Hi everyone.
One question about the transfer case in my Mountaineer - in normal driving, does anything inside the transfer case move? More specifically, are the gears and/or chains inside of it in constant motion when the vehicle is moving but the front axle is not engaged? I don't know too much about how transfer cases work, and I'm trying to determine if the fluid is getting worked around in there during the normal course of driving.
It's the factory fluid in there yet at 107k miles, and I'm considering changing it out this weekend because it seems that when the rear tires slip and the transfer case kicks in and puts power to the front, it doesn't disengage the front as well as it used to. My plan was to put new fluid in there and drive it for a week and change it again to get out the old stuff better, but I don't know if I need to find a snowy parking lot and force it to kick in to get the fluid to splash around in there and get it cleaned up good. I can force it to be in AWD full-time via the dash controls, but I think that would put undo stress on the system on clear pavement. Thanks.
And I have read up a bit on fluid for this transfer case and Ford's statement to use their special Transfer Case Fluid - XL-12. I'm pretty sure that it's just Mercon ATF without the Mercon label since they discontinued that spec some time back and can't put in on the bottles anymore. I'll probably just use very basic Dex III/Merc labeled fluid from my local parts shop, most likely Wolf's Head.
One question about the transfer case in my Mountaineer - in normal driving, does anything inside the transfer case move? More specifically, are the gears and/or chains inside of it in constant motion when the vehicle is moving but the front axle is not engaged? I don't know too much about how transfer cases work, and I'm trying to determine if the fluid is getting worked around in there during the normal course of driving.
It's the factory fluid in there yet at 107k miles, and I'm considering changing it out this weekend because it seems that when the rear tires slip and the transfer case kicks in and puts power to the front, it doesn't disengage the front as well as it used to. My plan was to put new fluid in there and drive it for a week and change it again to get out the old stuff better, but I don't know if I need to find a snowy parking lot and force it to kick in to get the fluid to splash around in there and get it cleaned up good. I can force it to be in AWD full-time via the dash controls, but I think that would put undo stress on the system on clear pavement. Thanks.
And I have read up a bit on fluid for this transfer case and Ford's statement to use their special Transfer Case Fluid - XL-12. I'm pretty sure that it's just Mercon ATF without the Mercon label since they discontinued that spec some time back and can't put in on the bottles anymore. I'll probably just use very basic Dex III/Merc labeled fluid from my local parts shop, most likely Wolf's Head.