So Mark, some updates for you. Where you said "I wouldn't use it. It is a one size fits all fluid that does not have a Ford license that it meets Ford specs. It also troubles me that the front says DEX/MERC, and on the back it doesn't say anything except MERCON LV. There actually isn't a spec for DEX/MERC, so any fluid can say DEX/MERC.".
I looked at the Valvoline site and even though the back of the bottle says nothing except Mercon LV, their data sheet shows this:


So again, multi use not ideal but it does say Mercon by it self too. I'm still gonna get that stuff outta there and put in just Mercon. No drain on the torque converter which is a bummer so I'll do the drain through the hardline method while adding.

 

The technical service bulletin from Ford states to use MERCON V as the replacement for MERCON. Mark’s point was that there is no standard for “MERCON” which you just proved. He is saying to use it at your own risk because you don’t know what additives are in that fluid.

 

Where are you going to get MERCON fluid? DId you store some away back in 2006 or earlier? Nobody has made MERCON since 2006.

 

Mercon V it is. I never noticed your autosignature below your name lol

Also, it had a cork gasket, and I saw somewhere that the bolt lengths for the pan are different if you use a reuseable gasket? Can anyone confirm?

Other questions:
1) do you have to clean the magnet every time you do a fluid change? (I'm thinking every 15k instead because it is a motorhome and I'll be towing a car) I'd like to just drain the pan with the drain plug and not have to drop the pan until maybe every three oil changes,etc.
2) since tranny was rebuilt, I don't have a drain plug on the torque converter. When I drained the pan I got about 6.6 quarts out or so. I unhooked the rear hardline to the back of the tranny and started it up, and fluid comes out of that hardline, but it's not exactly dumping. Isn't there supposed to be like 10 quarts left? Could one have the hardline removed and the pan remove and just let it come out from everywhere, and when it starts to dry up then turn the key off? I would add fluid back in if I had the pan back on as fast as it is losing it through that hardline but again I want that Mercon LV (we think) stuff out.
Ideas?

 

I would do what instructions, say do (turn truck off as soon as air appears in clear line), and would not take a $3,000 chance of removing the pan, in hopes of finishing up in record time, your already, pressing your luck with wrong fluid in it, that your removing, follw the directions.

 

My idea is that you should just buy another transmission. You were given instructions on how to change the fluid, but with your decades of transmission experience, you know better. Your ideas here will destroy the transmission, but on the other hand, it isn't my transmission, it's yours. So do it. Prove me wrong.

Running it with the pan off may have already damaged the pump enough that you need a rebuild.

 

i would just like to point out that it is impossible it meets MERCON and MERCON LV. ONe is a conventional(to my understanding) viscous fluid(but thins down when warm) and the other is a super light viscosity fluid that probably has a very tight difference in viscosity, as well as the later being completely incompatible with many seals/o rings/gaksets that the 1990s mercon fluid was compatible with and also then meet a laundry list of specs. thats just magic. which tells me its meeting Mercon LV and they slapped the name MERCON on there to falsely imply it will be great/.work in your c6 or e4od and your 10 speed (new cars)

 

I drained the pan, got 6.6 quarts, then with a helper turned key on for 2 seconds so I could see which hardline fluid came it out of for the purpose of draining what was in the torque converter since mine doesn't have a drain plug. It ran for like 3 seconds then key off. That's it. My concern was that the remaining 10 quarts or so didn't start flying out of the hard line with a squirt. It sort of trickled out. It never ran long enough to get bubbles or air, I stopped before that.
The other stuff I said with theoretically having the pan off letting it come out of all the orifices onto the ground was just a question to get rid of the other 10 quarts since this wasn't flying out of the hardline, I hadn't actually done it. Someone said you can't mix Mercon LV and Mercon V, and by dumping new Mercon V into the pan for the purpose of flushing just does that, doesn't it? (mix the LV and V together).
I was just thinking out loud. Everybody's thoughts on the above?

 

 

the lines shouldnt have been disconnected at the trans i would have done the radiator, but eitheer way, the fluid shouldnt dump out 10 quarts in 2 seconds.

The torque converter wasnt a proper replacement type? Why is the torque converter lacking a drain plug. did you rotate it to verify.Id say you need to pull off the converter then, and you then should just carefully drain what remains in cooler lines and make sure it has proper flow

 

The hardline at the tranmission oil cooler up front is what I have disconnected now.
It was a rebuild so the shop didn't install a torque converter with a drain plug. I turned the crank and there is not one present.

 

Since 2001 the stock torque converters have not had drain plugs.

Here is how to change ALL of the trans fluid. It will remove your MERCON LV and replace it with whatever you pour in. This thread is like pulling teeth.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles...-transmission/

 

WOW! If only someone would have posted that...say a month ago O, yeah...

 

The procedure says:

Open the line where the ATF returns to the transmission from the
cooler. This is the line towards the rear of the transmission.
Run the engine until you see some air in the clear tubing. As soon as you see air shut off the engine.

That will give you whatever fluid comes out of the trans plus whatever is in the cooler system, with no way to distinguish. I wanted to know what running the engine would cause to come out of the trans. I purged the cooler system as a separate issue.

I drained the pan. The plug is at the bottom, the magnet is in the plug. The magnet had what appeared to be some grey sludge. But since the oil is brown, I figure the grey is iron. I rubbed it between my fingers, and could feel nothing. It is too fine to feel.

I started the engine. For several seconds, nothing, then some dribbles, then more nothing, so I shut it off. I probably ran it half a minute, did not get enough oil to cover the bottom of the bucket.

The trans is now empty. I have not removed the pan. I have OReilly house brand synthetic Mercon V. I replaced the external filter. I have internal filters available.

Suggestions?

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The trans is an E4OD that I built eleven years and 95K miles ago. I have never changed the fluid. It was red, it is now brown.

It has an F5 pump with a metal drain back valve - I melted a plastic one once. I used a Transgo Tugger kit, with the selective hole size the smaller of the three suggestions. I put a 6 planet somewhere, I forget where.

The convertor is a triple disk billet. The pan is six inch deep aluminum. I plumbed a standard Ford oil filter into the cooler feed line. The cooler is a dedicated heat exchanger near the rear of the trans with a fan. The cooler lines are 3/8 aluminum - no rubber. There are a in-cab temp and pressure gauges.

There is a sight tube on the side of the pan. I fill to the top of the pan.

It is behind a 7.3L IDI diesel, and controlled by first gen Baumman.

 

I hope you didn't damage the pump by running it dry.

You should have followed the procedure I wrote. What you did by draining the pan was to prevent the trans from pumping out any fluid.

And no, the trans is not empty. The pan is empty. The trans with a stock pan holds about 18 quarts. It will be more with an aftermarket pan.

I recommend picking up the procedure at step 3.

Follow the rest of the procedure as written. If you don't want to run this fluid through the coolers, just refill the pan (around 7 quarts) and hope for the best.