Mercon in the Marauder

[PeteSzerszen]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I feel ashamed to admit that I've made a mistake when it comes to caring for my '03 SB 300B with 93000 on the clock. You see, I've installed a drain plug in the tranny pan and change that fluid every 10,000 miles, with 30,000 mile intervals on the filter (I am fairly easy on the old girl).

I was up in Michigan visiting family when the 90,000 oil change/tranny change (if you want to call it that, even though it only replaces a small portion of the fluid) came due. Not used to my normal parts store layout and quite frankly, tired from driving the 2100 miles, I selected a name brand "Approved for Mercon Vehicles" transmission fluid, failing to remember that the car takes Mercon V.

So there are 6 quarts of Mercon floating around in a sea of Mercon V. What kind of issues have I potentially created? Should I immediately get this flushed out or is it something I can dilute down over time? I should note that I've never had any issues with the transmission whatsoever.

:beer: Cheers!

Pete Szerszen
Kingman, AZ

[RF Overlord]

Peter, in light of your regular ATF change schedule, I wouldn't worry a bit. It's not like you put ATF+4 or some other foreign fluid. If you had done a complete flush with plain Mercon, I'd get it re-done as soon as convenient, but in your case, no worries. Drive on, brother!

[JimmyXR7]

I believe the older Mercon is missing the Friction modifier Additive. If you see changes in your MM shifts, you should drop the pan and change it.

At 30,000 miles my MM was missing the 2 to 3 shift at WOT so I did a pan drop and changed the fluid and filter. Solved the problem. I am now doing the pan drop at 20,000 mile intervals.

If the Mercon V fluid is mainly fresh, do to your many fluid changes, you should be OK. Next time you change the fluid, do a pan drop.
Jim