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What have you done to/with your Edge/MKX today?


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I've been seeing this "PTU" stuff on this forum for a while.. It's finally time I ask.

 

What is it? and what do I need to know about it?

 

The PTU is an acronym that I believe stands for Power Takeoff Unit. It is the Transfer Case for the All Wheel Drive / AWD and moves power to the rear wheels.

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The PTU is an acronym that I believe stands for Power Takeoff Unit. It is the Transfer Case for the All Wheel Drive / AWD and moves power to the rear wheels.

Hell, mine doesn't do squat then. This thing burns the front tires off while the rears just sit there being dragged along. I wouldn't consider this AWD if Ford paid me to say it! I'm sure a ford guy will come in here and say awd means blah blah blah but to me, AWD means 4wd, because dammit thats how I want it to work!

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I have an LTD AWD Edge and have actually been on icy roads and note a difference in traction and handling. Now, its certainly >not< like my previous two 4WD Explorers but it IS noticeably different (if you know what to notice) than any regular FWD vehicles I have owned. If you want true 4WD then buy a 4WD vehicle. And I readily admit that Ford's AWD is not anything near something like Subaru with their Symmetrical AWD System but I don't think its reasonable to expect it to be.

Edited by chefduane
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Hell, mine doesn't do squat then. This thing burns the front tires off while the rears just sit there being dragged along. I wouldn't consider this AWD if Ford paid me to say it! I'm sure a ford guy will come in here and say awd means blah blah blah but to me, AWD means 4wd, because dammit thats how I want it to work!

As I understand you have a 2016 Sport correct? And if you look at the dash on the left there is a little car that shows the power move from the front to the rear wheels. Take a look at that symbol and see if the power is moving around when you drive. It should move power to the rear when you accelerate and move to the front when cruising . Heck my car now has the rear tires squealing to 50mph through the gears and if I launch to hard I get a little rear wheel hop. . If only your fronts are working something is wrong or you don't have a AWD Sport. Take it to the dealer and have the PTU looked at . You can also have the PTU fluid changed for a couple hundred bucks. The dealer will tell you the fluid is good for some ridiculous number of miles but if it has never been changed and you have over 20,000 miles I would do it anyway.

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As I understand you have a 2016 Sport correct? And if you look at the dash on the left there is a little car that shows the power move from the front to the rear wheels. Take a look at that symbol and see if the power is moving around when you drive. It should move power to the rear when you accelerate and move to the front when cruising . Heck my car now has the rear tires squealing to 50mph through the gears and if I launch to hard I get a little rear wheel hop. . If only your fronts are working something is wrong or you don't have a AWD Sport. Take it to the dealer and have the PTU looked at . You can also have the PTU fluid changed for a couple hundred bucks. The dealer will tell you the fluid is good for some ridiculous number of miles but if it has never been changed and you have over 20,000 miles I would do it anyway.

It definitely shows a distribution of power to the rear and fronts, however if i footbrake to 3k and punch it, it's only the front tires that spin while the rears don't do a damn thing. admittedly I have not watched the dash while doing this test, but the video my wife took of my launch showed all I needed to know. fronts spin, rears do not.

 

with THAT being said, I could believe that the launch is causing the rear to squat a bit and not spin, while the front lifts up some and causes the fronts to spin. like duane pointed out, it isn't symmetrical awd.

 

I just want more out of something considered AWD, even if I am alone in interpreting AWD to mean something different than what it actually means

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What does it do without the braking if you just nail the accelerator?

It would seem to be the same (just less spinning), but no video proof to confirm. It will torque steer a bit then pull hard, whereas the footbrake will just roast them. I'm wondering if it is something in the tune from livernois that may cause this. though again, the dash says that it is distributing power to both front and rear.

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Mikula, you might want to research the SHO AWD system. I remember a similar issue being reported & it varied between being normal to a failure in the rear drive/clutch pack. Note the the PTU sends power to the rear all the time (like a differential), but there is a clutch pack that determines how much to send.

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I've got a video from outside my car, launching on Ice and all 4 wheels spin immediately. I believe getting off the line, the Edge should pull away with 4 wheels drive engaged all the time and then disengage when not needed. If you look at your AWD display it should confirm this. Let me know if you want the vid of the Ice launch

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It does sound like your AWD isn't working properly if you are getting continuous front wheel spin only during launches. I have tested out my AWD a few times in the rain and apart from some initial front wheel spin, the AWD engages the rear wheels almost instantly. There are a couple of YouTube video's some Fusion Sport owner made in the snow that shows the AWD engaging just after the front wheels begin to spin.

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It does sound like your AWD isn't working properly if you are getting continuous front wheel spin only during launches. I have tested out my AWD a few times in the rain and apart from some initial front wheel spin, the AWD engages the rear wheels almost instantly. There are a couple of YouTube video's some Fusion Sport owner made in the snow that shows the AWD engaging just after the front wheels begin to spin.

 

I've got a video from outside my car, launching on Ice and all 4 wheels spin immediately. I believe getting off the line, the Edge should pull away with 4 wheels drive engaged all the time and then disengage when not needed. If you look at your AWD display it should confirm this. Let me know if you want the vid of the Ice launch

 

Mikula, you might want to research the SHO AWD system. I remember a similar issue being reported & it varied between being normal to a failure in the rear drive/clutch pack. Note the the PTU sends power to the rear all the time (like a differential), but there is a clutch pack that determines how much to send.

 

 

I've moved my questions over to the AWD threads and posted a video of what I'm experiencing. didn't want to muck up this thread with my non related questions!

http://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic/24093-how-does-your-awd-work/

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