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PTU Care


jmartin46952

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I have heard that Ford claims lifetime fluid in the PTU. I know this is BS. My idea is to clean out my PTU as best I can with 4 fluid changes in a week, then change fluid every 30k. I was wanting to wrap my exhaust with ceramic wrap from the cats to the first flange. Hopefully this will reduce heat transfer which is what I understand "cooks" the oil in the PTU.

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I have heard that Ford claims lifetime fluid in the PTU. I know this is BS.

By lifetime, Ford didn't mean the lifetime of the car, it means to end of the factory warranty. If you read the owners manual, it also requires you to change the fluid anytime the ptu is submerged and when used in "special operating conditions". In my manual it's 60,000 miles for cars used to tow a trailer, cars used that have a lot of idling and/or lots of low speed driving, operating on dusty or unpaved roads & cars operated in off-road conditions.

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You mean lifetime of the car (however long that may be - 50 years?) or so long as the car is in warranty?

 

I serious doubt Ford will ever define lifetime publicly. They have to stand behind their warranty, if the defined lifetime as being beyond that, it would extend the factory warranty. So lifetime is only as long as the factory warranty.

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I believe Lifetime to Ford is 150K miles - that's their durability test target for cars and crossovers - regardless of any legal/warranty definitions. They're saying they expect the fluid to last 150K miles. I believe that is possible if the ptu doesn't overheat - problem is they seem to overheat a lot.

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You have a partial solution simply based on your location. Your profile indicates the Great Lakes area. That is where I am located as well. I would argue that for at least 6 months out of the year, PTU heat will not be a factor. If someone had an infrared camera, it would be interesting to take a picture of the PTU after an hour drive is 20 - 30 degree weather. I bet it would have a hard time overheating in that environment.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 8 months later...

Agree, his location should negate excessive heat unless he is spinning tires alot (like romping on it in snow and ice).

Best to just get it tapped and install a drain plug to make self changes easy. Then change annually, its so little fluid, why not?

Who cares what Ford’s definition of “lifetime” is, besides, how many of us own the same vehicle for our/its “lifetime”. Thats all marketing BS.

 

I had “lifetime” Midas mufflers once upon a time, and after 3 changes they pointed to the fine print and told me to buzz off. “Lifetime” in the fine print was a max of 3. So don’t believe Ford either, they want to sell cars and service them.

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I liked the posted Amazon extractor save one thing, it’s kinda big. I looked at the others that were advertised as possibilities but they are all size large. The electric pumps that are advertised to handle pulling thicker fluids out are half the price but either not well rated or just not many ratings.  Too bad.  I dont even have ramps and I’d at least want those before I crawled underneath (at 63) and tried manually draining and refilling...

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23 hours ago, 14AWD3.5 said:

I liked the posted Amazon extractor save one thing, it’s kinda big. I looked at the others that were advertised as possibilities but they are all size large. The electric pumps that are advertised to handle pulling thicker fluids out are half the price but either not well rated or just not many ratings.  Too bad.  I dont even have ramps and I’d at least want those before I crawled underneath (at 63) and tried manually draining and refilling...

I tried an electric pump, it wasn't an expensive one, and that's maybe why it didn't work, so I bought a really good vacuum type extractor off eBay.

See attached photo of my oil extractor and my garden sprayer re-purposed as an auto trans fluid pump - both work great.

IMG_2853 copy.JPG

IMG_2860 copy.JPG

Edited by 1004ron
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Can’t tell how you rigged it up, maybe explain it for others to see.  I’m sure it works well for you.

I’m going to get it dealer drained/filled in late December (30K miles since last time) and will see what they charge.

You can bet I will try to watch to make sure that I don’t go through the rip-off hassle that one member posted aboutt on Thursday of this week, while at his Ford dealer... took them less than 20 minutes, left no drips, plug still rusted, and he was able to prove they never did what they fraudulently charged for.  Sigh...

Edited by 14AWD3.5
Mistake
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  • 1 month later...

Will try keep this short and simple. 

 

Just had my rear PTU oil changed at 106 000kms and the technician said it was good that I had it done then and there due to the dark viscous colour of the fluid. I live in Canada where the temperatures are moderate along with some hilly drives towing my 1800lb tent trailer. 

 

So this lifetime oil change business is BS! Get it changed at least every 80 000kms or so to make sure your vehicle runs accordingly. 

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By 'rear PTU' I assume you mean the RDU?  PTU is the Power Transfer Unit which is bolted to the transaxle and transfers power back to the Rear Differential Unit (the RDU) at the rear axle.  If I am incorrect on the terminology or functionality, anyone please feel free to chime in.

 

Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone!!

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Yeah, RDU also needs regular servicing, recommendation is generally at every other PTU fluid change, as the RDU is not taxed nearly as much as the PTU is.  Now some people like to test the limits of AWD, shall we say :) , and in that case, may benefit from doing the PTU and RDU together.  The main difference would still be that anytime the vehicle is in gear (anything but P or N), the PTU is engaged. The RDU is an on demand system, plus has significantly greater fluid capacity than the PTU.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

ive had the troublesome TPU oil changed twice now in 43K miles.  Both times at the same Ford dealer it was bought from.  Both times cost between $100-120 USD and of course used Ford fluid.

 

I havent had the RDU diff fluid changed, and am wondering what the concensus is for getting the RDU serviced when the vehicle is not facing “severe” usage. 

2014 AWD 3.5

 

Thanks

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