I'm hoping someone out there did a fluid change on their mustang. I'm planning on doing the fluid change pretty much right after i get some more info lol. What company did you use? and the manual tranny also uses ATF right? I've heard great stories about royal purple...just wondering whats the best product to use....also i need to replace my clutch and slave cylinder. Anyone have experience with the SPEC stage 2 clutches? My stock clutch was pure crap and even with my few performance mods it wouldnt hold up too well. SO i figured maybe stage 2 would make me happy. Or does anyone know of any other clutches/clutch kits out there? Any help would be great!

thanks

 

I can tell you right now that Royal Purple is not worth the money. I put it in my tranny because of all the "miracle stories" I heard. Turns out they were just that, stories. Expensive as hell, doesn't do anything noticeable, just use OEM fluid. I don't care how cool their commercials are, they're products are bull****. Save your money and just get a good brand name or OEM. Just my 2 cents...

 

Spec was one of the first to come out with a clutch for these engines and they make a good product.

As for fluid just use a quality dextron fluid, like dextron 5 synthetic. It only holds 2-3 quarts at max so it shouldn't be more then $20 total for the fluid.

Thanks, Doug

 

I went from stock to Royal Purple Synchromax. And it *did* make a difference. I'm not kidding. So I also put it in the rear end when I had to do the axle bearings.

That is not to say that in a V6 it won't do anything, as I think they're different transmissions, yes? But in the GT, it was noticeable and immediate, the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts were (and continue to be) MUCH easier than before I put the RP stuff in.

In case a real world testimony from me matters... not that it does.

Otherwise, what's said up there is valid, and I agree.

 

Thanks for the help/replies guys! I had a lot of trouble finding royal purple locally (the syncromax). I really am curious about it. If i cant find it then it looks like ill be using the valvoline stuff this weekend! Only place i can find royal purple fairly cheap though is AM but shipping would take too long by now...

 

Drained and filled with Castrol Transmax Mercon V (see pic below) in my 2006 V6 manual at 130,000 miles - still had original fluid. Did not like going into 1st or reverse. Also was getting harder to shift. Intention was to drive with this for a few miles to flush, then change to RP Synchromax. I was amazed at the difference just the Castrol made! Shifts like new again. Wondering if I should bother changing to RP that I already have anytime soon?

 

I second that changed mine out at 135k that castrol helped my noisey transmission alot . Our t5s hold 2.8 if i remember. I jacked the car up at autozone drained it for 1hour to be safe after leveling it. Grabed there cheap plastic pump an got my hands dirty. Manual i think says to use threadlock on plug but was tired of the horrible smell an spectators. My old fluid was dark dark brown. Pumped the clutch slowly for 10mins then got the hell out of dodge.

 

I just used the Motorcraft Mercon to spec, (V?) works great and was easy to drain and fill.
Mike B

 

Would it be fine to use the Castrol Mercon V ATF in my MT82 Manual Transmission (2014 V6)? Thinking about changing mine, has 128k on the stock fluid. Just looking for the correct one to put in my transmission. Here is the bottle:


Also, I would be fine buying 3 quarts, correct? I believe capacity is just under that amount.

 

Well, this here's the '05-09 where we use the TR3650, so there's that.

But much like the TR3650, the MT82 has issues. And that fluid is not the stuff.

The correct call seems to be to pony up for the three quarts of Ford Dual Clutch Fluid and a bottle of XL-18 to go with it. Total volume is 2.7 quarts for that transmission, so you'll wanna short that by about that .91 ounces, or 2.6715625 quarts of DCF. That's what Ford's been putting in the things to get the shifting in all conditions to be better. Others have said Redline MTL or even straight 75W90 gear oil, which I find interesting. Also BG Synchroshift II, Amsoil mix of two of their products and others.... But you have to be careful because there's some plastic part in there that if you use the wrong fluid might help cause the thing to break, and they can't be replaced, or so I'm readin'. I think it was the Amsoil mix one...

Oh, and yeah, most of these things will work, but they won't shift right in the cold. So my take on all that after the readin' is this: Go get thee Ford products (the DCT fluid and the XL-18) and be done with it on this one, the MT-82 is just that kind of a weird transmission, and doing a non-Ford thing might lead ya somewhere you don't wanna go.

Hope that helps

/You poor poor MT82 users... I thought we had it bad...

 

'08 with TR3650, I like the Dex III/Merc that I put in, it was what Tremec said use. I tried the Mobile 1, but it was maybe too slick for the synchros?

 

Huh. And here I am with the Mobil 1 in mine and it's great?

