Help...Weird noise while reversing

[Richard Waller]

I hit a pretty bid bump while driving at around 40 mph. Everything seemed fine while driving but I noticed when I was reversing up my inclined driveway that the car made an interesting clicking noise. It for sure sounded alarming. I took the car around the block today and everything seemed to drive great. Shifted fast and smooth. Then I reversed up my inclined driveway again and it made the same noise. I kept pulling the car forward and back to see if I could identify it. The noise changed and sounded a scratching. I jacked up the car and pulled the skid plate off. There is for sure thick oil that is dripping down next to (I believe) the transmission mount. I looked up into the engine bay and notice this thick oil sprayed all over. On top of the engine I noticed a hose that I am unfamiliar with. I took a photo and could use help identifying what this hose is for. I noticed that it is not connected to anything and I m wondering if the spraying oil is linked to this hose. Would appreciate any help.

 

[krewat]

That's the PTU vent. I think you might have blown the PTU, sad to say.

What year is the car, and how many miles? Performance Package or no?

 

[Csbbrah]

Get underneath the car asap. Check the PTU like said. Drain that oil and see what you have. Smelly oil?

Sent from my LM-Q610(FGN) using Tapatalk

 

[Richard Waller]

The car is a 2011 SHO with performance package and stage 1 Livernois. It has 89k miles on it and has driven nice. I have noticed over the past months of driving that power has not been constant through the rpms. How much is a PTU to replace? Where does this PTU vent line connect because like I said this vent line is detached from the PTU. I can grab that line and pull it straight out of the engine bay. Truly appreciate your help.

Rich

 

[glockcoma]

That line is connected to the ptu vent.
It has been upgraded at some point which replaced the jiggle valve vent.

Hopefully the hose just popped off and you were just burping out fluid from the top of the ptu.

I would clean everything once the hose is back on, change the fluid and check for any contaminants or metal shaving/leaks.

Replace with redline shockproof fluid.
And monitor.

7A246 is the vent tube. It goes into the top of he ptu.

 

[Richard Waller]

That line is connected to the ptu vent.
It has been upgraded at some point which replaced the jiggle valve vent.

Hopefully the hose just popped off and you were just burping out fluid from the top of the ptu.

I would clean everything once the hose is back on, change the fluid and check for any contaminants or metal shaving/leaks.

Replace with redline shockproof fluid.
And monitor.

7A246 is the vent tube. It goes into the top of he ptu.

Thank you so much for this picture and the thoughts.
Do you think I will further damage this by trying to just reconnect the hose and changing the fluid? Should I take it to a shop to prevent further cost to fix? I am pretty knowledgeable with a wrench but I just want to prevent costing me more money.

Thank you again

 

[krewat]

That line is connected to the ptu vent.
It has been upgraded at some point which replaced the jiggle valve vent.

Hopefully the hose just popped off and you were just burping out fluid from the top of the ptu.

This makes a lot of sense, actually - I was just reading a bunch of threads on other sites where the filter cap on that vent clogs up and if there's any pressure in the PTU, it will either leak past the seals, or pop the line off.

I wonder about the clicking though - maybe just lack of fluid is making noise.

 

[glockcoma]

The clicking might be related to the pop ting tsb that is associated with the cv shaft bushing.
I have that tsb # somewhere.

It also might be the ptu gears mashing the metal bits..... the safe thing would be to pull the fill plug (which is pretty easy from underneath)
And looking at the magnet for debris.
If the gear oil was purging out who knows how much is still left in there.

 

[glockcoma]

For reference here’s the jiggle valve removed and disassembled.


This is the part that gets clogged

 

[glockcoma]

Here’s the updated part from the pop ting tsb. The old one is all metal.

 

[glockcoma]

Worst case scenario is what happen to me. Thurst washer failure under load
= grinding

 

[Richard Waller]

Well thank you all for the information you have provided so far. All very helpful.

