I'm Switching to Mercon ULV blend

[DadMobile]

To be completely honest I’ve seen wayyyy more 10R80 failures than any other Ford transmission in the last 8 years. The 6f35’s are the runner up for sure though. Have only had to repair a few 6f50/6f55 transmission. One being my one, but that was a driving habit induced failure haha. They really keep the secret sauce to themselves with ulv, I couldn’t find much about the additives except that they basically allow the clutch and steel plates to have less friction between them when the clutch isn’t applied. Mostly to keep heat and wear down. The flash point of the ulv is also 370f vs luv 421f. The main advantage of the ulv is extremely quick hydraulic action. I’m sure we are all going to see some type of failure related to this fluid, if more try it. Probably just some burnt clutches that wouldn’t have burnt out quite as quick due to the fluid different additives. But it will be neat to see. Most 10r80’s I have repaired have relatively low miles, have seen some with worn valve bodies and also burnt out clutches with no seals failing in the transmissions at all. Mainly 3 clutches they share a “cylinder” in the transmission. As I said before I may be willing to try this out and beat on the 6f55 a bit, simply because if I have a failure it won’t be a huge expense to pull it and see what happened and repair it.

Ford has been having a rough time with the 10 speeds. It seems to be effecting all platforms from Mustang to Superduty trucks. With that said, I have two vehicles with the 10 speed that have had 0 issues. I had a 2020 Escape with an 8-speed and that thing was comically bad.

Being that I’m basically just grabbing my ***** and yelling YOLO on this experiment, Im using as little ULV as possible due to the quicker hydraulic action. It seems 5 quarts was enough my power levels. I’m curious any of the higher HP SHO’s will try some ULV out with success.

 

[Bluezone]

Ford has been having a rough time with the 10 speeds. It seems to be effecting all platforms from Mustang to Superduty trucks. With that said, I have two vehicles with the 10 speed that have had 0 issues. I had a 2020 Escape with an 8-speed and that thing was comically bad.

Being that I’m basically just grabbing my ***** and yelling YOLO on this experiment, Im using as little ULV as possible due to the quicker hydraulic action. It seems 5 quarts was enough my power levels. I’m curious any of the higher HP SHO’s will try some ULV out with success.

Well for the last 30000 plus miles I've been using Castrol transmax LV instead of Ford LV transmission fluid. I haven't encountered any problems in the transmission actually seems to work better. I believe this stuff is a little thinner than me Motorcraft LV transmission fluid.

 

[Bluezone]

I found viscosity and wear testing for Ford ULV versus Dexron VI (LV).

In-Depth Review - Viscosity

In-depth review of low viscosity ATF: How Lubegard® Protectants (Platinum, Synthetic, HFM) affect viscosity, wear protection, and performance in modern thin fluids. Study shows minimal change (0-2.5%) + improved wear.

www.lubegard.com

 

[Autox4fun]

I just jumped on board also, being I'm on my forth trans, I figured what do I lose....
First gave out 110k - slipping/burnt clutches and broken wave washer.

Had Ford esp and that got me a ford reman. Brought them a GH TC for the install. This started flare shifting 3rd and 5th (25k of hard miles).

So when the engine chewed a rod bearing I pulled and swapped in a junk yard trans... hoping Raybestos would deliver quickly on the new clutch kits and I would just rebuild with that.

Fast forward, junk yard trans popped after 200miles, here comes a replacement junk yard trans with the lowest miles I could find... only to find out the junk yard TC was bad... (I'm saving the GH TC for a end project after rebuilding the engine).

Picked up a reman TC and swapped it in place and we are back in business.

The reman Ford trans ended up having a 3 year warranty, I was told it had a 1 year, so it is currently at the dealer being rebuilt.... again too early for the Raybestos clutches...

So when the TC was swapped in, so did 5 Qts of ULV.... I've got about 200 miles on the new fluid/TC/88K junk yard trans... it has it's own weird shifting oddness but I don't need it for long.... lol

 

[802SHO]

I just jumped on board also, being I'm on my forth trans, I figured what do I lose....
First gave out 110k - slipping/burnt clutches and broken wave washer.

Had Ford esp and that got me a ford reman. Brought them a GH TC for the install. This started flare shifting 3rd and 5th (25k of hard miles).

So when the engine chewed a rod bearing I pulled and swapped in a junk yard trans... hoping Raybestos would deliver quickly on the new clutch kits and I would just rebuild with that.

Fast forward, junk yard trans popped after 200miles, here comes a replacement junk yard trans with the lowest miles I could find... only to find out the junk yard TC was bad... (I'm saving the GH TC for a end project after rebuilding the engine).