These S197s and S550s just have weird transmissions, I'm thinkin' and to each their own and every man/woman/child for themselves on what to do maybe. Just be sure to read up before implementing fluids because some aren't good for any of these gearboxes, I guess?

Makes me ask... Why couldn't we just have had T5s and T56s in the first place? Cost? Unworthiness of power use? Bob called Edna ugly? Answers, people, I need answers!

 

Oh, no question but that the Mobile 1 was better than whatever was in it, maybe just needed a change then .. still, but it still "nibbled" going into 2nd more than I thought it should. The DexIII/Merc is better it seems, not a lot better, but just some batter ... but my plan is change it earlier maybe. I might have had more M-1 in it, maybe I had filled it to the bottom of the hole, just don't recall, but I was very precise with the DexIII/Merc fill as I had read of the windage deal with the slight overfill using the plug hole. Just guessing there. At one time, TREMEC said to fill to plug hole, no higher so as to prevent pushing lube out.. Then they moved the hole I think? Later, that was revised to say that 3L or 3.17 quarts of Dexron III will provide the best results ... per Service Topics Number: 2-03.
I'm also aware that Ford said 3.0L Non-Sythetic Mercon ATF in the 2007 GT book,
but in 2008 I think they said 3.0L Mercon-V ATF.
I think Ford was using Mobile1 at times too, might be what was OEM in our '08?

I'm thinking I might soon put Mobile 1 back in (new of course), but at exactly 3.0 liters. You about got me there!

Gosh, I miss them old top loaders, Muncie M-21 and 22s, BW T-10s, and NP 833 4 speeds, just put the manual trans lube in and go. No paper faced synchros in them to worry over, just brass rings & steel gears and shafts. They had little spring loaded sections on the gears slider, but no internal detents with springs popping ***** into notches on a shaft. They were silky smooth shifting transmissions, the shifters were easy to line up with a 1/4" OD drill rod inserted through the holes, adjust your links, put on the steel bushings and spring clips. The sprung plates were just enough friction to keep it from falling out of a gear once put in a gear at rest, you did not have to "overcome" these detents. You pushed in the clutch, moved the stick, silky smooth it was. Power kept them in gear once moving.

Now ... I'm gonna cry.

PS .............. Edited to add this quotation by Stan Peace,TR3650 History (pro-forceperformance.com) : He doesn't mention the Dex III ... but Tremec does in other communications?

.

 

Hmph. I ran the Royal Purple Synchromax in it for a while, somewhere around the 70K mark, and the thing did good for a bit right away... then it stopped bein' good and went back to where it sorta was. Somewhere I swapped in the Mobil 1 (think clutch job at 130K?) and that solved things bigly. So if I damaged the thing with the Synchromax, oh well. :

I'm still thinkin' the thing I wanna do, one day, is get a good TR3650 core and take it apart and rebuild it so I can understand it better. Maybe build it up a little to correct things. And also MGW+Blowfish when I do it, because while I'm there. But anyway, there's almost no videos on the thing that're really worth watchin'.. and the ones that might be are just painful to watch, because people generally don't know how to video. Not that I do, but I'd take a stab at it. Much like the replacing of the heater/evap core of the AC in these things. So I'd have to use the manual, which I have, but it's for the previous version in the SN-95s. Overall oughtta work though.

I enjoin anyone to point me to a good video on these things, really. I wanna watch a FordTechMakuLoco or other awesome youtuber out there tear it apart and put it back together. Really. Go.

 

That link I posted on history above clued me in on some improvements in the 2005-2010 versions, beefier shift forks, some dog-teeth removed, etc.

Today, was gonna put in those new yellow metal bushings in the linkage joints between shifter and transmission shift shaft, but first I wanted to check mine for play so I took a big adjustable wrench under with me to work the linkage, no slack in my car's 34,619 mile veteran bushings, none at all so I'll just keep those on hand for now. The wrench fit nicely on the Hurst lower end and the square link. It's them deep notches for the internal detents that bug me. My neighbor walked up, he's a shop teacher, just sold his '69 'Cuda he put a 440 in with 4 speed NP833, He offered his two post lift for my use, nice guy.

We talked the differences, I said that when I put in the Hurst with 40% less travel, I lost 40% of the leverage to get past those detents, he said "that's right!" ... like a light bulb. Stock I have notes that say throw was 4" from 3rd-4th, the shifter top was 4" from console edge. The unaltered Hurst top was 5" above the console, but throw was about 2.25". Now with my Hurst extended 1-3/4", the top of the ball is near about 7" above the console top, still at just 3" so that's still like 25% less.

Getting that mat cleared up most of my issues though.