put a tube in, its just a friction modifier and may help the new merc 5 soak in quicker. its 8 bucks or so, i'm going that route first. if i have to pull the tranny, i'll buy a new convertor. and no gary i cant rebuild a tranny, trannies are one thing i dont touch, i have dropped valve bodies a few times but even that scares me!
 
Despite everyone recommending by the mercon V, I have not changed mine. stock trans has 125k on it & still shifts smooth without any shudder. I use mercon III just as it called for back in 95 & all is good.

I know the mercon V is synthetic & holds up better in heat, however if you change your fluid & filter every 2 years or so there shouldn't be a problem.

Jamie, hopefully the trans will calm down or the friction modifier will do the trick for you. Don't you have tons of transmissions laying around anyways?
 
The service manager at my local Ford dealer said if its never been replaced to not change the transmission fluid cause the clean fluid will make it slip.
 
turborich said:
Despite everyone recommending by the mercon V, I have not changed mine. stock trans has 125k on it & still shifts smooth without any shudder. I use mercon III just as it called for back in 95 & all is good.

I know the mercon V is synthetic & holds up better in heat, however if you change your fluid & filter every 2 years or so there shouldn't be a problem.

Jamie, hopefully the trans will calm down or the friction modifier will do the trick for you. Don't you have tons of transmissions laying around anyways?
Click to expand...

The problem with Mercon III is that is breaks down the friction material. Ford specifically called for a change to Mercon V. If you are putting anything other than Mercon V in your trans, you are not putting the right stuff in per Ford. Sure it may be fine now but eventually your TC will be toast.
 
The only difference is that mercon V is synthetic & resist heat better. It doesn't break down the friction material. I honestly believe that ford changed to mercon V across the board because they held the patent at the time & could charge you more for it. If my TC was going to be toast it would have given up before 125k. It's all about proper maintenance, no matter what kind of fluid that you use. Now if it was a 98 when ford called for it from the factory, then i would use it.
 
Jamie your 93 probably had one of the early converters and by this time.. no fliud change in the world will solve that issue it's probably burned up the lock up friction surface long ago.


then again, after driving it for 100-200 miles your symptoms MAY get better.
My 95 did.
It shuddered bad when I got it.. I changed the fluid and was dissapointed it didn't solve the problem and it might have gotten a little worse.. like you describe.
But.. after some driving, the Merc 5 got "worked into everything" and it lasted a good long time after that.

*crosses fingers for your shudder*
 
of course ya should just chunk one of them 98 trans in there and call it a day.

hell you take em out ALOT.. put one or two BACK in!
*JK*
 
a wise 4r70w guru once said..

ONLY USE MERCRON V

that in itself was enough for me to hear.

I'm not gonna "save money" on trans fluid when a 2K trans is at stake.
 
I had a shudder when I got my Vic and putting in new Mercron V fixed it... geuss you get lucky sometimes...
 
turborich said:
however if you change your fluid & filter every 2 years or so there shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

Holy bejeezus, give Turborich a prize, he figured it out! The ONLY way to make a transmission last for LIFE is to change the fluid RELIGIOUSLY, starting early on. One of my box Townies had 211k on the original transmission because it was changed at 30k, and then every 30k interval after that. It would probably still drive today, but the car rusted out on me (thanks Pennsylvania for over-salting our roads in the winter). Both my Marks have well over 160k on the dial and original transmissions, once again, the fluids were changed regularly.

Here's what typically happens, and unfortunately with automatic transmissions the damage is done before the symptoms show up: people neglect changing the ATF, or choose not to because it shifts just fine. Mistake number one. Then, after anywhere from 70k-130k on the original fluid, the transmission will start to slip a little. Remember what I said before, by this point, the damage is already done. So, with a slipping tranny, they change the fluid to try fixing it. Of course, the transmission is already doomed, so when it gets worse, people connect new fluid with transmission problems. Mistake number two.

I've met lots of folks who went over 100k, or even 150k, on original fluid. But never once have I ever met someone who had transmission problems when they started changing the ATF at 30k or 60k instead of 100k.

Short version, change it regularly :)
 
On my 95 mark 8 the original trans lasted until 360,000 miles and about 5000 dragstrip passes, changing the fluid on "roughly" a 30-40K interval with mercron 5.
 
XLRVIII said:
On my 95 mark 8 the original trans lasted until 360,000 miles and about 5000 dragstrip passes, changing the fluid on "roughly" a 30-40K interval with mercron 5.
Click to expand...

WOW! you gut your moneys worth outta that one! That's awesome.
 
well i fixed it today, completely, i went to napa in clearwater on a nice hot tranny, dumped in a tube of dr. tranny instant shudder stop, and no joke, i left there, it never did it once again, its been perfect all day and actually shifts better than it ever has now, best 6 bucks i ever spent!
 
man all this has really got me scared to change my fluid now. i got the car with 150k on it and i have no idea if it has ever been changed or not. it shifts ok now, not like new but ok. only thing i really notice is it seems to down shift a little rough. any thoughts on changing it or leaving it alone?
 
jamie97lsc said:
well i fixed it today, completely, i went to napa in clearwater on a nice hot tranny, dumped in a tube of dr. tranny instant shudder stop, and no joke, i left there, it never did it once again, its been perfect all day and actually shifts better than it ever has now, best 6 bucks i ever spent!
Click to expand...

i am going to have to grab some of that then
 
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