Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Transaxle Fluid Change

Tried posting this earlier but cant seem to find where it went, so I apologize if a second copy of this pops out somewhere later on. Question: When doing a fluid change on the transaxle, if I use the synthetic ATF do i need the friction modifier or will the fluid itself be good enough?Thanks

-ROD

I may be wrong here but I dont think so, I though FM was for MTX cars only.

Should have been more clear i guess. I own a '98 SVT. And yes, the "HOW TO" article says to use ATF. Anybody want to contradict that? Thanks.

_ROD

There are several fluids that you can use. Some of them have enough friction modifier in them that they don't need anything added.

Factory fill is non synthetic Mercon ATF. Factory fill did not include friction modifier and the trans shifts much better with 2 oz of Ford Motorcraft XL3 friction modifier added.

The FAQ suggests using Mobil 1 synthetic ATF (which meets Mercon Specs) with 2 oz of friction modifier added.

Chrysler spec ATF+3 is a non synthetic that has a higher level of friction modifier to begin and doesn't need any more. It works exceptionally well.

Ford has upgraded the fluid recommed for that trans to a GL4 full synthetic fluid. I forgot which weight, but I think it is 85/90. You can find it on a search of my old posts. It is important that GL5 fluid, usually ment for differentials, is not suitable as it will damage yellow metal (synchros). This fluid is sometimes called "Ford Honey" because of it's color and texture. It became factory fill in early 2000 for Contiques and is factory fill for the Focus. It is a bit pricy at about $20.00 a quart. It does work better with 2 oz of friction modifier added.

Many in this group use RedLine full synthetic. There are two Redline products that are suitable, one is more like ATF and the other is more like gear oil. I don't know which is which but they are MT90 and MTL. MTL seems to be the preferred product and it is said that it does not need friction modifier. Evidently the other one works better with friction modifier added. MTL seems to be by far the most popular fluid used in this group. It can be found for something around $7.00 or $8.00 a quart.

So there is the basic break down. I currently have Ford Honey with friction modifier in mine and it works extremely well. Before that I had ATF+3.

Any of them seem to work fine, but it seems that the synthetic gear oil types provide better wear protection that any of the ATF types.

I'm sure others will post their preferences as well.

I searched a little while back, and found a lot of the info posted of different types. But what I really want to know is a quick run down of how to change out the MTX fluid. Assume I don't know where to start.

Thanks