MaxLife ATF okay on tranny with only 24,000 miles?

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Klutch9

Klutch9

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The car in question is a 2007 Ford Focus, automatic trans. I bought the car in January with only 21,000 miles... super low miles for an '07. Anyhow, whenever I buy a car i like to treat it as if the car was never maintained at all. That means all new fluids all around (except the coolant in this case, as it had just been changed). Now i know that maxlife is "high mileage", but i know it is a pretty good product and is dirt cheap compared to a lot of other brands/fluids. what would you guys recommend? i've used Mobil1 atf before, but that was in a manual trans. but it did pretty well.

By the way, this car has the standard external transmission cooler from the factory.
 
MaxLife ATF is perfectly fine to use in new vehicles (the same is true of the motor oil by the same name). I knew that to begin with, but for grins and giggles, I asked Valvoline recently--and they replied in the affirmative. I just bought a bunch of MaxLife ATF for my car with ~46K miles on it.
 
I having conversation with Valvoline as well about that product. I too like the price and the fact that it is synthetic. I am trying to find out that since it is a synthetic, does that make it BETTER than the Motorcraft Mercon V speced from the factory for my vehicle. One member on this forum sent some great discount codes from Advanced Auto, so you can order it online and pick it up at your local store and save a bunch of $$$.
 
I use Maxlife ATF in both the vehicles in my signature. The Buick has 100k miles on it, the Honda has 36k miles. Both transmissions shift better with Maxlife ATF than with OEM-spec fluids. The Honda in particular shifts better for longer than on Z1 ATF. That car's known to be hard on transmission fluid, though.

I'd used it with confidence.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
I use Maxlife ATF in both the vehicles in my signature. The Buick has 100k miles on it, the Honda has 36k miles. Both transmissions shift better with Maxlife ATF than with OEM-spec fluids. The Honda in particular shifts better for longer than on Z1 ATF. That car's known to be hard on transmission fluid, though.

I'd used it with confidence.


DITTO.
 
I think I used BIG35, which was $35 off $80+ IIRC. There's also RAF1A1102 which is $35 off $85+. These are awesome discounts.
 
Quote:
does that make it BETTER than the Motorcraft Mercon V speced from the factory for my vehicle
Valvoline claims their Mercon V is synthetic in small print near the bottom. "MERCON®V ATF is a premium, full synthetic automatic transmission fluid engineered to be superior to conventional ATF." I presume not every brand Mercon V is full synthetic.
http://www.valvoline.com/products/brands/valvoline/automatic-transmission-fluid/35
 
Valvoline changed their Mercon V formula, no longer synthetic.
Max life is synthetic and they clain it meets AND exceeds any Mercon V spec, including Motorcraft.

From Valvoline today:

The Mercon V product was initially introduced as a full synthetic formula, however the product was changed back to a conventional ATF product to assist customers with pricing, as Ford did not require a synthetic.
As we discussed in our other email with you pertaining to the same questions, our Valvoline products will meet and exceed all specifications that the Motorcraft Mercon V products will. The Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc ATF products will far exceed any specifications set by Ford on the Mercon V products, due to it's full synthetic and very high quality additive package.
 
I will either be using Maxlife or Pennzoil ATF on my Outback here soon...soon as it stops raining. *sigh*

But my AT is nice and young at 93000 miles.
 
Thanks for the discount codes! I put an order in at about 11:40pm tonight, just before they expired. I ordered 4 quarts of Valvoline Mercon V ATF (which is synthetic, just like the MaxLife is). Idk what swayed me towards the Mercon V instead of the Maxlife... both meet the Mercon V spec, but the "actual" Valvoline Mercon V was also licensed by Ford, so I figured why not go for that one. I will pick my order up tomorrow and change the fluid in the afternoon.
 
I'm sure it will serve you well. I always say you've gotta go with whatever soothes your conscience.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Fitz98
Valvoline changed their Mercon V formula, no longer synthetic.
Max life is synthetic and they clain it meets AND exceeds any Mercon V spec, including Motorcraft.

From Valvoline today:

The Mercon V product was initially introduced as a full synthetic formula, however the product was changed back to a conventional ATF product to assist customers with pricing, as Ford did not require a synthetic.
As we discussed in our other email with you pertaining to the same questions, our Valvoline products will meet and exceed all specifications that the Motorcraft Mercon V products will. The Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc ATF products will far exceed any specifications set by Ford on the Mercon V products, due to it's full synthetic and very high quality additive package.


Hmm... Valvoline's website still says "full synthetic" for their Mercon V ATF. Maybe that change is yet to go into effect and will soon?
 
I was leaning towards the Valvoline Mercon V as well, but got nervous when I could not find ANY on the shelves in my local stores. I thought there was a recall or something. They say it's because the stores sell more of the Max Life than the Mercon V, so from an inventory perspective, most stock the Max Life.

I asked that question about the Mercon V saying Synthetic on the website in an e-mail to Valvoline today.

"Also, I have seen some website information that says it is fully synthetic and others where it is partially synthetic. Which is it?"

The reply from Valvoline was
"The Mercon V product was initially introduced as a full synthetic formula, however the product was changed back to a conventional ATF product to assist customers with pricing, as Ford did not require a synthetic.
As we discussed in our other email with you pertaining to the same questions, our Valvoline products will meet and exceed all specifications that the Motorcraft Mercon V products will. The Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc ATF products will far exceed any specifications set by Ford on the Mercon V products, due to it's full synthetic and very high quality additive package."

Either way, it seems like what you will get will still exceed Motorcraft Spec. I am only basing this on e-mail correspondence from Valvoline. I have no experience with either of them, but I will be doing my flush tomorrow with the Max Life.

If you would like, I can e-mail you my list of Q&A with Valvoline, but it's too much to do here.
 
I have worked at auto repair shops where we have a 55 gallon drum of Valvoline Maxlife and use it in cars with low or high miles. We don't have problems with it.
 
I put Maxlife ATF in my 2008 Honda Odyssey @ around 20Kmi and in my 2008 Hyundai at ~39Kmi. They're now at 38K and 65K.

Joel
 
I use maxlife in 2 of my cars, 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe and 2006 Kia Sedona. Works great in both applications. I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a low mileage Ford.

Anyone that lives in the midwest near a Meijer store, they carry Maxlife ATF for $3.67 per quart, or $13.99 in gallon jugs. This is their everyday price. They are my current source since Walmart around here stopped carrying it altogether.
 
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