I recently changed the tranny fluid in my 03 f-250 superduty I used Royal Purple Max ATF because a good friend who has an 04 said it was highly recomended.I did some research and talked to a few others,and went with it. Now after just signing up on this web site and reading alot of the threads I am second guessing my decision. It would be cheaper to swap the fluid out than to replace the Tranny. I would love to hear from some of you about my predicament.
THANX
D.D.

 

i would of went with something that said merc v on the front of the bottle i worked at a ford dealership a read in so pamphlet that that they had a motorcraft merc v trans fluid that was "full" synthetic if you can believe that these days

 

What tranny do you have? Tranny fluid has gone under a big face lift in the last 2 months. Ford and GM stopped issuing licenses to oil companies to make mercon/dexronIII fluid. So ford came out with the new revised mercon V for use in all previous mercon applications. But never use the older mercon V in the trans that needs just mercon. Ford should have changed the damn name. There will be confusion on this for time to come.Royal Purple made the switch in may, you just need to make sure the bottle says "max atf" if not its the old stuff. The new stuff is mercon V spec and covers the old mercon spec.

 

My Tranny is a 5-speed auto-matic w/tow-haul feature.The Royal Purple fluid is definatley Max ATF.I think the recommended fluid is mercon sp. What is the sp vs 5 or 3 etc...Thanks for the tips would you leave the royal purple in or change it out.
D.D.

 

NO ONE has been licensed to make Ford spec SP! If I were you, I'd call whoever makes RP and ask if they will guarenty using their product in your TorqueShift. I believe that they would deny any warranty claim.

 

Royal purple does not recommend the use of their products for the SP application. Only ford has the correct fluid.

 

Thanks guess its time to swap it out.
D.D.

 

This proprietary ATF thing is nuts. It took several years for Chrysler to license +4. I think all of them are running modern automatic transmissions on the ragged edge of failure, probably for fuel efficiency, so they need exotic fluids to survive. For decades you just used type F in Fords and type A in everything else. For another 20 years you used Dexron/Mercon in everything, even imports.

Jim

 

Your right.I just spent another 200 bills to swap back to the mercon sp.Just to keep my warranty legit. Oh well 200 or 5,000.Easy decision!!!!!!!
Thanks
D.D.

 

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You've nailed it to the heart of the matter here Jim.
I read where the MAIN reason stems from transmissions controlled by computers in modern vehicles that neccessitated tweaking the ATF forumula for various cold and warm -- towing transmission performance. THAT, and having those fluids protect the trans while the powertrain is under warranty. Many transmissions are also in not only pickups, but various sized SUVs as well, many used in severe service. I'm not stating also that "severe service" as heavy towing (that is a percentage of it, sure) but soccer Moms that use their large, heavy, SUV's for short cold drives, stop and go traffic, ect. Car makers would have a lot of $$ loss stemming from replacing transmissions, under warranty, with the main culprite as trans fluid breaking down / failing.

This basically is an "industry" issue, and your Chrysler +4 ATF as a good example.

Ed

 

We still have an old, very heavy, Dodge Ram van in the family. It has the 727 Torqueflite which shifts smoother than these modern computerized ones. Stop and go traffic, hot or cold, has never bothered it. BUT, it has no overdrive gear and no lockup torque converter, so it wastes gasoline. Heck, unlike the old Ford and GM units, there is not even a vacuum modulator. Those transmissions were still used on Cummins turbo-diesels until the torque ratings got over 500ft-lb.

Jim