Ford PTU service

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buck91

buck91

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Been doing yearly PTU fluid service on the wife’s 2014 Explorer Sport since we picked it up. This is the third one, 13 months and 14k miles since it was done last. Always amsoil severe gear 75w140. Always comes out a viscous metallic grey. All 18oz 🙄

One thing I’m stumped on, though. The vent has a gore cap with a membrane barrier which I can’t blow through. Is that a sign it should be replaced? After all, isn’t a vent supposed to...vent?


Pro tip: do this in HOT weather to make filled through the extra long vent tube easier since there isn’t an accessible fill port.








 
If that cap is made out of Gore-Tex(and it's more than likely is), it's microporous - it will let air and moisture flow from one side of the membrane but obviously not at higher pressures.
 
IIRC … there are dual exhaust pipes right under the PTU … I had wrapped mine with titanium impregnated header tape to get some heat off that PTU …
 
18oz? why do they have such a large sump on a very unimportant piece of the powertrain???
wink.gif
 
DG1Z-7034-F is the tube with teh cap, not sold by itself. Unfortunately not a lot of info.

I still need to do a d&f on the PTU on my mom's 2014 Fusion. Hers has drain and fill plugs which is cool.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
DG1Z-7034-F is the tube with teh cap, not sold by itself. Unfortunately not a lot of info.

I still need to do a d&f on the PTU on my mom's 2014 Fusion. Hers has drain and fill plugs which is cool.



My understanding is that the vehicles with these PTU's come in two varieties. Drain plug but inaccessible fill plug which doubles as a temp sender and the ones with a fill plug but no drain plug (although it can be drilled/tapped in-vehicle).
 
I tried to put a Futomo valve on so I could bottom fill with super syringe … there was not enough room …
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
I tried to put a Futomo valve on so I could bottom fill with super syringe … there was not enough room …


Very good idea but I'm not surprised. Its not SUPER tight but its not very roomy either.
 
Dad's SHO has a PTU.. It's so cramped I can hardly tell what it is. No drain plug either. Apparently the track package would have had a cooler?

I read on an Explorer forum a while back where a guy did a used oil analysis.. Even with a cooler, they recommended 5k intervals.
 
Originally Posted By: buck91
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
DG1Z-7034-F is the tube with teh cap, not sold by itself. Unfortunately not a lot of info.

I still need to do a d&f on the PTU on my mom's 2014 Fusion. Hers has drain and fill plugs which is cool.



My understanding is that the vehicles with these PTU's come in two varieties. Drain plug but inaccessible fill plug which doubles as a temp sender and the ones with a fill plug but no drain plug (although it can be drilled/tapped in-vehicle).


Its all very complicated and I just use VINs because especially with our lack of personnel, I don't have time to try and nail Jello to the wall guessing.

The problem doing the one on my mom's car is I have a tech at work do the oil changes on her car since the idea of fighting that huge under cover thing on jackstands in front of my house. I might try and time it so one of the Saturday guys put it on a lift for me and then I can change it.
 
The PTU lifespan in these vehicles scares me, especially with the cost to replace. OP is absolutely doing the right thing changing early and often. That fluid looks disgusting for so few miles.
 
We have a bought new 2017 Explorer 2.3 4 cylinder EcoBoost. After reading and seeing horror stories online about the PTU I had the dealer change it at 9,000 mi. They charged $110 and of course used the Motorcraft 75W-140 gear oil. I ordered Amsoil Severe Gear oil, 75W-140 for the PTU and 75W-90 for the rear differential. ~At 22,500 miles I had my indie mechanic shop install both. They let me in the shop to watch the fluid changes. LUCKILY the PTU on this Explorer is fairly easy to access the drain and fill plug. And there is no visible temp sensor on the fill plug to muck up the filling. Also this unit holds 23.7 oz. The big bonus is because it's a 4 cylinder the exhaust does not run right up against the bottom of the PTU as it does in the 6 cylinder models. When they drained out the dealer installed 75W-140 oil it came out golden and flowed nicely with ~13,000 miles on it. The Amsoil 75W-140 cost me around $13/qt and the labor at the Indie was $31.50. For all of you who had PTU failures due to fluid failure "issues", this is a "Life time" factory fill
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Whimsey
 
Ford needs to get it together on lubes and service access … even the mild mannered (allegedly 150k) Hybrid we have is a big pain to do 4 quarts ATF … two hours with pea sized plugs and homemade stuff …whereas our Cruze and GMC truck take 20 minutes …

This is 40k genuine Mercon LV fluid … the 60k change looked much worse … cannot picture 150k in 5.7 quarts ATF ... and only 4 quarts comes out ...


