My 2001 F150 requires Mercon V for the transmission. When I bought the
trans fluid to change it, I was sold Valvoline Durablend synthetic blend ATF
that says it meets the Mercon V rating. Also on the bottle it also says it
meets Dexron III and Mercon ratings. After reading some of the problems
people are having, I am now concerned that using this Valvoline Durablend ATF may cause my transmission to fail. Also on the back of the bottle it
says it is engineered to meet manufacturer's warranty requirements for
General Motors Dexron III and Ford Mercon and Mercon V specifications.
It claims to have enhanced anti-shudder protection. Does anyone have any
thoughts or comments on this?

 

My thought......I was having problems with my AOD shifting hard and irregularly.....
I changed the filter and filled with Valvolines MaxLife....over a year later, still appears to have been a good idea.
As for the regular DuraBlend....I cant see how you would be going wrong.

 

In order for a ATF to meet the Mercon V..it is supposed to be fully synthetic.

 

I believe there was a posting here last summer of a link with Ford info that said you had to run a Mercon V not a combination Mercon/Mercon V, but that essentially leaves you running only Motorcraft. I don't have any Mercon V applications, but the warning applied to the regular Mercon too. I know Redline has an ATF that is supposed to meet Mercon/Mercon V and other specs. It is their D4 ATF. I have it in one vehicle's auto tranny and in a manual tranny, but earlier chickened out and filled the motorhome with Mobil One ATF (the E4OD tranny was a special case with even more dire warnings against Mercon V). Redline is about the best you can get and has antiwear additives at levels not found in other ATFs, yet are gentle on yellow metal. For the long duration it's in the tranny, that seems like a good idea.

 

The manual in my 2002 Taurus says you can use a dual rated mercon if the vehicle requires Mercon V, but not if it requires Mercon. I chose not to take a chance and got Motorcraft Mercon V. I don't think I would use the durablend in any Ford since people on this board have had problems with it as a Mercon V and the manual says not to use it for Mercon. You can find the motorcraft or Castrol Mercon V pretty easy now and prices are around $2-3 per quart.

 

I put Redline D4 in my F150 5k ago, transmission shifts aot better now than at any time since I have owned the truck, which I bought new. Have 35k now.

 

The Valvoline ATF I saw today at Parts America is Mercon V rated and is a semi synthetic. I don't believe Mervon V ever was 100% synthetic. Anyway, this is a timely thread as I am getting ready to buy the 13 quarts I need for my 02 Explorer. My Parts America has the RedLine brand there too. I never heard of it so didn't look at it too closely. I'll check it out next time I'm there.

 

No it doesn't. MERCON V specs are performance based. Some fluids that are not synthetic will meet MERCON V specs.

 

The Valvoline Durablend is dual-rated (Mercon/Mercon V), according to Valvoline, and in my own experience it does not work well in a tranny requiring Mercon V:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...2&postcount=12

As has been noted, straight Mercon V is now quite easy to find everywhere on the shelves and is priced competively. So IMO there is no reason to take a chance with a dual-rated ATF fluid if your tranny calls for Mercon V.

 

Who makes a Mercon V only rated oil?

 

Motorcraft and Castrol, for starters. I think I've even seen a Havoline Mercon V seperate from their Dexron/Mercon ATF.

 

About 2 months ago I was at Autozone and they had Mercon V fluid marketed by AAMCO for 3.00 a quart. I bought this and used it in my 98 Windstar which calls for Mercon V transmission fluid. This fluid is made by EXXON because I saw a statement on the back of the bottle that said it was made by them in Fairfax Virginia. It was also a synthetic blend. So far it seems ok. It shifts just fine and this tranny has around 170,000 original miles on it. Has not been rebuilt yet.

 

I also believe that for an ATF to be classifed Mercon V it should be full synthetic, but that is not the case......Exxon-Mobil has a part synthetic and Pennzoil has no mention of synthetic on their Mercon V.....I'm sure that their are other refineries that are not using synthetic base stocks but i've not done the research.

 

I saw some Valvoline Mercon V (not Durablend) at Checker the other day. It said part synthetic and also Mercon and Dexron III on the back. Kind of suspicious like it could be the same thing as Durablend.