carguy75

The problems Ford have with the PTU is probably not as bad as before, when the seals failed early in the cars life and then failed again shortly after the replacement until redesigned that sparked too many unacceptable repairs to Ford even during the warranty period. You got to also remember that AWD Edges are not the most purchased Edge models, that title goes to the FWD models. So on the bigger scale of analysis and graphs or sale numbers and complains, Ford may have done as mention above and considered the losses acceptable as the component performance stands after the seal redesign. Some people may still buy an Edge, but just buy the FWD model if they had a problem with a previous AWD model instead of leaving Ford completely. I give a simple view to a very complex issue that is not easily put in words because we do not have the statistically data of what Ford is using and how wide spread the problem is with the PTU or any other component. But like mentioned in the post above, consumers will ultimately make a decision to stay with a product if it is mostly good or just leave completely if it have been mostly bad. When it come to us used car owners, we can sometimes misjudge a car due to buying one that was not properly maintained, but at the same time some parts are just not meant to last long. It always a risk when buying used and/or owning a car for a long time. Both usually guarantees that a owner will have to do some repair out-of-pocket. Unfortunate, used car owners usually have to repair a car very soon after the purchase compared to a new car owner. Hence, why I think you see two different attitudes about the same car on the forums when it comes to repairs.

Welcome!!! I would just assume that a transmission service was never done, even if it was documented in the maintenance books, and just perform the service ASAP. I say this because you never know who did the service or if it was done properly when it was done at X shop that day if it was even done at all. Some shops are bad like that. You can do it yourself if you are pretty capable with repairing cars yourself. Just follow the great post above that spells it out for you. Side note, i would also change your engine oil while you are at it just to be sure.

Since I do not have a chart to really look at that explains your statement, the best response I can give is that automakers make more money by selling and leasing new cars. Hence why they are constantly remodeling and upgrading their cars every a few years or so. Used cars sales are not really that much of a concern for automakers since most used cars are sold by independent retail dealerships,auto auctions, or personal sales by owners. If anything, many automakers are using repair work/replacement parts for out-of-warranty repairs on older cars as a source of addition profit gain to their sales profits. Just take a real honest look at how many people really keep a car for 10 years anymore, most people who are able to purchase/lease new cars seem to trade up every few years. I believe that those individuals are the customers that Ford and other automakers are focusing more of their attention and product research on, not the second hand owners who buy their cars from some random auto sale outside their facilities. However, the automakers have tapped into the pre-owned market by offering Certified Pre-owned Cars(CPO) to help sale cars that are used but have low miles to attract used car owners to their businesses. But ultimately, lease and new cars sales are what the auto makers care about, not making a car that car run trouble-free for 200k miles. If any thing the automakers design parts that will last through the warranty period to appease the new car/lease owners, so complaints are kept to minimum so those owners will come back again in a few years. That is my opinion on it.

Well most owners do not have time or the desire to join a forum dedicated to their cars. Therefore, most owners probably just trade their cars in when it becomes too problematic or just report the problems to JD Power, which why our car has such a low rating with them. I have seen over the years that forums with the most DIY threads and complains are a good indicator of what to come. Just for fun go to a Lexus forum and see how boring it is. Most posts are about wheels and tires, hardly any one posting any DIY threads or threatening to sue Lexus for defective parts. Plus, I believe that many owners do not keep their cars pass the warranty period if they bought it or leased it new. Hence why this forum(and others like it) is most likely full of second hand owners who are dealing with the crap that goes wrong later in the car's life, which is the reason for mostly negative posts. And why Ford is still selling cars even if crap fall apart after 100k miles, since most owners trade their cars before any major problems happens out of their pocket and have bought new cars covered by a warranty leaving us second hand owners with the repairs/headaches on the old ones.