 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
Ford needs to get it together on lubes and service access … even the mild mannered (allegedly 150k) Hybrid we have is a big pain to do 4 quarts ATF … two hours with pea sized plugs and homemade stuff …whereas our Cruze and GMC truck take 20 minutes …

This is 40k genuine Mercon LV fluid … the 60k change looked much worse … cannot picture 150k in 5.7 quarts ATF ... and only 4 quarts comes out ...






Your Mercon LV looks better than my Mercon LV in our 6F35 transmission at ~10,000 miles! Luckily in my case there is a drain plug at the bottom of the transmission, it has no pan. And the fill I can do via an easily accessible large transmission vent in the engine compartment. Even draining cold it's fairly quick. Filling however does take longer, but not bad. the 6F35 transmission holds 9 quarts factory fill. I've been able to get 4 qts cold out and that what goes back in, so far so good. I'm most likely going to stick to the 15 to 20,000 mile OC for the transmission fluid since it's so easy to do in my case. Plus we keep our vehicles for 15 years plus. ATF changes are cheap and easy to do, a new transmission is not!

Whimsey
 
Well, I'm not sure if there is anything readily available and some-what economical but... Does anybody know of a stouter 75w140 than Amsoils SG?
 
Originally Posted By: buck91
Well, I'm not sure if there is anything readily available and some-what economical but... Does anybody know of a stouter 75w140 than Amsoils SG?


Possibly Redline …
I’d seriously look at the header wrap tape to get some exhaust heat off that tiny box with a tiny amount of lubricant …

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Roll-x-2-50ft-Titanium-Header-Manifold-Exhaust-Heat-Wrap-Tape-20-Ties-Kit/232527472642?epid=8020313138&hash=item3623b7a802%3Ag%3Azg0AAOSwSixbMcAw&_nkw=exhaust+header+heat+wrap&rt=nc
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
Originally Posted By: buck91
Well, I'm not sure if there is anything readily available and some-what economical but... Does anybody know of a stouter 75w140 than Amsoils SG?


Possibly Redline …
I’d seriously look at the header wrap tape to get some exhaust heat off that tiny box with a tiny amount of lubricant …

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Roll-x-2-50ft-Titanium-Header-Manifold-Exhaust-Heat-Wrap-Tape-20-Ties-Kit/232527472642?epid=8020313138&hash=item3623b7a802%3Ag%3Azg0AAOSwSixbMcAw&_nkw=exhaust+header+heat+wrap&rt=nc


I don't think I have the screen shots left any more but I did monitor the PTU temps using ForScan quite a bit, I think it was this past spring. Now, this is an Explorer Sport with the Ecoboost which means that the PTU has the temp sensor and the coolant heat exchanger so I don't know how much that affects the temps. Anyways, where I am going with this is that the best I can recall is that the temps were closely related to coolant and ATF temps; I forget which order but it approximated one during warm up and seemed to max out on the other during warm/hot non-towing driving in town and on the highway.

In other words, my PTU (at the temp sensor anyways) doesn't seem to run SUPER hot.
 
Schaeffer's 75W-140 designed for Harley gear cases. I used it in a 2008 Taurus X after I drilled and tapped a drain plug in it. Before doing that, it was blowing sludge out of the vent cap and the shop I first had try to change the fluid said that the mighty vac failed to pull anything out.

I pulled the vent cap and used a fist full of Q-tips to dig out all the sludge I could access and then put the Schaeffer's in and ran it for 1500 miles. Drained that and it was nasty, but the fluid cleaned up quite a bit. Another fill and drain look pretty good and a third fill stayed in there until I sold the vehicle.

I have a local distributor close by with reasonable prices. a quart set me back $15.
 
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