Is My PTU Savable? Would Like to Hear Some Stories

[DGrot777]

Car has 75k miles, bought it with 56k. I did have the transmission replaced and apparently the shop did replace the PTU fluid while it was out. Been commuting a lot further for work I started smelling that rotten egg (sulfuric) smell when I would park at home. Well the smell started getting strong inside the car. I finally had a chance to get underneath. I checked the seals and they were dry. I got a video to see the top of the case and of course its black. The vent tube was also wet. I disconnected it where its zip-tied to the engine and I heard a hissing noise. It also came disconnected very easily from the port on top of the PTU. This hose reeked! Well I took apart the vent and cleaned it along with the hose. I then sucked out whatever fluid I could and proceeded to pump new fluid in until it started coming back out of the fill plug. Not much metal on the plug, but there is a lot of sludge. The fluid wasn't as chunky as others reported but it was very dark.

This smell doesn't seem like its ever going to go away, has anyone had success recovering from this? My PTU has no whining or grinding noises.

 

[Substantia Nigra]

Gear oil stinks to begin with, burnt gear oil just adds more flavoring. If there's truly no metal, you're probably fine. Dead PTUs have chunks missing from the gears or a bearing that ripped itself apart.

As for that stink inside the car, I haven't experienced that one before sorry.

 

[DGrot777]

Gear oil stinks to begin with, burnt gear oil just adds more flavoring. If there's truly no metal, you're probably fine. Dead PTUs have chunks missing from the gears or a bearing that ripped itself apart.

As for that stink inside the car, I haven't experienced that one before sorry.

Will probably run ozone but its mainly there when the car is stopped. Not sure how its getting in but other's report the same thing. I just mean how to get rid of the smell around the garage and your hands lol

 

[luigisho]

Some people have drilled and installed drain plugs in the case and just run a bunch of fresh fluid, drain and refiill what ever drained out, and so on until you are satisfied with how it looks/smells. The only way to get everything out is disassembly but you should be good with enough fresh fluid. Anything that gets puked out of the vent onto exhaust/cat will burn and stink. I think I saw a few people trying some heat sheilding to keep ptu fluid from getting cooked.

 

[DGrot777]

Some people have drilled and installed drain plugs in the case and just run a bunch of fresh fluid, drain and refiill what ever drained out, and so on until you are satisfied with how it looks/smells. The only way to get everything out is disassembly but you should be good with enough fresh fluid. Anything that gets puked out of the vent onto exhaust/cat will burn and stink. I think I saw a few people trying some heat sheilding to keep ptu fluid from getting cooked.

I am super convinced to get a drain tapped into my case, would make this job so much easier. Hard to snake the pump hose between the gears. I'm finding nothing on my exhaust. DP's are ceramic coated, no signs of black fluid on them until I did the fluid change. It's all at the top of the case. I guess I just have to get back under and clean whatever I can.

 

[SeanDev]

I am super convinced to get a drain tapped into my case, would make this job so much easier. Hard to snake the pump hose between the gears. I'm finding nothing on my exhaust. DP's are ceramic coated, no signs of black fluid on them until I did the fluid change. It's all at the top of the case. I guess I just have to get back under and clean whatever I can.

If your getting no drip from ptu then so far thats a good sign. And a drain tap is in my opinion best thing for PTU, easier job that entices you more to do more fluid changes. Non-pp make the job easier, since fill plug isn't used for other things. There Stout, I ran my interceptor 10,000 miles with no PTU fluid. " Previous change i forgot to fill, had no issues, at 164,000 miles now, all I've done is replace seals and fluid change every 10,000 miles. Plus periodically I run a pipe cleaner through the hole on ptu that hose vent hose sits on, it can get gunked up pretty good, and let pressure build.

 

[DGrot777]

If your getting no drip from ptu then so far thats a good sign. And a drain tap is in my opinion best thing for PTU, easier job that entices you more to do more fluid changes. Non-pp make the job easier, since fill plug isn't used for other things. There Stout, I ran my interceptor 10,000 miles with no PTU fluid. " Previous change i forgot to fill, had no issues, at 164,000 miles now, all I've done is replace seals and fluid change every 10,000 miles. Plus periodically I run a pipe cleaner through the hole on ptu that hose vent hose sits on, it can get gunked up pretty good, and let pressure build.

I watched a video saying once its venting out, that means your ptu is already done for. Something about the idler gear overheating. I'm hoping this isn't the case, but my last drive before changing the fluid I seemed to be getting some weird surging but it was also a windy day so I'm not sure. I'm honestly impressed you went 10k with no fluid lol.

 

[SeanDev]

I watched a video saying once its venting out, that means your ptu is already done for. Something about the idler gear overheating. I'm hoping this isn't the case, but my last drive before changing the fluid I seemed to be getting some weird surging but it was also a windy day so I'm not sure. I'm honestly impressed you went 10k with no fluid lol.

So was I lol. When I went to change fluid that's when I realized the gear oil bottle was unopened. Saved me probably was my interceptor has PP PTU, probably that help from cooling saved her, I did change it 3 times in under a 1,000 miles to get any gunk out.