KnappAttack

Drained and re-filled my 05 4.2 today with Ford Motorcraft Mercon SP. Bought a case of 12 from O'Reilly Auto Parts at $4.52 per Qt. Drained out 4 Litres (just slightly over 4 Qts.) and replaced. Nothing to it. Nothing special here. Did not use VagCom. Just filled per instructions and warmed trans up to approx. 100-120 Deg. Same amount in as what came out too.

Had brown fluid in it, wasn't slushy, or full of shavings or metallic glitter, wasn't burnt or anything abnormal. Even looked new like it could be run twice as long. Anyways, in another 5000 miles I'll drop the pan, which doesn't look hard at all, just pull the cross member, drop the pan and change the filter and change the oil again. No exhaust or crossover items in the way that was talked about either.

Noticed a slight improvement in shifting, nothing major, but I wasn't seeing problems to begin with, perhaps with a filter change and another change I'll notice something more, but all looked good at 145,000 miles. I'm sure it would have easily ran to 200,000 or more without the sky falling in, the factory fill didn't even look dirty or smell burnt. Thanks to all who did the research and recommended the Mercon SP! I'll have to find a filter and gasket for the next time. Cheers.

Prospeeder

people saying its ridiculous for a 75k transmission service. Really? Seriously? thats like 6-7 years of use, having a fluid thats ALWAYS being sheared and heated up and has alot asked of it should just last forever right? jeese, you probably think 10k oil changes are too soon too right, gawd.... they should just do lifetime oil changes to make you guys happy too, cause u got an expensive car, that means it needs no service. Since when. it should be common sense a high cost luxury car has MORE maintenance and MORE cost to it, not less.

KevinGary

I hope that the non-OEM fluid works out and is not the reason why you only saw a slight improvement when changing fluid that had 145,000 miles on it. Keep us updated.

KnappAttack

I wasn't experiencing any shifting problems prior to though. I was looking for a crispier shift and it seems the change did help that a bit, but the A6 doesn't have a drag race transmission in it either.

I recall the dealer one time doing a trans adaptation once for me on this car and the shifting was completely different after that. I wonder if the dealer were to do a change that they would possibly to a trans adaptation after the flush, thereby changing the crispiness of the shift. I'd like mine to slam gears like a Drag Race transmission if I could.

My thoughts on the Mercon fluid is if its good enough for Ford's high HP turbo diesel on those trucks that get a severe pounding hauling heavy loads, it's certainly good enough for my non abused A6.

hrc4u

just to make shure...double and trippel checking...
6 quart of oil is enough when dropping pan..and filter?..
just about to order oil for change....don't want to sit there with to little oil...
cheers!
H

KevinGary

Capacity is 9.5 quarts. Are you upgrading to the new ATF Type or are you sticking with the old stuff?

hrc4u

mm i know service manual says that...but every diy seems to use about 4-5q's....?
i'll stick to the blue fluid that is in now...
/H

KevinGary

The referenced manual says 4.8 to 5.3 if you are sticking with the old fluid. By the way there was a huge improvement when I went to the new fluid.

hrc4u

thanks! so i'll be fine with 6 quarts..order time =)
cheers!/H

jeffry

The color is depending if you have the latest update. I have the same car and my fluid is green. have in mind that this transmission are very sensitive if you use another fluid it will be expensive the repair.