Mercon LV / Mercon V question... am I in trouble?

[selfmechanik]

I've got a 2003 Ford Escape V6. The manual said use Mercon, not Mercon V. The transmission holds 10 quarts, and you can easily drain 4 quarts via the drain plug. I wanted to do some partial drain and fills (drain 4 quarts of the 10 quarts). If you do several, through dilution, you get most of the old fluid out.
Anyway, I two gallons of Valvoline Maxlife Mercon LV which is also supposed to be good for Mercon. I drained 4 quarts out and put in 4 quarts of the Valvoline. Then I went online to find out if I needed to seal the drain plug. I wish I had gone online sooner! I found out that Mercon was replaced in 2007 with Mercon V now (my manual is wrong now), and also one should not use Mercon LV.
However, the Valvoline Maxlife LV is supposed to be compatible with all Mercons. But then I found out I have the CALIFORNIA VALVOLINE VERSION, which is only labeled for LV, and not Mercon V. So I've got 4 quarts of Mercon LV in my transmission now.
I decided to try to get back to mainly Mercon V. I got 12 quarts of Motorcraft Mercon V from the dealer. I did a drain and fill today and now have 4 quarts of Mercon V in my tranny, plus the mix of old fluid and the Mercon LV.
I figure if I do 2 more partial drain and fills, I'll have 75% new Mercon V, and the rest is a 60/40 mix of old and the Valvoline Mercon LV. This means in the end I'd have about a quart of the LV in my tranny. Is this a problem? Ford says don't use LV if you've got a Mercon/Mercon V tranny, or it will fail.
Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Bluestream]

No, just drive on, and don't worry about Ford. When Mercon V first came out Ford said not to use it in any vehicle expect the one listed or damage will occur. Later when they discontinued Mercon, they said it was fine to use V in everything that used to use Mercon

 

[mongo161]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
No, just drive on, and don't worry about Ford. When Mercon V first came out Ford said not to use it in any vehicle expect the one listed or damage will occur. Later when they discontinued Mercon, they said it was fine to use V in everything that used to use Mercon


I guess Ford wanted to make sure they got rid of their inventory supply of regular Mercon.

 

[selfmechanik]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
No, just drive on, and don't worry about Ford. When Mercon V first came out Ford said not to use it in any vehicle expect the one listed or damage will occur. Later when they discontinued Mercon, they said it was fine to use V in everything that used to use Mercon

Thanks. My understanding is when Ford discontinued Mercon in 2007, they reformulated Mercon V to work for both Mercon and Mercon V. Their newer transmissions are designed to the lower viscosity LV, but the old transmissions like I have need the higher viscosity Mercon V?
Several people say V and LV are NOT compatible, and if you put LV in your tranny, it will fail. I'm not sure who to believe.

 

[Wolf359]

Mercon V was basically just a synthetic blend of Mercon III. You can get Mercon V from Walmart around $4.27 a quart, Supertech meets the Mercon V spec. Valvoline never really paid Ford their licensing fee so their Mercon V is just a recommended product for Ford Mercon V applications. In tiny print it says it's not a licensed Ford product.

And yes, I've also read that Mercon LV is not the same as Mercon V. I would just use the right fluid for the right application.

 

[Ethan1]

The CD4E transmission was introduced in the Ford Probe in 1993, well before Mercon V was a twinkle in some engineer's eye. It's widely reported by Contour and Escape owners that you should NOT use Mercon V, you should follow what the manual says and use Dex/Merc. (Also you should add a trans cooler if you don't have one, but your V6 Escape probably has an internal AND external trans cooler already.)

In my personal experience servicing my family's old Fords, Mercon V made a Contour's CD4E very temperamental. A nice drain/fill with Dex/Merc cured harsh upshifts in an Escape.

 

[Bluestream]

The Mercon V formula was changed a few years ago, and is compatible with the CD4E. If fact there are millions of them on the road with Mercon V

 

[selfmechanik]

Thanks all. Just to clarify, my concern isn't with using Mercon V. By the time I'm done with my partial drain and fills, I'll have about 75% new Motorcraft Mercon V.
My question was about having about a quart (10%) of Valvoline MaxLife Mercon LV. I thought the "california" version was not Mercon V compatible, but I've since learned the "california" version just has a different label and can't claim it works for Mercon V, but it's the same stuff as the regular Maxlife (I think) so according to Valvoline it is compatible and I should be fine, so I shouldn't worry.
I posted because I just didn't know if I needed to do even more drain and fills to lower the amount of old fluid and the "california" Maxlife, but now I'm thinking I'll be ok.