Much of the shifting problems that occur with the MTX-75 manual transmission can be traced to the use of the wrong transmission fluid. The ONLY fluid recommended by Ford is MOTORCRAFT FULL SYNTHETIC TRANSMISSION FLUID, Part number XT-M5-QS, available at your Ford dealership. Known as 'golden honey', it is expensive(around $17/qt), and you will need 3 qts. Drain your old fluid(let it drip overnight if possible) and fill with honey til it runs out of the fill hole(about 2.6 qts). This will smooth out your problems with getting it in gear when it is cold, and with difficultly with stiffness in your shift pattern. It is a much less expensive solution and will prolong the life of your tranny. Getting these trannys rebuilt will put a major dent in your pocketbook, so be smart and follow Ford's recommendation as to the fluid to use.
I have never found anything published by Ford that makes that statement.
I started a multi page response, and somehow it disappeared from my screen before it posted. I'm not going to try to reconstruct it.
The TSB that introduced Ford Honey said something like "required for use in MTX75 transmissions in which it was factory fill and recommended for top off or refill for earlier MTX75 transmissions". Factory fill started in early 2000, only a few months prior to the end of Contour production.
Mercon ATF was factory fill for nearly all the production life of the Contour. There never was a problem of transmission breaking or falling apart from lubrication failure with Mercon.
Ford Honey is not a high quality transmission fluid. The best things going for it is that it is synthetic, probably group III, and that it is highly resistant to sludge. The additive package is very weak. It is expensive, especially for what you don't get.
Many oil companies (including Royal Purple) specify synthetic motor oil as a replacement for Ford Honey, again showing that Ford Honey doesn't have much of an additive package oriented toward gear protection or synchro operation.
Ford Honey is a Castrol product. It is not available as a Castrol product in the US, but is commonly available in many other parts of the world, including Europe, where it is more competitively priced.
What I still don't get is why a fluid that is nearly motor oil would be preferred over fluids that are specifically blended for manual transmission use, and have a much more robust additive package.
Many have reported that Royal Purple's manual trans fluid works well. Some have reported similar results with Torco. We have learned here at CEG that RedLine MTL is not up to the task as it sludges easily and clogs lubrication channels.
I personally have had great results with ATF+3.
I'll climb off my soap box now.