Picked up a reman TC and swapped it in place and we are back in business.

The reman Ford trans ended up having a 3 year warranty, I was told it had a 1 year, so it is currently at the dealer being rebuilt.... again too early for the Raybestos clutches...

So when the TC was swapped in, so did 5 Qts of ULV.... I've got about 200 miles on the new fluid/TC/88K junk yard trans... it has it's own weird shifting oddness but I don't need it for long.... lol

My original trans was flare shifting too, I notice it would act up when I would flash a new tune revision, it seemed to go away soon enough but it’s likely burnt clutches. I’m sure it was on the edge of soon to blow up.

I was about to just use my junk yard trans but I think I should rebuild it, start fresh. But then again, I might be out $1,500 or so with parts and labor to build it. I don’t want to attempt rebuilding it myself. So then I’m looking at buying a reman trans with upgrades. I called on this trans. https://spprecision.com/products/6f50-6f55-transmission-sale.html. I asked about the price possibly being cheaper if not needing their TC. They said if I don’t use their TC I won’t get a warranty. And the guy on the phone said they are including the TC for free so there’s no price difference if I don’t get it…..so then if it’s worthless why would I want it? Lol! I could tell the guy I spoke to had a little bit of an attitude which makes me less confident in their product. One of those guys that hangs up instead of saying good bye.

Now I’m looking at this trans https://www.transdepot.net/6f50. But again I wouldn’t have Raybestos clutches. And we don’t know when they’ll be released….a little bit of a worry they never will be. I think it’s wise not to wait for them at this point. My engine builder Matt Pohnan had a few bad experiences with Raybestos and their clutch material falling apart, his vote is don’t use them even if they release them. I still want to use their product, so I’ll have my original trans waiting to be built, and looking at a basic rebuild on my junk yard trans or send it in as a core for a company rebuilt trans. I just want to start off with something to last a little while. Part of me wonders if the 61k junk yard trans will be fine as is…..so rebuilding it might be a waste of time and money, if I’m going to build the other one anyway.

Lol real word problems

 

[joe raptor]

How about Red Line tranny oil ? pro & cons ?

 

[Sksho17]

My original trans was flare shifting too, I notice it would act up when I would flash a new tune revision, it seemed to go away soon enough but it’s likely burnt clutches. I’m sure it was on the edge of soon to blow up.

I was about to just use my junk yard trans but I think I should rebuild it, start fresh. But then again, I might be out $1,500 or so with parts and labor to build it. I don’t want to attempt rebuilding it myself. So then I’m looking at buying a reman trans with upgrades. I called on this trans. https://spprecision.com/products/6f50-6f55-transmission-sale.html. I asked about the price possibly being cheaper if not needing their TC. They said if I don’t use their TC I won’t get a warranty. And the guy on the phone said they are including the TC for free so there’s no price difference if I don’t get it…..so then if it’s worthless why would I want it? Lol! I could tell the guy I spoke to had a little bit of an attitude which makes me less confident in their product. One of those guys that hangs up instead of saying good bye.

Now I’m looking at this trans https://www.transdepot.net/6f50. But again I wouldn’t have Raybestos clutches. And we don’t know when they’ll be released….a little bit of a worry they never will be. I think it’s wise not to wait for them at this point. My engine builder Matt Pohnan had a few bad experiences with Raybestos and their clutch material falling apart, his vote is don’t use them even if they release them. I still want to use their product, so I’ll have my original trans waiting to be built, and looking at a basic rebuild on my junk yard trans or send it in as a core for a company rebuilt trans. I just want to start off with something to last a little while. Part of me wonders if the 61k junk yard trans will be fine as is…..so rebuilding it might be a waste of time and money, if I’m going to build the other one anyway.

Lol real word problems

If you rebuild it be sure to use oem ford parts they are fairly stout to be fair. I’d be sure to use a good quality fluid and make sure to put a nice sized transmission cooler on. I’m not a fan of ford remanufactures transmissions as they are done for ford by an outside company, have found some flaws before on them when putting them in. But you get warranty with them which is okay I guess.

 

[SHO_OFF_CO]

Has this b

Ford has been having a rough time with the 10 speeds. It seems to be effecting all platforms from Mustang to Superduty trucks. With that said, I have two vehicles with the 10 speed that have had 0 issues. I had a 2020 Escape with an 8-speed and that thing was comically bad.

Being that I’m basically just grabbing my ***** and yelling YOLO on this experiment, Im using as little ULV as possible due to the quicker hydraulic action. It seems 5 quarts was enough my power levels. I’m curious any of the higher HP SHO’s will try some ULV out with success.

