I for one think that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I'm leaning toward the "stock lube breakdown over 100+K miles" theory. Then when he did change fluids, did so with a quality fluid, which dislodged years of "gunk", which led to fluid passage blocking and ultimately to his problems. I am however planning on running Mobil 1 + XL-7 FM ... did that in my last Cougar and loved it. It's tried and true and all said and one, I will have about $3,000 tied up in my transmission ... not something I want to experiement with.

Last edited by fastcougar; 09/09/05 02:46 PM.
For Sale: 1997 Explorer XLT V8 AWD