Mercon V additives?

[JJNOLA]

Anybody use or know of any good transmission additives? I have a 2.3l m5od that uses mercon V. I feel like I've neglected my tranny (besides regular flushes) compared to all the goodies my engine gets. Right now I just have Mobil 1 synthetic mercon V in it.

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[adsm08]

There really isn't much you can do to "trick out" a manual transmission. Good fluid is about all you can really do for it.

 

[4x4junkie]

I wouldn't suggest Mercon V for a M5OD (at least not for pre-'08 M5ODs), I've seen Merc V cause shifting difficulties in some M5ODs (possibly it's additives are too slippery for the synchros to function correctly).

"Dex/Merc" fluid is what you want (it's the older "Mercon" spec fluid your trans originally called for when it was produced). It will say on the bottle "Meets Mercon specification" or something very similar.
Nearly all of the big-name aftermarket companies (Valvoline, Castrol, etc.) continue to make the fluid even though Ford quit licensing the name for it (and is why the "Dex/Merc" thing), and for good reason too.

If you want a full synthetic instead, I would suggest Royal Purple Synchromax or something along that line. It seems the additive package they use is less likely to screw with the synchros.

 

[JJNOLA]

Really? I could of sworn mercon V ATF was the type of fluid. Maybe I'm getting mercon and mercon V confused. I changed it about 2 years ago and I remember I was very skeptical about putting ATF in my manual. But autozone, my mechanic, Ford, and Mazda said that's what they would put in. I haven't had any problems with whatever I put in it. But I'm still gonna lose sleep now lol

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[4x4junkie]

2 years ago isn't very long... How many miles have you driven on it?
Unless you're offroading a lot (or you got contaminants into it such as water from a creek crossing), I'd probably just leave it alone for now.

The Ford service manual recommends changing the MT fluid every 60K miles under the "Normal" schedule, and 30K under "Severe Duty" schedule.

Indeed it's easy to get confused about manual transmission fluids for our trucks. Some take ATF, others gear oil. Ford's shenanigans with the licensing of the Mercon name, and their flopping back & forth in stating the two fluids were NOT compatible (and will void your warranty) to then stating "they are fully backward-compatible" (when they are not) doesn't help matters at all.
Mercon fluid continues to exist as "Dex/Merc" for this reason, so that is what I've used and recommend.

 

[JJNOLA]

Sounds good! I haven't had any transmission problems besides shift rail plugs and shifter rebuild so I'll leave it until it's time to change it. I'll remember dex/merc for next time. Thanks for the info my friend.

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