https://www.walmart.com/ip/Valvoline...uart/197728252

 

Seems we'd be allowed to buy "only" 12 quarts at a time---I'd buy 50 (or 48) if that were allowed.

 

You can buy as much as you want. Add the item to your cart. Then on the cart page, you can type in as many units as you want. I ordered 36. At 30,000 mile intervals, I'm good for the next 100,000 miles.10 quarts shipped via FedEx from Sacramento, CA. 26 quarts shipped via OnTrac from Ontario, CA. All 36 quarts are suppose to be delivered by today.

 

Well drats---I piddled around just long enough to see the price double---a whopping $5.48 now.

At that price I buy Motorcraft Mercon V from the dealer for just about that same, always at least 12 quarts at a time.

Good price when this was first posted---thanks for the heads up!

 

I should have switched into "hording mode", and bought more. I just changed the transmission fluid about 4,000 miles ago. If I do it again every 30,000 miles or so, I think I've got about 100,000 miles worth of fluid. I may not have the car longer than that. The current generation of cars is already using Low Viscosity ATF. Who know what cars in 10 years will be using. Which is why I try not to buy too much motor oil. Over 10 years ago, 5W-30 cars were re-spec'd to use 5W-20. A lot of today's cars have moved onto 0W-20. 0W-16 is on the horizon. Who knows what we'll be doing in 10 years from now. I just used up all of my dad's cans of motor oil from the 70's. Oil was just as good as the day it went into the can. I felt like an idiot changing oil with a can opener.

 

Oh yeah---I'm of that same mind as well. I was buying Valvoline's MaxLife 5W30 in the 5 quart jugs from Amazon for like $17.86 or so. They'd only allow me 6 of those per order so with the help of friends who'd order the same quantity and call me when it arrived at their address so I'm still fully stocked on that brand and type. Same with FL-820S filters---have been paying just under $4 each in non-retail packaging for quite a while now.

With my reman'd motor about to be put into full time service in order to preserve the warranty I'll be using Motorcraft brand 5W20 until the warranty expires---at 100K miles or about two years from now. The warranty doesn't specify that brand but it wouldn't hurt any claims of warranty issues with a stack or Ford dealership oil receipts.

If you ever notice this same sort of sale again please post it---I'll not hesitate again! (I'd do the same too---love passing on good savings.)

 

Rock Auto had Mercon LV in 6 gallon box. About $50 or so, plus tax & shipping. I bought 1. When I logged in again a few hours later, it wasn't even listed anymore.

 

26 quarts did not arrive on time. Item is being rescheduled for deliver. WalMart gave me 20% off for the missed delivery.

 

Can you reorder at the lower price now?

I've looked into the 6 gallon boxes---my own local dealer wasn't aware they were even available. I would think shipping pushes the price up quite a bit---those'd not be light.

 

MOTORCRAFT XT56GM

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...=8319300&jsn=3


Today it is listed at $76.79. Tax & shipping brought it up to about $100 for my zip code. For 24 quarts, it was near $4 a quart. It could be less for you, if your zip code works out to lower shipping cost.

 

That's not a bad price---I found something close on RockAuto too---was pleasantly surprised shipping was so "fair".

 

So I contacted my dealer whose price would be just under $72 for the 6 gallon bag-in-a-box XT 5 6GM ATF. He did mention there might be one of the Motorcraft warehouses who'd charge shipping but they'd be able to search for one without that cost simply transferred into their location.

That puts cost/quart at $3 each---not bad at all.

 

You should buy it at that price.

 

I prefer using the specified fluid whenever possible. Multi-Vehicle ATF is sometimes disastrous if you are not reading the labels.

Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF is fine in Dex/Merc & Mercon V. But NOT labeled for Mercon LV or Dexron VI. It's expensive. I've tried it. Nothing good or bad happened. It worked for Mercon V.

Valvoline MaxLife, which a lot of people like using. Myself included, because of the over the counter price. The label"recommends" the product for almost every manufacturer's specifications. Except for Mercon V in California - because CA is the only state which says "you can't do that because it doesn't actually meet Mercon V specifications." In 49 other states, and The District of Columbia, there is no consumer protection so buyer beware. I have used this for Mercon LV. Very inexpensive alternative for low viscosity fluid which is in most cases, more expensive.

Lucas Oil ATF has a Semi-Synthetic which is Dex/Merc, Full Synthetic which is Mercon V, and a product called Transmission Fix. I've used all 3, without any noticeable benefit. Nor were there any problems. Several times, for superstition or as a junk-scientific experiment, I added the Transmission Fix to high mileage vehicles during the course of a fluid exchange. Shrug your shoulders,and "let's see what happens". Nothing happened. Maybe that was the point. The transmission did not fail. No evidence that it actually did anything. Just $10 tossed into an old transmission for luck. It couldn't hurt since the odometer quit at 345,XXX miles, and I just kept changing the fluids and driving the car for another 15 years.

I've always been skeptical of how any multi-vehicle fluid can truly be for every vehicle. If that were the case, then why don't OEMs simply use a multi-vehicle? Why do we have all these different fluids with different specifications? I like how Red Line & Castrol sell a bunch of different fluids for different applications, as opposed to a 1-size-fits-all formulation, like Royal Purple. I've used Red Line, Castrol, and Royal Purple, and neither of them did anything magical.

With absolutely no baseline, or controls.....my personal experience is that none of the boutique oil brands, or any aftermarket brand of ATF, does anything better than the OEM formulation. I've also decided that since all of the different formulations worked, as long as the label specified the application, none of them are bad for my cars. As long as I don't try to use something not labeled for the application.......like pouring Royal Purple into a modern vehicle which calls for low viscosity, even though Royal Purple's label says that it is not to be used for LV applications. Now armed with personal life experience, I refuse to spend more money on any boutique brand automotive fluid. I will never buy Lucas Oil, Amsoil, Red Line, Royal Purple......ever again! I will now buy whatever I can buy at the lowest price, as long as it is labeled for use in my application. Which is why I bought Valvoline, despite the fact that it specifically states on the front of the bottle that it is not a Licensed Ford Product.

 

That Valvoline is definitely NOT "a licensed Ford product" is somewhat meaningless---to me it simply says its not sold in any Ford-branded packaging. We don't know if Motorcraft isn't produced by Valvoline do we? If Valvoline says it meets the Mercon V spec but could be proven their formulation caused transmission damage that'd be a huge issue. Same for the Max-Life motor oil--which I've been using for close to 10 years myself.

My own trusted transmission rebuilder offered me his generic brand AFT bought in 55 gallon drums, that all it needed with an additive to make it Mercon V compatible. No thanks--after having had my 4R75E repaired I wasn't about to save a few pennies using something that may or may not give me reliability and long life. I'm sure he's right but he didn't disapprove my using Ford's Mercon V straight from the dealer.

All that ties into your idea about avoiding use of multi-vehicle ATF formulas---like anything "universal" or "all in one" something is left out or missing as a compromise to make it one size fits all. I love the lower price of the cheap stuff but when it comes to the reliability and quality issue I tend to go with the better brand. I do avoid all the uber-high cost stuff as I'm sure some of it is just snake oil. If it could be proven to me its the best to use then maybe it'd be under consideration.

Good conversation here---learning something new every time!