Transmission shop put Mercon instead of Mercon V in my tranny, now what?

[lidation]

'98 Windstar 3.8L.

Front Seal was broken and squirting tranny oil out like a faucet. $700 for the repair. I have told the transmission shop owner/mechanic (same person) to add only Mercon V fluid in my tranny. Now when I got my car back I asked him what fluid he put in my tranny. He said it was Mercon but not Mercon V. I told him that there was a TSB issued from Ford to replace the original Mercon with Mercon V fluid. The transmission shop guy said he knew what he was doing and Mercon was the correct fluid.


Now what? Will Mercon harm my transmission?

[RickMN]

Only Windstars built after 9/8/97 require the new fluid. If yours was built after that, I'd make him change it.

[lidation]

Originally Posted by RickMN

Only Windstars built after 9/8/97 require the new fluid. If yours was built after that, I'd make him change it.

Oh, really? My bad! My car was built in 5/97. I changed tranny fluid to Mercon V last week before the seal went out. I'm wondering whether it has anything to do with the incident.

Somewhere in my mind that my car is supposed to use Mercon V instead of Mercon.

So the mechanic is correct.

One more thought, most of the Mercon V fluid bottle says it is compatible with Mercon. So that should be fine right?

[jer1303]

Oh yeah, you'll be fine.

[MARZBX157]

Ford is no longer marketing Mercon as of July of this year. All vehicles will eventually be using Mercon V once the regular Mercon bottles are fazed out, That's why the newer fluid bottles state Mercon and Mercon V compatible on them. I remember when I wanted to change the trans fluid on my 2000 windstar (Mercon V) to Mobil 1 ATF and it was stated that it was not compatible (only Mercon was). Be Hold, several months later now it states compatibility with both. As for your 98, you should be fine with whats in there but I would be concerned with some of the oils out there which state Multi-vehicle formula compatibility on them.

[garync1]

Yes you should be fine but the next time Mercon V will be the only thing out there.. Like above post said. Even ford is putting mercon V in older vans who still use dealer service..

[wiswind]

IF you pull out the transmission dip stick, it should be printed on the dipstick which was the correct fluid (mercon or mercon V) for your particular vehicle.


FORD's latest TSB (which supercedes earlier TSB's) states.....

Vehicles that were built for Mercon V should use ONLY Mercon V and NOT mercon

Vehicles that were built for Mercon can use either Mercon (while available) or Mercon V