2000 Windstar - Transmission Fluid

[Xiotek]

Which trans fluid is standard for my wifes Windstar ?

Any special type 'mercon' ?

Thanks.

[Rowdysrides]

In 1997 Ford introduced the new Mercon V (Mercon 5 ), Hope this helps.

[Lone_Domino]

Be prepared for 7-8 quarts to come out also. It was a bit of a suprise after chaning my Toyota and it was 2 quarts. My 2002 has a re-useable gasket also.

[wiswind]

The 2000 Windstar should have Mercon V. (This is a specification....not a brand).
Mercon and Mercon V are NOT interchagable.....They have different frictional charactoristics.
Avoid ATF that claims to be BOTH Mercon V and Mercon.
The ATF fluid type requirement should be printed on the dipstick.

Proper way to check Transmission Fluid level.....Engine warm, car on a level surface, engine at idle, Transmission in PARK.
Do not overfill. More is not better.

The Total capacity of the transmission should be about 12.25 quarts.
The pan holds about 6 quarts. Dropping the pan will drain about half of the capacity of the transmission.....The most of the rest is in the torque converter.
Dropping the pan is a Messy job. The pan is BIG......bigger than the largest drain pan that I could find...... And the pan is an odd shape as well.

Don't add any "miracle in a can" stuff.
The Mercon V fluid has all the additives that you will need....and adding other stuff....could work against the additives already in there....and cause problems.

There are instructions on how to change your fluid various places....here and Autozone has instructions on their website.
Not real difficult.....but very messy.

To just top it off, just make sure that you use Mercon V.

[rodeo02]

If you have not swapped out the ATF (Merc 5) in your 2000 winny yet, you will want to ASAP. The AX4S/AX4N transaxles often dont make it even close to 100K miles on the factory ATF. To make the pan drop MUCH less messy, get yourself a pump, something like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3878 and a 3/8" pc of polypropylene tubing to send down the ATF dipstick tube, hook the pump to the tubing & pump out the pan. Real easy. Pretty much any auto parts place sells mercon V now as well.
G/luck
Joel

[Xiotek]

Thanks very much, guys.

Mercon V it is.

[Mo0NDoGGie]

Is it safe to have the ATF replaced with one of those machines that pumps the ATF out at the same time as its getting new ATF pumped in? I heard somewhere that this is hard on the seals in the AT.

[lewisnc100]

As mentioned I got exactly 6qts when I dropped my pan. Since I only wanted to make that mess once I installed a drain plug in the pan. Now I can drain just under 5qts with ease to get new fluid in there and dropping the pan in the future won't make a mess.

[12Ounce]

MoONDoggie

I think the machine flushing process, hyped by various dealers, is a big mistake for the consumer. You have no assurance that the fluids ending up in your transmission are new transmission fluids ... though that's what you led to believe. In fact, you don't know what contaminants are pumped into your tranny from the machine.

It's usually safe to follow the shop manual. I have a set for the '99. I can't find any recommendation by Ford that any flushing machine should ever be hooked to a tranny.

Now there is a section that describes disconnecting the tranny oil coolers from the tranny and flushing the coolers ... followed by an intense blow out procedure. This has nothing to do with hooking up to the tranny itself.

[DRW1000]

I changed my tranny fluid a couple of months ago in my 99. I had never changed tranny fluid before on any vehicle but it was not too difficult.......just messy. I also changed the filter. I bought the fluid, Mercon V, from Ford and it was $4.09 Cdn per litre. The only other types I saw in stores were the Mercon/Mercon V dual specification that I did not wish to use.

The gasket is reusable. I simply loosened one end of the pan more than the other while removing to try and coax the fluid to drain out on one end but of course I still spilled a litre or 2.

I think the drain plug idea is a good one but I was not brave enough to install one. I plan to extract the fluid from the dipstick tube the next time I change my fluid.

Ensure that you properly torques the bolts and in the proper sequence. I think it was 8-10 ft lbs (Please verify).

I would say that if you can change your own motor oil and change a valve cover you will have the experience required to do this job yourself.

I have heard a lot of bad coming from a flushing machine and as someone mentioned there is no reference to using the machine in Ford maintenance procedures.

[justatech]

Originally Posted by Mo0NDoGGie

Is it safe to have the ATF replaced with one of those machines that pumps the ATF out at the same time as its getting new ATF pumped in? I heard somewhere that this is hard on the seals in the AT.

Yes, It is safe the machine is put in line with the cooler lines and doesn't add pressure. It just loops the fluid through the machine, out goes the old and in the new...It is very effective

[Dngrsone]

I agree with the other guys that the machine is not a good idea. It sounds good in theory, but in practice the consumer is taking a risk... you have no assurance that the fluid contained within the machine is the right type, is clean or filtered.

[Mo0NDoGGie]

Transmission Fluid Pump Machine:

There seems to be different opinions on this machine. I have had my 98 Windstar's transmission fluid changed 3 times since I have bought it brand new. There is 119,000km on the vehicle so far. I have not had a problem with my transmission thus far but this is proberly low mileage and I shouldn't have trouble with the transmission yet.

When they connect this machine to my transmission they infact do put it in the cooler lines. I am there to watch them fill it up with the correct fluid so I know what is going into the machine. There is a long window on the front of the machine with 2 wide glass tubes in it. One is the inbound pink fluid and the other is the outbound darker (old) fluid. As the car idles you can see the plunger in each tube moving in opposite directions as the fluids change.

I'm no expert but it seems to me that with this method I get a complete fluid transfer. Where as with the other method (dropping the pan) there is still 6 or more litres of fluid still in the torque converter.

So the question is : which method leaves more contaminants in the transmission?

I respect everybodys opinion on this but I have to say that if there is several litres of old fluid still in the AT then it must be more contaminated than the pump machine method.

The reason i originally asked this question was not because of a contaminant concern but rather a concern that the machine was harming the seals in the AT with high pressure.

There has been no comments regarding this concern. I suspect that it is the same pressure as the transmission runs at because the oil change manager told me that it takes some cars 20 minutes to do this fluid change and some take an hour. He claims it all depends on the pressure of the AT. If this is the case then I have to assume that the machine runs on the particular AT's own pressure.

Comments?

Andrew

[lewisnc100]

A couple of points
- The chamber with the new fluid is not flushed between uses, meaning there is always some residual fluid of different types left in there. Probably not enough to be a concern assuming all the new fluid was actually sent to the last vehicle and is not sitting there waiting to go into yours.
- These flushes do not change 100%, a high percentage yes, but some new fluid mixes with the old before going out the cooler line. I think most places will quote something like 93%+ change.
- The machine you describe is a cooler line flusher which uses the transmissions own pump and pressure, but some locations and even Ford dealers claim to use reverse flushes with pressure that clean the filter, I think these are the ones that people might be worried about with seals and pressure, not sure how many use these anymore.

I think your point about only changing the pan fluid being 50% is valid, but I drain the pan every other oil change via a drain plug so I would argue that my fluid is more consistent than changing 100% of the fluid at 30k via a flush machine. I think it comes down whatever works for you to keep your fluid in good condition.

[Dngrsone]

Additionally, the instructions in the Ford manual state that you are to flush the transmission something along the lines of fifteen quarts of fluid through the system before filling it up with fresh. This is coming off the top of my head, so don't get torqued if I'm off a little

Point is, that the maintenance instruction does tell the operator to flush out and replace all the fluid. It doesn't specify a machine to do this with.