I was gonna flush my 2002 Ford Escape transmission my self and was wondering if I need to add a friction modifier with the new Mercon/Dex fluid? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

No, don't use it.

 

There is a plug that a 3/8 ratchet goes into that is the drain plug.Mercon/DexIII fluid I think 4 quarts

 

If you drain it cold, have at least 6 quarts of fluid and a 6+ quart container. Mine dropped more than I was expecting, and the container got awful close to overflow. I used a plastic wash basin from a hospital stay, and the fluid was almost exactly at the 6 quart mark.
Do the drain hot, and you'll have some portion of the fluid sequestered in an upper chamber, but it will drain eventually when the thermal valve opens.
When cold, the converter drains some back into the pan, and the fluid is also contracted, and the 'reservoir' is open for drainback. When warmed up, the converter fills fully, the fluid expands, and some it trapped. It is more difficult to check the fluid level in this transmission than a lot of others. The fluid has to be fully warmed up before you actually can measure the level properly. Which means, if the level was fine before, measure how much drops out, and replace with that amount, and it should be good.
tom

 

Thanks for the posts guys. I will not add a friction modifier to my trans.
Sounds like it may be better to do a cold drain which will get more of the old fluid out and on jackstands to help the flow. I plan to run it a day and do another cold drain and this should get almost 90% or better of my old fluid flushed out

 

Use Mercon V. It replaced regular Mercon 6 or 7 years ago in all applications that previously required Mercon.

 

Will Walmart's Supertech mercon/dexIII compatible
Fluid work instead of mercon V

 

I bought the gallon jug of Mercon dex III from advanced I think i ran valvoline

 

Go to Wally online. You can 'order' for store pickup gallon jugs of Merc/Dex from Valvoline. Especially made for >70k miles, synthetic, and good for Mercon, Mercon V applications.
Cost ~$4.25 a quart. Full synthetic. The same or less than house brand & nationals.

Valvoline.com > Products > Automatic Transmission Fluid MaxLife
Valvoline.com > Products > MaxLife > Automatic Transmission Fluid MaxLife > MaxLife® DEX/MERC ATF
http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/maxlife_atf.pdf

I figured it was good for mine, so ordered 3 gallons. A drain/refill cold will use 6, almost exactly. Well as exact as the marks on the side of the drain pan.

Anyone have experience with this ATF?
tom
Get the Valvoline MaxLife Dexron / Mercon Automatic Transmission Fluid at Walmart.com. Save money. Live better.

 

Thanks for all your advice. Ended up using the Walmart
super tech dexIII/mercon instead of mercon V since the
2002 Escape dipstick said mercon. I bought 3 gallons for
$33. Drained 4 then replaced 4, drove around the block
to get new fluid mixed with old shifting thru all gears P R D 2 1 then drained another 4 and repeated the sequence so
that I basically drained 12 quarts and replaced with 12 quarts of new fluid. Ford wanted $129.99 plus tax to flush and fill. I feel I have better than 90% clean fluid or better in there now by doing this method. At next oil change I will drain 4 again just for the preventative measure. Took me about 3 hours and a six pack.

 

Keeping this thread alive, I just did the dilution exchange to renew the trans fluid. Supertech MERCON at WalMart, $11.89 per gallon. '05 Escape XLT 4x4, 99,550 miles, first trans fluid flush (I know, I've been lucky). 4qts first cold flush, drove 10 miles, 4qts second flush. The first drain was pretty ugly looking fluid. The second drain looked great, so I'm happy with a $24 trans fluid flush. Trans shifting really smoothed out after this simple PM.