ATF in PS Reservoir

nothing wrong with atf in ps...I never buy ps fluid...only diff in ps fluid and atf is the dye

Gumby619

Sounds like you should be good to go.... but ATF is 'not' ATF, as some might think. Mercon/Dexron3 is the factory fill for power steering. Ford is phasing out Mercon (it's not like there wont be any Mercon on the market, it's just that Ford will no longer market it under the Motorcraft label) - making us wonder what they will do for power steering systems - 07 shop manual still lists Mercon as THE fluid for PS (the ones I checked, anyway).

Damned hiccups.... FGord used to tell us we couldn't use MercV in many transmissions but have recently done an about face. 4R100 can now use Merc V but we can't mix MercV and Mercon... no reasons given other than "incompatability..."

Adding to the confusion is the fact that a lot of single quart sized bottles of tranny fluid in Wally World or the auto part stores that say it is compatible with both Mercon/Dexron and Mercon V. But yet Ford says that's a NO-NO.......

Man, I'm doing some goofy shit today (I know, I know... what makes today so different?)

I was considering a reply about the warning not to mix Mercon/Dexron3 (isn't everyone glad we aren't calling it "DexTron"?) and Mercon V while some suppliers are marketting a "dual" rating ATF... Is there a chance that the engineers may reverse their stance on these oils? Well, they did an about face on what oil to use in the C6 way back in the 70s..... this year they did an about face on what oils could be used in the 4R100 (with the admonishment that we should never mix the two).... and we even have to add "secret sauce" to some 5R55 transmissions. There remains the chance that another about face may be in the works....or not....

FWIW, being a dealership tech, it is prudent for me to use only those lubes that the factory approves.... if anything happens that involves a lawyer, it becomes essential that I have followed manufacturer recommendations to a "T". In the FWIW department, it is the chance of consumer litigation that drives repair costs up....

The little guy working out of a rented bay has little to fear because he has little to lose (certainly not enough to hire a lawyer over) or can pack up and leave in a heartbeat. We have over a million in inventory, over twenty employees and plan on being around for a long, long time..... Where do you think the bullseye gets painted???

Wow... now THAT was a digression....

And the reason the manufacturer approvals seem so odd is because of the internal politics and testing requirements. Until every manager has signed on the dotted line after all the testing required testing is done and all the extra testing those managers wanted then and only then can the manufacturer approval be issued.

In other words, it's a pain in the ass process that will only be done where and when there is a will to do it, not just because a certain usage makes sense or should be perfectly fine.

Wrong. It is a materials compatibility issue and not boiling with braking heat.

Rest of your stuff is BS.

That would be impossible as I offered nothing about any specific case about any particular fluid. I spoke of the approval process itself. If something fails the tests it won't be approved. But something that passes tests may not be approved because of the internal politics and personal feelings involved. Or something that should pass all the tests may never be tested at all, thusly not getting approval. Apparently you had trouble grasping that simple point, I hope this additional explaination will help.

Well since I've been working as an engineer for over a decade now, I have a clue about how manufacturer approvals work and the politics involved with them. I certainly have gone through various approvals processes enough times for various parts, materials, etc. There is no reason to suspect Ford would be any different with fluids for their products.

Where did the brakes come from? Are we a day late and a dollar short?

And you are...... ...with...... ?? That's what I thought.