soooo

re the MD
was this Mercon Dextron stuff a bad thing to do.???

 

No, that was the proper fluid at the time. Both MERCON and Dexron III have been discontinued. MERCON V is now the right fluid.

 

Wouldn't a bigger supply of fluid in a bigger pan at least keep the fluid from wearing out as fast, especially for some serious towing. That is as long as you didn't overheat it.

The other nice thing about the oversized pans is that they usually have a drain plug and tapped for a sensor as well. My 2000 Ex factory steel pan had neither if I remember correctly. I added the mag hytek to mine.

Aluminum will really absorb and disapate some heat. The drywall surface less than a foot behind my woodstove in my shop would get so hot you could barely hold your hand on it. I hung a 3 foot by 3 foot aluminum sheet as a heat shield a few inches off the wall and it would just feel barely warm when the stove was really cookin. I have a steel sheet on the side of my stove and that works also but is noticeably warmer to the touch.

I added a big (10 in by 20 in) permacool to my Ex as well as the big pan. My question is which cooler style is better. The bent tube and fin traditional style or the stacked plate style which seems to be more common in newer vehicles.

 

Mark K.
please sir....
the fluid i have put in is less than 1 yr ....it was the MD...
Could i possibly make this tranny work better going to the Mercon V.
or
at 116 K miles...should i start thinking about a new one or rebuild...

Symptoms....
1. Shifts seems real slow between 3rd and od.
2. Slight shudder at the end of the shift.....unless i do it manually from the button.

thanks for letting me run this into the ground..
ps
tranny never runs more than 160 degrees and 100 to 110 on the hiway....even in the heat

 

It might get better with MERCON V. The reason Ford developed MERCON V was to fix shudder problems in other transmissions. It may fix your shudder concern.

The 3-4 shift is always going to be long. The torque converter usually locks during this shift and the two events make the shift seem long.

 

Thank you
Learned more from you on this than i have anywhere else in this FTE on about anything.
reps coming.