I here alot of people talking about problems with slippage in certain gears and problems with their torque converters.. so this is why i am here posting.. I was recently having problems with slippage and i called up my mechanic and he suggested before doing anything drastic (like spending $$) to go visit my local Napa and try this product called "shudder fixx".

I was skeptical about a $4 2ounce tube of stuff that was gonna make all my problems go away ,but, i gave it a shot seing how it was labeled as safe under oem and all manufactuers warranties and so forth.

This drastically helped my shifts and the slippage and such.. anyways i hope this may help someone.. i have not had the chance to try any of their other products but, should sumthing come up i'm going to check their product line first! I'll post a link directly to the product i used!

International Lubricants, Inc. > Transmission Products

 

year 2000 with over 100,000 miles? when was the oil changed last. sometimes putting the new MERCON V oil in will revive the viscosity lost in old oil... glad the addative worked for you.

 

The problem with such products is that they don't actually fix anything. They may be worth the money to get more mileage if you do not plan to fix the vehicle, but rather replace it. They mask the problem. The problem will reappear, and when it does, it will be beyond hope.

The slipping occurs when either seals go bad and leak out the pressurized fluid, when the fluid is too low, or when the bands and clutches are excessively worn. So here is how these failures most often occur.

Old seals go brittle and tend to shrink and crack with age. Normally, the conditioners in the fluid can prevent this from happening for a long time. If the fluid is not replaced often, the seals begin to degrade. Once the seals have been damaged they require replacement. The additives like yours address this problem with a solvent that causes the seal to soften and swell. This may keep the seal from leaking, but the seal is now very soft, and it wears and tears very easily. The seals gradually dissolve, and totally disintegrate. Also seals in your transmission that were not leaking are exposed to the same solvents, and they soften and swell too. This causes the problem to become much larger than it originally was.

The next common cause of slippage is worn bands and clutches. The bands and clutches are designed to slip a certain amount to make the shifts softer and less noticeable. The computer that controls the shifts may use various methods to adjust the firmness, usually by pulsing solenoids. These solenoids rely on certain viscosity conditions of the fluid. If the fluid is too thick or too thin, the transmission will not behave correctly. Also if fluid leaks past the solenoids, altering the pressures, the transmission will not behave properly. Additive like the ones you mentioned mask these problems by slowing down fluid leakage, altering the viscosity, and also through the use of what are known as friction modifiers. However, none of these approaches fix the problem, which may be as simple as old worn out fluid (Ford recommends the fluid be changed every 30,000 - 50,000 miles). If the solenoids are leaking, you will need new seals, and if this is not corrected, the bands and clutches will wear too rapidly. If the bands and clutches are already worn, and they are not replaced, the transmission will overheat and tear itself apart.

Treatments like the one you used are designed to mask the symptoms of total transmission failure, and often cause you to drive a worn transmission which might be simple to fix, until it does more serious damage to itself. Using such products is like covering rust spots on your car with duct tape, just because you don't see them doesn't mean its not still there, and the tape will trap more water causing accelerated rusting.

My advice is to see if you can find a tranny shop that can give you a real diagnosis of what the problem is, and what it might take to fix it. From there you can decide if you want to live with the problem until it dies, or fix the problem before it gets any worse.

 

Thats correct I have 146k miles on the clock now.. I purchased the vehicle 5 years ago off of a lease.. it was leased by a woman with a small child.. I know this because the drivers seat was the only one that didn't look brand spanking new and there was a bit of pink glittery nail polish on the edge of the seat.. the back passenger side seat had imprints in the leather from a child seat.. That was a determining factor in my purchase..

I talked the Ford dealership into including the 50k mile tune-up/fluid change/lube/injectors(new) and so forth in as part of me purchasing the vehicle and keepin it under warranty. Which would had came from my pocket for around $800 so i was glad of that.. All my fluids are changed freuqently and i've never have any leaks or fluid from my tranny that was dark in color or smelled burnt.. I have had the tranny fluid itself flushed 4 times since 50k miles.. these X's are notorious for tranny problems.. I would spend the money to replace the bands and such but, as long as it still runs strong and i can take care of it temporarily no big deal.. If my X makes it to 200k miles and i have to replace the bands then no harm,no foul. I always use the Mercon V and for my Motor Oil choice its Mobil.. I've used the same Oil in every Ford i've owned and had 180k+ miles on every single vehicle up until it wasnt worth anything and the single reason to sell it was transmission problems. I also suggest changing from your typical oil of choice every 4-5 changes due to the fact the solvents vary from oil to oil. Example: The solvents in Pennzoil will vary from Quaker state and so on and so forth. Also a seafoam treatment goes nicely occasionally. (no flames please)

Thank you Bear River for posting some of the hazards of using such products.. but for those of you with older vehicles experiencing these problems, I feel its a better alternative than spending thousands of dollars (possibly) on a vehicle that just is not worth that much. I've heard good things about the company that makes that particular product and am overall pleased considering i've driven 20k miles since the addition of the shudder fixx and the issue has continued to get better.

I just hope that this may help some of you with high-mileage older vehicles. I would try this first before taking it to an expensive transmission shop. (Just my two cents)