How often should I drain and fill with Mercon LV?

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6 speed ford/GM designed 6F35. It has the updated valve body.

So it had a full fluid swap during the warranty valve body fix, approx 33k miles. I had a full fluid swap done at 120k and I did a drain and fill around 160k because I was worried that MaxLife atf wasn’t the right stuff. I know now that it’s fine. I have enough Mercon LV to do another drain and fill.

Thoughts on when I should do the next drain and fill? Ford claimed 150k for the original fill.

Transmission is shifting fine, no strange behavior noted.
 
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Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010

Thoughts on when I should do the next drain and fill? Ford claimed 150k for the original fill.


Maybe if driven nothing but freeway miles.

Any regular city driving or towing, I say change it at 50,000
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010

Thoughts on when I should do the next drain and fill? Ford claimed 150k for the original fill.


Maybe if driven nothing but freeway miles.

Any regular city driving or towing, I say change it at 50,000


On our Explorer 3.5L with the 6F55 ~ that 150k nonsense was in the OM. That’s a twisty motor pushing that trans …
Flip a few pages and find “severe” and it is 30k … So that 50k is pretty reasonable IMO …
 
If it's easy to drain and fill yourself why not spend the $15-20 to do it every other oil change, every year, whatever.
 
I have a 2010 Fusion SE with the 6F35 transmission and the 2.5 engine. Just today the car rolled past 250,000 miles.. well, I should say, it HIT 250,000 miles..

i6cbqf.jpg


My standard trans fluid regimen is roughly 25,000 - 30,000 miles. I did my most recent LV drain and fill at about 21,000 miles, but that was coincident with an oil change, and because I wanted to add some LubeGard Red in with it.

I have used 100% Valvoline MaxLife as my fluid for multiple drain&fills.. My latest was the last of my MaxLife (about 3 quarts) plus 1 quart Motorcraft Mercon LV and 15oz of Lubegard.

The car shifts very cleanly. There is no jerkiness, lag, or flaring. I drive the car roughly 110 miles round trip commute to work each day, 4 days a week.. and put about 500 miles per week on it overall. About 90% of my driving is highway, frequently at speeds at or exceeding 70MPH. Summer temps here reach 120+ degrees F.

... Hope this helps.



Originally Posted By: JamesBond
If it's easy to drain and fill yourself why not spend the $15-20 to do it every other oil change, every year, whatever.


It's SUPER easy to do the drain&fill on the 6F35 trans on the 2010 Fusion. There's a drain plug in the trans, right at the bottom. Every other oil change would be overkill, but every 25,000-30,000 miles is the ideal interval.
 
I have a 2015 Fusion with the 2.0L. I change mine every 15k, which is every other oil change for me. I know it is overkill but I have heard about so many early failures or poor shifts with the 6F35 on the second gen Fusion. I don't know what changed in the transmission between 2012 and 2013. I drive about 30k a year. My wife has a 2012 Escape with the same transmission. That one shifts very well, even better than mine although mine does shift better than most second gen Fusions I have driven. I do a drain and fill on hers every 3 years since she doesn't drive very much. It's easy to do like SirTanon said, but it's also pretty cheap. I change out about 4 quarts at a time which costs under $20. I would say that 30k intervals would work just fine.
 
Our 2017 2.3 EcoBooost Explorer has the same 6F35 transmission. I did a drain and fill at 12,000 miles and will do another at ~25,000 miles. After that it'll be every ~25,000 miles. It's soooo easy to do a drain and fill and the Motorcraft Mercon LV can be had for less than $5.00/qt. $20 every 25,000 miles is a lot cheaper than a $4,000++ tranny failure at around 80,000-100,000 miles on factory ATF. Which is conveniently past Ford's 5 yr/60,000 mi power train warranty even though they say it's good for 150,000 miles. They are not going to pay for any failure past the 5 yr/60,000 mi pt warranty.

Whimsey
 
Since you have a drain plug and dipstick tube, it it easy.

Maxlife is good stuff that will give you many miles of service with no problems. But if you are still afraid, the parts stores have a sale on Castrol Full Synthetic ATF a few times a year for $5/qt. It is licensed Mercon LV.

If your transmission is known to have issues, and changing the ATF is easy, you can even change it every year, even though 30k should probably be sufficient.
 
I recently did my '01 Mercury Sable after 40K on the fluid. The old stuff came out looking clean; it could have gone longer. This was the third complete fluid exchange for the vehicle.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I recently did my '01 Mercury Sable after 40K on the fluid. The old stuff came out looking clean; it could have gone longer. This was the third complete fluid exchange for the vehicle.


I would think your 2001 Sable would use Mercon V not Mercon LV.

Whimsey
 
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