I do not know what Ford is doing QA wise when it comes to filling up these filled-for-life components like the PTU and automatic transmission, but what I do know is that I believe that my components stand a better chance if I change the fluids in both every 30k miles or so. For two reasons, to check and confirm the fluid levels and to keep fresh lubricating fluids circulating in the units. I was hoping that Ford have redesigned the 2011 on up PTU and transmission components better, but that may just wishful thinking on my part. However, at-least the 3.5 engine seems very sound in the Edge unlike most Nissan/Infiniti engines that burn oil around 80k miles and only gets worst pass 100k miles. Mercedes E-class 4matic(AWD) system can develops a leaky seal where the drive-shaft joins the transmission, very expensive fix if you do not catch it in time before the transmission is damaged!!! Even Subaru have loose steering rack issues in some of their 2010-2013 Outback cars that plaque owners, among other issues. So Ford is not alone when it comes to having faulty components on the cars, nor the most expensive to repair. However, i know that it does not make your situation any better knowing Ford is not the only one putting out crappy parts. I really do feel your pain and understand your frustration. I have been where you are at a few times over the years. Hence why I am changing out my fluids early in all my cars, or even if not recommended by the manufacturer.

+1 on needing an extended warranty on any make of car now of days due to all will have some kind of trouble area. However, some makes have better components that others. A person just has to do the research on a particular make before purchasing and learn what the known trouble areas are. I found that car forums like this are the best place to get real world opinions about car. No matter what anyone says, listen more to the complainers that ones that states their cars are trouble-free. If I would have read this forum before buying my Edge I would have known about the common problems of the PTU(pre-2011) and AC condenser/transmission cooler leaks(I had to fix that soon after purchasing my Edge). But like i mentioned earlier, every make i have owned over the years from GM to Mercedes had trouble areas. Some are engine related and some was just electronic related(which can cost as much as an engine replacement to fix in Mercedes). I agree with the original poster about there is no excuse for such unreliable key parts like the PTU being considered acceptable. However, it seems like many components in modern cars are made to last only about 100k miles(or whenever they fail), unlike the engine which usually can go three times that. So like I stated earlier a owner just have to do their best to buy a car that they can afford to keep running by doing some in-dept research before purchasing. I have learned that recently with my Ford Edge. I still love it!!! But I know that I will have to do some preventive maintenance to keep it running the way it is now, no matter what Ford says about lifetime fluids. FYI, I actually bought a new KIA Optima SXL turbo with standard 10/year100k mile power-train warranty and an additional 10year/100k mile power-train warranty provided by the dealer for no charge as incentive to but a new car from them, and i must say that it does give me a large peace of mind knowing that I will not have to spend any money on my drive train for 20 years/200k miles on the KIA. However, the downside is that the power-train warranty do not cover anything else on the car. So after 5year/60k miles(bumper-to-bumper coverage) then I will probably still trade it in if the non-dive-train components turn out to be junk. This is my first Korean car, so time will tell if it will be my last. Sorry to talk about my KIA, but you brought up the KIA warranty as a marketing tool, and you are right because it helped convince me to try one even though the KIA brand used to be junk a decade ago.

I have an 2011 Edge and sometimes the mpg meter gets suck and only displays the last mpg since the last start-up. I have to reset the mpg meter while I am driving by holding the ok button and it thens starts to display the new mpg figures.

I agree that 60k miles is a stretch with the YK580's. I never rotated my tires on the FX45 and the rears was near the wear bars after about a couple years or 30k miles or so.(I drive about 60 miles a day to work and home) The front tires had double the tread left, so they were still like new after a couple years. Therefore, i just bought a new pair for the rear and got a discount for the worn tires from Discount Tire, so I only paid a total of $160.00 for both tires installed on the rear axle. I left the front tires alone since they had minimal wear. That is why I love Discount Tires!!! The only way to get to 60k miles on the YK580 is to rotate the tires every 5k miles like Discount Tire stores recommend(the one in my area at least) I suppose.

For the rear wheel bearings(hub assemblies) you will need sockets(recommend 6-pointers to help prevent rounding the rusted bolts),20in or longer breaker bar, PB Buster for rust bolts, 5lb slide hammer and hub puller attachment, torque wrench that can go pass 250 ft/lb(258fl/lbs to be exact for the axle nut),and patience. For the front wheel bearing(hub needs to be pressed into the steering knuckle) you will need the same items as the rear but replace the slide-hammer/hub puller for a press and ball-joint separator and add bungee cords to hold brake calipers.

