Looking good! Out of curiosity, what is the factory recommended interval for changing ATF in the Fusion?

If I'm not mistaken it's every 150K....WOW....imagine what that UOA would look like.
I changed the FF in the 6F35 in my Escape at 16.5K ...I had planned on going about 30K between changes but may do it at 20 or 25K after seeing that it continues to shed metals long after break-in. I used Castrol Full Synthetic which is Mercon LV licensed...I added a bottle of LG Red as well.

The lab report list the tranny as an 'Aisin' 6F35....I'm pretty sure it's a Ford/GM unit and not made by Aisin.

VeryNoisyPoet

Thanks. pbm is right, 150k is the recommended interval. I increased the frequency a bit after hearing so many shift issues with this generation of Fusion.

pbm

I think a big reason for the drawn out decay of wear metals is that a drain and fill only removed about half of the transmissions capacity. These frequent changes have helped my transmission shift better and faster. A notable difference over when it was new off the dealer lot. I agree that it is a Ford design. That was my mistake. I was under the impression that it was made by Aisin as I had read that in one of the forums that I am a member of but it turns out that he was wrong and, in turn, I was wrong for adding it to the lab report.

We have the same transmission, 6F35, in our 2017 Explorer. I initially did a drain and fill at ~12,000 miles. The fluid looked super dark, practically black, was not any shade of red as the new Motorcraft Mercon LV is. I just did another drain and fill today again with Motorcraft Mercon LV at ~22,000 miles and it was the same color, almost black. But on the bright side there was no "fuzzy" build up on the drain plug, it was totally clean. I can't picture leaving the factory fill ATF in for 150,000 miles. But of course your warranty runs out at 60,001 miles . Thank goodness it's real easy to do drain and fills with this vehicle. And I buy a 12 quart case of Motorcraft Mercon LV from Rock Auto for $60, $5/qt, delivered.

Whimsey

whimsey,

I couldn't agree with you more. There is a difference you can feel after a drain and fill. It is really easy to do especially after the first time. Thank god for rockauto. I buy my oil, gear oil and transmission fluid from them. Way cheaper than the dealership.

Wow... That's a good argument that "lifetime" fluid here means "get it out of warranty before it completely dies" fluid. When the transmission kicks the bucket (because of fried old fluid), that's the end of the lifetime!

It's understandable that you (or the other guy) thought it was an Aisin unit because Ford did use Aisin's in certain years with the 2.5 (I think it was mostly with the Fusion but maybe the Escape too).

I agree that the A/T shifted better after changing the FF....I thought it might have been because of the Lubegard Red but it probably was the fresh fluid. I also agree about the D&R leaving 1/2 the old fluid in the A/T which is why I'll probably D&R it every 20K or so....I think you are taking the steps necessary to almost guarantee never having issues with your A/T....Good Luck.

PS: I was initially disappointed with having an A/T without a dipstick....it seems they want us to bring it in and spend $$$ for a 'A/T service'....I learned that by draining the fluid when cold and measuring what comes out...I can get almost exactly the correct amount back in.....of course this assumes that the unit was properly filled at the factory. So far I've had good success doing it this way with both my (sold) 2011 Chevy Cruze and my 2014 Escape....in both cases the A/T shifted better after the D&R.

Asked the dealer to do a drain and fill. They refused, said the transmission is sealed and the only was to change the ATF is using the flush machine, for $200 ! Refused that nonsense took it back and did it myself after reading up and watching some utubes. Glad I did, it was so easy to do. I bought a case of Motorcraft Mercon LV from Rock Auto. I costs me $20 per ATF change. Like you I do it cold. I get out 4 quarts and put back in 4 qts. So far it's worked just fine.

Whimsey

Ford lists a 30k interval for ATF under "Special operating conditions" right in the manual. That said, there are no doubt plenty of these transmissions out there with 150k miles on them, with the factory fluid, and they're still running....

Regarding the color, it's 'normal' that Mercon LV turns dark very quickly. It is NOT indicative of a problem with the transmission or the fluid.

It's not indicative of a quality fluid, either, or one that is going to stay in my transmission long. I went to Amsoil ATL and haven't looked back. Will likely get a UOA on this fill around 130k total miles (40k on fluid) just to see how it compares.

I'm all for OE parts but Motorcraft Mercon LV doesn't seem to hold up. I happily use Valvoline Maxlife Every 30K if you wanna keep the car a long time!

Mercon LV holds up just fine, it just tends to darken/discolor in a (relatively) short amount of time. In my Fusion's 6F35, Valvoline MaxLife and Mercon LV both seem to darken in pretty much the same amount of time. By 25,000 - 30,000 miles, both turn sort of dark "grape kool-ade" colored. The color of the fluid, however, has absolutely zero to do with the remaining life in the fluid. I have no doubts I'd be able to run the stuff for longer, and have the fluid hold up fine.. but I don't. The drain & fill is more about the contaminants than the fluid.

Having said that, I've run more Valvoline MaxLife ATF fluid in my Fusion than Mercon LV, and I find it to be an excellent replacement for the MC stuff, for less $$




You're correct - the Aisin trans in the Fusion is the TF-80 6-speed trans. The 6F35 is a GM/Ford co-effort, and is unrelated to Aisin.

And yeah, you're also right about the recommended 150,000 mile fluid interval from Ford.. I don't even want to think what the UOA would look like. Also, I would imagine that the fluid that came out at the end of that 150,000 miles would look like the cover of Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove' album. How much more black could it get? None... none more black.

I haven't had any issues with Mercon LV darkening at up to 50K miles in the 6R80 in my wife's Mustang. I think the early color change stuff must be transmission and perhaps vehicle model specific.

Most people would drain the transmission from the drain plug, then fill it. I wonder how many 6F35 owners are actually draining and filling 3 times.