So I reconnected the vent line to the top of the PTU. I then jacked up the car and took out the plug. I got a vacuum hand pump and tried getting out as much as I could and there was hardly anything in there. Pretty much just filled the line of the hand pump. There wasn't a ton of metals fillings on the plug. Just very sludgy.

I filled up the PTU as much as I could which was only 150ml. I did lower the car to be on all four tires and continued pumping until fluid came out of the plug. I have it back together. Now I am thinking that it is full of sludge.

The question I have is, should I drive it.

I am nervous about doing more damage to other parts. I stopped by the ford service shop nd the quoted $2600 to replace the PTU.

 

[Richard Waller]

For reference here’s the jiggle valve removed and disassembled.


This is the part that gets clogged

Where is this little valve located?

 

[glockcoma]

Where is this little valve located?

You no longer have this valve, the vent tube in your first pic replaced it.
Someone changed it out.
It comes with a new ****** you install after you remove the old valve. Then just clamp the vent tube on it.

For Reference here is my plug after approximately 24k miles. As far as I know it was the first ptu fluid change.


It looks pretty similar.

 

[glockcoma]

If you think it’s still sludge, you can change it a few more times with cheaper fluid to flush it out. Then put some good stuff in.
How does it smell? The fluid has a very pungent smell when it goes bad

 

[Richard Waller]

If you think it’s still sludge, you can change it a few more times with cheaper fluid to flush it out. Then put some good stuff in.
How does it smell? The fluid has a very pungent smell when it goes bad

It for sure smelled bad and now my hands have a nice smell that I cant shake

So if I put the car on all 4 wheels nd pumps oil in until it came out, then it is considered full right?

 

[glockcoma]

It for sure smelled bad and now my hands have a nice smell that I cant shake

So if I put the car on all 4 wheels nd pumps oil in until it came out, then it is considered full right?

Maybe...the book says to rotate the ptu 3 full turns then recheck the level 10min later. I skipped this step not knowing at the time. Everything was ok in my case, but mine wasn’t sludge.
The sludge can create pockets that will prevent all the fluid from going in.
The ptu only takes 18oz which is something like 532 ml.
I think you said it only took 150ml.
So I would at least change it once more to be sure it’s full.

 

[krewat]

Again, check the cap on that vent line - they plug up and when pressure builds in the PTU, it'll either pop the line off again, or it'll push oil past the seals and start leaking fluid.

Once you check that cap, and most likely replace it because I'm pretty sure that's what caused the line to pop off, drive it, make sure that clicking is gone, and then drive it for a few 10's of miles on the highway, go back home, and flush it again.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4835605/Ford_PTU_service

I read either in that thread, or somewhere else, someone used a "breather cap" of some sort, but someone else used one of those little gas filters you'd use on a small engine.

Something like this: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/w...age//4/large/11132819_prm_702323_pri_larg.jpg

 

[Richard Waller]

Again, check the cap on that vent line - they plug up and when pressure builds in the PTU, it'll either pop the line off again, or it'll push oil past the seals and start leaking fluid.

Once you check that cap, and most likely replace it because I'm pretty sure that's what caused the line to pop off, drive it, make sure that clicking is gone, and then drive it for a few 10's of miles on the highway, go back home, and flush it again.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4835605/Ford_PTU_service

I read either in that thread, or somewhere else, someone used a "breather cap" of some sort, but someone else used one of those little gas filters you'd use on a small engine.

Something like this: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/w...age//4/large/11132819_prm_702323_pri_larg.jpg

Thank you again. I will check that cap and drive it a bit then flush again. I will keep doing this for a bit after as well.

 

[Richard Waller]

Thank you again. I will check that cap and drive it a bit then flush again. I will keep doing this for a bit after as well.

I tried finding the part number to replace the PTU vent line from the top of the PTU to the top of the engine bay but i had no luck. Do you have the PTU vent part number?