Mercon LV Fluid Analysis video

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
25,104
Location
ON, Canada eh?
Only posting because there is a sample of Mercon LV that was sent to the lab and it found high aluminum. Not because he's an Amsoil user just before the "usuals" find it necessary to get on their bandwagons.
 
Last edited:
In before the AMSOil cheerleading!
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Well, I guess if the manufacturer considers the "lifetime" of the vehicle to be the lifetime of the factory warranty, they've succeeded.

The downside with that is when the customer thinks they should have gotten longer life out of their vehicle past what the OE might have intended they will not return in future.
wink.gif
 
It wasn't a "lifetime" fluid in the company vans I had it in, including the '03 that came with SP and was changed to Kendall Versatrans LV. Unless the definition of "lifetime" is until the transmission needs an expensive rebuild!
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Well, I guess if the manufacturer considers the "lifetime" of the vehicle to be the lifetime of the factory warranty, they've succeeded.

The downside with that is when the customer thinks they should have gotten longer life out of their vehicle past what the OE might have intended they will not return in future.
wink.gif

I don't want to hack off any of the Ford fans here, but anybody who thinks Ford & their dealers have anything in mind other than seeing how much $$$ they can squeeze out of their customers is sadly mistaken. They weren't always that way, not that GM & FCA are much better.
 
What were the results? I could only get through 30 seconds. Mercon LV is a dark fluid so color doesn't mean much. I didn't think mine looked bad when I dropped the pan around 60K miles.
 
It came back at 80,000 miles "Critical" on the report and to change immediately. Aluminum was super high it was also oxidized and acid was forming.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by StevieC
It came back at 80,000 miles "Critical" on the report and to change immediately. Aluminum was super high it was also oxidized and acid was forming.

The transmission may still have lasted another 80k. Note. I'm not a lifetime fill guy. Lifetime fills seem to suit the typical buyer that trades every few years.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
My point is the fluid seems spent at 80K miles and it's supposed to be a lifetime fluid.

Do we know that Amsoil would have done better as the initial fill run the same miles?
 
Originally Posted by CT8
Originally Posted by StevieC
My point is the fluid seems spent at 80K miles and it's supposed to be a lifetime fluid.

Do we know that Amsoil would have done better as the initial fill run the same miles?



We don't know. The intial fill after the factory is nearly always ugly. After 80K I'm sure everything will be gnarly.
 
I'm not al all impressed with MC LV ATF. When I drained my 2017 Fusion at 30K the ATF was very dark. I now have Valvoline Max Life LV in it, but will change to M1 LV ATF soon.
 
Originally Posted by CT8
Originally Posted by StevieC
My point is the fluid seems spent at 80K miles and it's supposed to be a lifetime fluid.

Do we know that Amsoil would have done better as the initial fill run the same miles?

I'd put money on it based on my own experiences of the Hyundai SP-III Turning brown in my Santa Fe in 50K KM (30K miles) and leaving clutch wear guk on the dipstick (No Filter in this transmission) and doing a complete exchange and refill with Amsoil and it still being the same cherry red after 100K KM (60K Miles) when I checked it and again at 160K KM (100K miles) when I changed it out because it was my axiousness. When the camshaft snapped at 300K miles (535,000km) it shifted just like it did when I bought it. Literally no change in its performance.

IMO Mercon isn't capable of a long run. 30K miles sure but I wouldn't feel comfortable running it longer where it looks like this after 80K miles.

That said this guy is pretty good at doing follow-up videos so I'm sure now that he has done a complete exchange and refill with Amsoil we will see another video once some miles are accumulated. I follow the channel only for the VOA / UOA's he posts.
 
Last edited:
How long transmission fluid last is going to be different for every person depending on use especially in a truck. Stuff like towing probably cuts life in half. He didn't need an analysis to SEE that transmission fluid is DONE. Fords have transmission dipsticks so the question is WHY would anybody let it get that black before changing in the first place. And we all know there is no such thing as a lifetime fluid so why is that even a consideration.
 
He bought the truck used, he mentions that in a different video. It's factory fluid. There are lots of other folks on here that have had similar shorter OCI's and the fluid is dark like this. Darkness by itself shouldn't warrant the fluid being toast but it's a cheap indicator maybe it might need to be changed short of a UOA because usually the two correlate together.
 
OTOH the factory Mercon LV from my wife's prior 2011 Mustang with 6R80 had no discernable color change after about 50K miles when I did a pan drop & filter change on it in 2017. My experiment of how it would look after receiving an infusion of 8 qts Kendall Versatrans LV and another 50K miles in service was cut short when it was totaled by a driver pulling out directly in front of her Spring 2018.
 
Originally Posted by tig1
I'm not al all impressed with MC LV ATF. When I drained my 2017 Fusion at 30K the ATF was very dark. I now have Valvoline Max Life LV in it, but will change to M1 LV ATF soon.

FWIW M1 ATF isn't a LV ATF, one reason I used Kendall Versatrans LV in my wife's prior Mustang with 6R80.

https://www.mobil.com/english-us/passenger-vehicle-lube/pds/glxxmobil-1-synthetic-atf

http://www.kendallmotoroils.com/kendall-versatrans-lv-automatic-transmission-fluid-atf/

https://www.yoderoil.com/product/kendall-versatrans-lv-automatic-transmission-fluid/

WM has a Ford approved Super Tech LV ATF as well.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Te...-Transmission-Fluid-1-qt-Bottle/52626198

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Te...omatic-Transmission-Fluid-1-gal/52626199
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by stanlee
How long transmission fluid last is going to be different for every person depending on use especially in a truck. Stuff like towing probably cuts life in half. He didn't need an analysis to SEE that transmission fluid is DONE. Fords have transmission dipsticks so the question is WHY would anybody let it get that black before changing in the first place. And we all know there is no such thing as a lifetime fluid so why is that even a consideration.

The 6R80 transmission dipstick is about as long as my finger and removing it to see anything on it requires getting under the vehicle, plus removing a protective cap right by a hot exhaust component if you want to check it "warm".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top