You will not hear any sound improvement in the Edge due to sound baffles in the stock air intake tract. Furthermore, you will not really feel any horsepower gain due to it being only about a couple extra horsepower maybe more. Depending on how attuned you are to how your car feels, you may feel a different in how it pulls or accelerates. But no, it will not be noticeable like adding a turbo to your Edge. Just a subtle difference.

Your Edge mpg are very low. My edge was doing at least 16-17 city before I did any work on it with a dirty air filter when i first bought it. My mileage increased a bit( about 1-2)when I installed my AFE performance air filter and the throttle response increased. But I feel that I really probably did not get any real horsepower increase, maybe 1-2 hp. However my Edge do seem more peppy at high rpms with the AEM filter and it make passing a bit easier. Most aftermarket air filters help non-turbo/supercharge cars just a little, unless they come with very restrictive air filters stock, even then the throttle body size limits any additional airflow, so you will not have much of any noticeable gains beside a bit more mpg and some engine responsiveness with just a drop-in air filter. Which some owners can feel and others can not. Synthetic oil also helps increase mpg. I gained a couple when I started to use Mobil 1 synthetic 5w-20 over the dealer stuff. I have my tire pressure set to 36 psi cold, and my mileage is an average of about 20-21 mpg in normal city driving(more or less depending on the traffic and hills), but I have the 3.5 engine. I believe that you will see better gas mileage with your tires having more inflation. As it stands you are probably having tires that about 28-30 psi cold, hence under-inflated. You should only set your tire pressure on cold tires(sitting over night if possible).

The filter is inside the transmission unit itself(not pan) and can only be changed when the transmission is removed from the vehicle. That it why it is important to change the transmission fluid in the Edge every 30k-50k miles or so to minimize the amount of metal particles that the filter is subjected to so the filter can last as long as possible by keeping fresh fluid inside the unit, because older fluid lubricate less and allows more wear inside the gears that creates more metal particles in the fluid which accelerate filter saturation.

LOL. VW/Audi also use sound tricks to get the turbo cars to sound cooler. I actually like my turbo cars to be quiet. But some owners need to have their car performance be noticeable when they drive around. Hence the gimmicks used by manufacturers to appease the performance crowd.

On the newer AWD on-demand systems like in the Edge (which actually just drive the front wheels until the rear wheels slip)you can actually just buy tires in front or rear axle sets as long as they are the same tires. However, you still have to be smart about it so you should not put only new tires on one axle if the another axle have bald tires.

Nice sound. An DV(diverter valve) is actually better for overall performance than a BOV(blow-off valve). The DV routes the extra boost back into the air-intake/ turbo to be reused and gives a bit of a boost to the engine, however the DV do not make any cool noise while doing it. The BOV just vent the extra boost into the air which does not benefit the engine besides reducing boost pressure in the turbo, but it sounds cool. Since the 2.0T Edge will not be winning any street races(unless against a Honda Pilot maybe) I guess losing a few HP to sound cool really is not a problem.

That explains the gains i felt after changing to mid-grade gas and my performance air filter. The newer engines does adapt well to changes made to the engine. I read that the variable valve timing is pretty impressive in the new 3.5 and 3.7 engines, plus the added benefit of adaptable octane tables for high octane gas makes these some fun engines to drive. My butt dyno was not lying it seems.

To be honest I notice that my Edge seems to drives better(I get an average of about 21-22 mpg around town sometimes even higher if i drive really easy) with 89 octane vs. the 87 octane gas(got an average of 20-21 at the most when I last used it). I have never tried the 93 octane in my Edge, but looking at the how the 3.5 has an compression 10:8 I would bet that it could benefit from high octane gas as well. I know some will argue that Ford recommends regular gas, but the higher octane gas will prevent the knock sensors from retarding some of the engine timing which affects horsepower and most likely fuel economy. I believe that any engine that has a 10:5 compression or more needs high octane gas to run at its "best", notice that I do not say at all. The old 3.0l Ford V6 engine had only a 10:0 compression so high octane gas actually made them run worst(learned that with my old 2005 Mercury Montego AWD). But, the newer V6 engines are beast with pretty high compression so I would use 89 octane or better to get the most out of these engines.