How has it been going for you? I run amsoil everything but didn't want to go through 18 or so quarts at 15 bucks each to switch over. Was just reading about the new ULV.
After my new motor and upgraded turbos I'm hoping I'm around 450. Since before the motor swap 3rd has always been kinda hard when your really mashing the pedal.
I might switch over to ULV if it's working for you. I have a ford nearby that the service manager used to have an MKZ and he's always wanting to talk about the SHO so I'll ask him too

 

[Boochy47]

Sounds like we should ask a aerospace engineer lol

 

[Boochy47]

Jk

 

[SHO_OFF_CO]

Sounds like we should ask a aerospace engineer lol

It is sorta weird that a lower viscosity oil would help, I believe the hard shift is due to clutch packs slipping. I'm leaning towards the amsoil as atf is currently the only fluid in my SHO and my f150 that isn't amsoil and it's one of the fluids that is rated to exceed manufacturer requirements.
I use the dominator for oil in the SHO (and in my turbo sleds)it doesn't have as many additives but it's still got plenty for 5k and I'm usually changing every 3k, it definitely has better anti wear properties than the SS and i get it for a buck a quart more

 

[SeanDev]

It is sorta weird that a lower viscosity oil would help, I believe the hard shift is due to clutch packs slipping. I'm leaning towards the amsoil as atf is currently the only fluid in my SHO and my f150 that isn't amsoil and it's one of the fluids that is rated to exceed manufacturer requirements.
I use the dominator for oil in the SHO (and in my turbo sleds)it doesn't have as many additives but it's still got plenty for 5k and I'm usually changing every 3k, it definitely has better anti wear properties than the SS and i get it for a buck a quart more

A few of us are doing the blend, my first drain of a little over 6 quarts I added 4 quarts of ULV. That was 8 months ago. And personally I would stick to OEM fluid. Alot more chemical makeup of these new age Tranny fluids and wouldn't want a bad chemical reaction. My transmission shifts just fine. With more power, it needs to move the fluids faster. I'm not educated in transmissions but my gut goes with lowering the viscosity lowers the overall pressure in the trans, extending it's life. Mostly the internals and not the plates so much because no matter the 6F55 can only handle so much TQ whatever the fluids you use. I've asked other members on here if they have had any issues with blending and none have. They are the ones from whom I got the idea from. Great thing about this forum, if you join late, everyone else has already been there and done that. This forum has answered 99% of my questions or problems that creep up on our platform.

 

[Boochy47]

I’m switching to ams oil next oil change 100% I found a dude that works for em in Michigan $80 I think he said for 6 quarts

 

[Boochy47]

I still gotta switch too yellow coolant before winter also

 

[Boochy47]

Damn and I wanna get those yellow brake pads I forgot what company they were

 

[SeanDev]

I’m switching to ams oil next oil change 100% I found a dude that works for em in Michigan $80 I think he said for 6 quarts

If you ever watch YouTube videos, check out "project farm". He dedicated a whole video just testing top shelf oils.

 

[Boochy47]

I used royal purple in all my Impala SS but now I’m a Ford man lol I have full synthetic in her rn but ams oil I hear is strong and doesn’t burn I guess

 

[SM105K]

If you ever watch YouTube videos, check out "project farm". He dedicated a whole video just testing top shelf oils.

Yep, there is a reason I run Castrol Edge in the gold bottle.

Also it looks like I will be swapping in 4 quarts or ULV into my trans next fluid swap as well.

 

[SHOthyme]

Yep, there is a reason I run Castrol Edge in the gold bottle.

Also it looks like I will be swapping in 4 quarts or ULV into my trans next fluid swap as well.

Curious as to why everyone is picking 4 quarts, why not whatever comes out, goes back in with ULV?

 

[yaycandy]

Shouldnt run a lower viscosity oil in an automatic transmission. To someone who dosnt know how they work they would think thinner is better yea. No there are small spots in that transmission that create the pressure it needs from the viscosity alone such as the valve body. Lowering the viscosity to the valve body which controls the fluid to the torque converter will make it not lock when it needs to because of pressure.
You need to run what the transmission was designed and developed for, you want to run something different than crack her open and redesign it for something different. Im sure shoblock can tell you all about it as ive used him a good bit for very detailed info. Same reason our engines are to only run 5w30 and nothing different, coming from shoblock.

6F55 is a crappy transmission after talks with Raybesto they agree. They have internal issues with testing on the friction clutch packs. I hope they become something one day but probably not. These transmissions aint getting any younger