Originally Posted by SirTanon
Numbers look about like I'd expect for MC LV after only 15k miles. You're underusing that fluid... 25k - 30k intervals will be just fine.
I've used both Motorcraft Merc LV and Valvoline MaxLife, and I have not noticed any real difference in shift quality. It's having CLEAN fluid with good additives that makes the difference, IMHO.
See
here and
here for my UOAs with MaxLife.
Also, to tig's point, Mercon LV will definitely darken early in the 6F35, but that's normal and doesn't really seem to affect quality. In my experience, the Valvoline stuff will darken early as well in the 6F35. It just seems to be a quirk of the 6F35 with the LV fluids.
My current fill has been in for about 22,000 miles. I have an oil change planned for next weekend (12/29) when the car hits approximately 267,500 miles (~22,500 miles on the LV) but I will most likely wait until the following change to do the trans D&F (30,000 miles on the LV).
As I posted previously I did an initial ATF drain & fill on our 2017 Explorer 2.3 EB at 12,000 mi, using Mercon LV. The factory fill was black. I did another drain & fill 10,000 miles later and it was dark grey. I did a 3rd drain & fill again 10,000 miles later. This one was a REAL DARK red, with a hint of grey. It was a more "normal" looking ATF. For all my drain & fills I used Mercon LV. There has been no issues with shifting, it's been like when new. I'm a bit concerned that Ford put a car transmission in a fairly heavy and powerful SUV. Since we keep our vehicle for a long time and transmissions are expensive I'm going to keep doing "cold" drain & fills every other oil change, around 15,000 miles. They are so easy to do on this Explorer "cold", 4 quarts out, 4 quarts in. So far that's worked perfect. I buy a 12 quart case from Rock Auto for ~$60 delivered or $5/quart, cheap!
Whimsey