72HCODE
"My World is Fire and Blood"
In my continuing research of the C6 I came across the debate between Type F versus Dexron III/Mercon, Mercon versus Mercon V.
There are some pitfalls in this but no absolute wrong anwsers.
the Deal with Type F: Type F was spec'ed for use in 1968-1975 C6 transmissions. in 1976 Ford changed from Type F to Dexron. Mercon became the replacement for Dexron sometime in the 1990s.
Currently Mercon V is the ford standard.
What does all this mean?
before 1976 the clutch bands Ford used were made of Asbestos. After 1976 they went to a safer Organic clutch material. this change from asbestos to organic required a friction modifier.
Type F fluid was basically the first and had no friction modifiers. People say it Grips harder for the clutches and yes it does, people swear Type F makes for much firmer shifts, at the cost of clutch pack wear.
Dexron is always tied with a softer shifting transmission. however this could also be because ford shifted production to softer shifting transmissions and got rid of the Clunk people complained about which was the bands gripping firmer.
now Dexron/Mercon and Type F are not compatible so you do not want to mix them inside a transmission. in order to change fluids you must flush a transmission completely. The bottle of Dexron and Mercon say do not use in transmissions that require Type F fluid and this is true unless the transmission has been completely rebuilt, this equates to the transmission being completely flushed. At that point you can use Dexron or mercon in the transmission. the whole point is the clutches and the material they are made out of. you cannot get asbestos clutch bands since at least the early 1980s so everything is organic now.
so as one ford tech stated:
If you have a new rebuilt transmission use Mercon V, if not use Type F.
Chances are somebody used Type F to fill it up since the manual stated to use Type F so unless you know for sure stick with Type F, otherwise use Mercon V
it gets more confusing since people have used all 3 different fluids for years and have reported no problems. most transmission techs have said they have never seen a failure caused by the fluid there is always a mechanical failure involved.
So what can we take from this:
well more confusion since you have the performance crowd that sticks with Type F because they feel it slips less, even though they have organic clutches and not asbestos.
Then you have the ford techs that just say use the newest standard which is mercon V.
Then you have the Transmission techs that are all over the place, and it comes down to use whatever fluid the transmission place tells you so you do not void the warranty.
then you have the really techy guys that say "Once you start dealing with transmissions that use fiber lined syncros, the differences in friction modifiers may become more apparent."
So i leave it up to you to decide because there isn't really a right answer;
Other then DO NOT mix different fluids inside a transmission.
food for thought
There are some pitfalls in this but no absolute wrong anwsers.
the Deal with Type F: Type F was spec'ed for use in 1968-1975 C6 transmissions. in 1976 Ford changed from Type F to Dexron. Mercon became the replacement for Dexron sometime in the 1990s.
Currently Mercon V is the ford standard.
What does all this mean?
before 1976 the clutch bands Ford used were made of Asbestos. After 1976 they went to a safer Organic clutch material. this change from asbestos to organic required a friction modifier.
Type F fluid was basically the first and had no friction modifiers. People say it Grips harder for the clutches and yes it does, people swear Type F makes for much firmer shifts, at the cost of clutch pack wear.
Dexron is always tied with a softer shifting transmission. however this could also be because ford shifted production to softer shifting transmissions and got rid of the Clunk people complained about which was the bands gripping firmer.
now Dexron/Mercon and Type F are not compatible so you do not want to mix them inside a transmission. in order to change fluids you must flush a transmission completely. The bottle of Dexron and Mercon say do not use in transmissions that require Type F fluid and this is true unless the transmission has been completely rebuilt, this equates to the transmission being completely flushed. At that point you can use Dexron or mercon in the transmission. the whole point is the clutches and the material they are made out of. you cannot get asbestos clutch bands since at least the early 1980s so everything is organic now.
so as one ford tech stated:
If you have a new rebuilt transmission use Mercon V, if not use Type F.
Chances are somebody used Type F to fill it up since the manual stated to use Type F so unless you know for sure stick with Type F, otherwise use Mercon V
it gets more confusing since people have used all 3 different fluids for years and have reported no problems. most transmission techs have said they have never seen a failure caused by the fluid there is always a mechanical failure involved.
So what can we take from this:
well more confusion since you have the performance crowd that sticks with Type F because they feel it slips less, even though they have organic clutches and not asbestos.
Then you have the ford techs that just say use the newest standard which is mercon V.
Then you have the Transmission techs that are all over the place, and it comes down to use whatever fluid the transmission place tells you so you do not void the warranty.
then you have the really techy guys that say "Once you start dealing with transmissions that use fiber lined syncros, the differences in friction modifiers may become more apparent."
So i leave it up to you to decide because there isn't really a right answer;
Other then DO NOT mix different fluids inside a transmission.
food for thought