Ptu maintenance

[Kenneth Bridgman]

What service interval are you guys using for your sho? Are you still using factory fluid or is there something better out there? I have a 2013 sho performance pack.

 

[mrhighcaliber]

I'm running Amsoil Severe Gear in my ptu and rdu. Redline shockproof is awesome as well. A lot of guys are running royal purple with good results. Have not used it though. I recommend, draining it, filling. Then draining again in no less than 1k miles. Use one of the high performance fluids above and with your pp cooler, it will last 60k. If u use motorcraft, mobil or whatever the autoparts stores carry, you should change abt every 20-30k . My current fill of Severe Gear is at 28k now, and still looks decent. I have no cooler and run my SHO quite hard. Also, if you run catless downpipes you should be able to run the average lubes for 60k. My ptu temps dropped 70+ degrees by going catless. The high temps really degrade the fluids. I'm going to change this fill, and run the next fill for at least 50k.

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[Pintony]

Ha! Ford says 100k...Ahhh... not going to happen on my SHO's. Had mine changed between 50 and 60k

 

[SilverSH0]

I have been changing out my fluid about every 1k miles with standard conventional gear oil. I didn't see any reason to buy the more expensive synthetic fluid when I was going to change it out so often. Once the season is over I'll do a few changes with synthetic and change that out every winter.

 

[BlueSHO]

I have been changing out my fluid about every 1k miles with standard conventional gear oil. I didn't see any reason to buy the more expensive synthetic fluid when I was going to change it out so often. Once the season is over I'll do a few changes with synthetic and change that out every winter.

Why so often?

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[SilverSH0]

Why so often?

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I purchased the car at 70k miles. There was oil coming out the PTU vent and that told me it had become clogged with some sludge. I'm hoping that frequent changes will dilute the sludge. But I've only put 4k miles on the car all summer (1500 came from a week vacation to the UP) so it hasn't been changed to often. Plus it's about a 15 minute change after doing it the first time.

 

[BlueSHO]

I purchased the car at 70k miles. There was oil coming out the PTU vent and that told me it had become clogged with some sludge. I'm hoping that frequent changes will dilute the sludge. But I've only put 4k miles on the car all summer (1500 came from a week vacation to the UP) so it hasn't been changed to often. Plus it's about a 15 minute change after doing it the first time.

Got ya

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[Kenneth Bridgman]

Use the heavy shockproof or the light shockproof? If I go with amsoil, what thickness should I run it ptu and rdu?

 

[Victorious_Secret]

Attempted to service my PTU today with little sucess. I easily gained access to the plug but was only able to extract 215ml... so less than half. I used a 7 dollar pump form harbor freight. Gonna bu the liquidvac from Lowes and try again. Anyone use one of these?

Not trying to jack your thread any tips from those who have doNE the procedure on tools or lessons learned.

BTW, my magnetic plug was full of sticky crude and what I did get out was a black muddy mess. I was semi happy just to get the little fresh fluid in that I replaced.

That brings up another question is everyone only replacing what they extrace or filling tI'll it comes out of the fill hole?

 

[SHOdded]

Try the Pennzoil gallon pump next time. Costs about the same, better quality. Or if you can get a mityvac ... Repeat the process within the next few hundred miles, and you should be able to pull out most of it. Its fine to fill it till it starts coming out the fill hole, or just a tad below. Sometimes you have to move the tube around inside the PTU to max out the drain.

 

[SilverSH0]

For mine I'm sure I couldn't get all the old fluid out. I have seen pictures of the PTU case cracked open and I highly doubt you can ever get down to the bottom of the case through the fill hole (due to the gears getting in the way). Like SHOdded said, repeat the process several times ever few hundred miles.

 

[Victorious_Secret]

Success! The liquivac from Lowes worked like a charm. I connected the hose to a 1/4" Semi rigid pvc tube. It was small enough yet hard enough to push down into the PTU. The lift at the local autocraft center made the job a breeze.


This is what the gunk that was extracted looked like. Felt like there was very little to no viscosity left in the oil.



I think I was able to get a good amount out. I filled till it began to ooze out of the fill hole. Bottom line. I am relieved to know there is some fresh fluid in there and plan on changing out again soon.

Are there an gear lubes with additives that could help clean up any gunk that's in there making the frequent fluid swaps more effective?

 

[SilverSH0]

Are there an gear lubes with additives that could help clean up any gunk that's in there making the frequent fluid swaps more effective?

The problem with additives that will clean up gunk (ie, break down the oil) is that you have no good way to get all the oil out without removing the PTU. If cleaner gets left in the PTU, it's going to break down the good oil if you don't get every last bit of the cleaner out. I wanted to go that route but ultimately settled for many frequent changes and I tried to change them soon after parking. My thought was that any gunk remaining would mix with the good new oil and become suspended in it. Then when I suck it out, I can get more gunk out. After many changes, it will be diluted enough that it's basically all new oil.

 

[6500rpm]

I thought I'd seen a drill and tap location post at some point to put a drain plug at the bottom of the PTU? If that's an option and someone saved the link, please post.
Thanks

 

[SilverSH0]

Here's where a guy added a plug on an Edge. Post #16 has a photobucket album that shows the plug location.

http://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic/10914-ptu-leak-failures/#entry89270

 

[Victorious_Secret]

Read the post, I like the idea of having a drain plug. Original poster "Natrix" had this comment

"I beleive a fill of 75% gear oil and 25% ATF can effectively desludge most of the PTU in 3 changes - probably 6 months or a year of moderate driving."

Is there a desludging benifit to ATF? What are any pros and cons to this using this mix when considering changing fluid often?

 

[SHOdded]

ATF is thinner + has detergents. That would be why he was thinking of this mix. Wouldn't run it that long tho, maybe a week/2 weeks in a regularly driven vehicle, and only before the beginning of routine fluid changes. You would have to do at least two PTU fluid changes with 100% gear oil AFTER this "flush" to minimize/eliminate traces of ATF. This is where drilling a drain plug would come in handy, you could do a true flush procedure one time and be done.

 

[Victorious_Secret]

Makes sense, thanks for the info. Again the idea of having a drain plug is great and completing the procedure cant be much harder than installing the compression releases on my Harley twin cam heads, but it still intimidates me knowing it could be a catastrophic costly and time consuming mistake should something go wrong.

Is there any posts or threads out there documenting the procedure with the ptu on the vehicle? Or can that even be done? I assume it can.

 

[SHOdded]

Most people have done this on their Edge with the PTU in place. Measure twice, cut once. Drill carefully, using a good metalworking bit, with a drill stop. Personally, I would do a fluid change first, to verify the fluid does flow, so that when you drill, all the shavings come right back out with the fluid. That is really all there is to it. The fear is the hardest part to overcome.

 

[PSC]

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has drilled a drain plug hole in the PTU of their SHO yet. I really need to change my PTU fluid this winter but I am not a huge fan of having to do the process several times over the course of 6-8 weeks. The drain plug route sounds easiest and most effective IMO.

Thanks!