Congrats. Nothing like tackling a repair job yourself, and saving money to boot. I lived in Hawaii for three years and have never had problem finding tools. I lived near Honolulu and the area had Oreily's Auto Parts stores, NAPA stores, and Car-quest Auto part stores to help me over the years there to find or rent tools. So you can get the right tools if needed even in Hawaii, well at-least on the island of Oahu.

Thanks for the heads up and information. I left Nissan/Infiniti thinking that they were nice cars(Wife loved the Murano for practicality and I the FX45 for speed ) but they had too many weak factory parts that needed servicing(cv axles,wheel bearings,bad seat motors,etc.) and oil burning engines. The FX45 had a oil burning V8 and the Murano a oil burning V6. Well it looks like I will have the same issues with the Edge it seems(except the oil burning I hope). The good news is that I have experience from changing two sets of wheel bearing assemblies and still got the right tools so I am ready.

Damn. That is a nice looking wheel. I may have to try to find a set of those also since my wife curved her chrome plastic plated SEL wheels and they look like crap with no way to repair it.

Interesting. The Nissan/Infiniti AWD cars are the opposite because the rear axle have the separate press-in bearing type assembly whereas the Ford has them in the front axle. The Nissan/Infiniti cars I owned(both used the same front axle wheel bearing part) had weaker front wheel-bearing hub assemblies that failed before 100k miles(the rear axle press-in type bearings lasted longer, so I never had to change the rear bearings on either car). Is it the same for the Ford Edge wheel bearing assemblies? Or is the front axle press-in bearings the most common to fail in the Edge?

I have not changed a wheel bearing on the Edge, but I have changed the front wheel bearings on a 2006 Nissan Murano AWD and an Infiniti FX45. Nissan/Infiniti bearing go out pretty quick. The Ford Edge seems to have wheel-bearing hub assemblies from what I can tell. If so, then they are easily replaceable as a DIY. I would just make sure you have a can of PB buster, a 20in or longer breaker bar, six point sockets(reduce the chance of rounding-off rusted bolts), and a hub puller with 5lb slide hammer. Trust me those are the most needed tools to remove rusted bolts and to pull the wheel bearing assembly from the steering knuckle. Here some pics of my how-to on removing the wheel-bearing hub assembly from my old 2004 FX45 from a while back. I used a hammer to knock off my old hub on the FX45, but used a 5lb slide-hammer when I removed my 2006 Murano wheel bearing hub assembly/cv axle, much easier with the 5lb slide hammer. I also recommend changing both sides at the same time. I also recommend using Timken wheel bearings.

Not sure, but it could be a bad wheel bearing. I would start with that first and then the axle shaft and so forth. Best solution is to take it to a mechanic and let them sort it out or give you a possible clear idea of what the problem is.

True. i used to be the type that never touched anything unless it was recommended by the manufacturer. I have learned over the years that engine/transmissions are expensive whereas oil is cheap the hard way. Therefore, i do not push back changing my fluids just to save a few dollars. And I preach that all the time. Yes, many will say that it wastes of money to change fluids early, but I do not like waiting until the fluid gets old before I change it out. Preventive maintenance/shorter change intervals had worked for me over the years, more so that when i tried to squeeze every mile out of my fluids and had to replace an engine(1992 Mazda Protege) and transmission(2001 Volvo S80 T6) on two different cars before I learned that lesson. The funny thing is that I have read forum posts about my old Volvo S80 that recommended the early transmission fluid changes when I owned it, but listened to the forum members that said Volvo knew better (some claimed to have over 100k miles on the original fluid with no problems at all) and do not waste time changing the fluid at all which I thought would save me money so i mistakenly listened to them. Well my S80 transmission died a couple years later and the transmission repair tech told me that I should have changed the fluid every 30k miles because the old fluid was burnt and useless at 80k miles. Volvo said the transmission was filled for life and only had to be checked. Lesson learned.