PTU drain plug drill and tap

[jlkansascity]

Do you have any photos of how the drain plug looks and where it is located? I presume you did this while it was on the vehicle? I have drained (suction hose) and refilled mine once, and it's still puking so I may have to resort to the drain plug drilling and install.

 

Jonathan

[BrendonA]

I am wondering if this can be done while to PTU is still on the vehicle as well.

 

I just picked up my 2009 Edge Sport in the fall with fairly low mileage so this is something I would like to do so that I can change the fluid every year or so in hopes to prevent premature failure. Any information is appreciated...thank you.

 

Brendon

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

PTU fluid change can absolutely be done with the PTU in place. So can installing the drain plug, but of course, the advice there would be to measure MULTIPLE times, drill once.

 

And don't forget the RDU. Though it doesn't act up nearly as much, might as well put it on a schedule as well.

[BrendonA]

Excellent...thanks WWWPerfA_ZN0W.

 

I am going to try to change the fluid in the PTU first with a suction pump and then look into the drain plug install a bit closer to summer. Good advice on the RDU, I will ad that to the schedule as well. I would really like for this vehicle to last so I am up for any of the regular maintenance I can do to help with the longevity.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

I realize these fluid R&R instructions are for the SHO, but process/equipment should be just about the same:

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,1706.0.html

http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,1708.0.html

[BrendonA]

Those are great links...thanks again.

 

Yeah right now with the colder temperatures I was worried about the fluid being to think to extract. I am going to see how difficult it would be to access with the engine warmed up...otherwise it may have to wait until the warmer weather.

 

That looks pretty nasty after 26,000 miles...yikes.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Yeah, I could tell you tales about what tricks people resorted to get that "fluid/paste" out, but I best not. It's worse in the case of the SHO, because the PTU has the same PiTifUl capacity as ours, but is part of a higher performance drivetrain. So it gets beaten on a lot more than when in the Edge. I don't expect it to be that thick in the case of your Edge, but let's see. Do you have a garage to work in, or are you outdoors?

[BrendonA]

Well lets hope that is going to be good news for me then...I only have about 47,000 miles (77,000 km) on the Edge right now. I will be doing the work in my garage eventually...just have to get my VW out of there. Once I am done refinishing the wheels and get the new tires on then I can pull the VW out and get the Edge in. In the meantime I am going to pick up the things I need, suction pump, fluid, etc. may ever get a drain plug while I am at it just in case I decide to drill and tap that while I am under there.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Good luck!

[BrendonA]

Thanks. Once I get around to it I will let you know what my findings were.

[jlkansascity]

I have followed this thread since noticing my 2007 doing the "puking" leaking. I took it to Ford and they said oh yeah it's shot, give us $1600 and we'll replace it. They also wanted $1400 to replace the steering rack. So, after reading this thread I decided to take the least invasive option. I took a suction pump (link below) which I already had in the shop, and sucked out as much oil as I could, which was hardly any. I think the xfer case was just about empty, but I sucked out what I could and filled it with gear oil. I drove this a week, and it blew oil out the vent like crazy (maybe because the case was finally full). Then I changed it again, and I got more nasty oil out of it, and refilled it with Amsoil. Then, I drove that for a month. Now I just changed it again, and got all the oil sucked out and filled again with Amsoil. It's now only puking a very little, like 2-3 drips a week. So, I think it's getting cleaned up just from the frequent changes which was my goal. I'm going to drive it 3 months now and do the change again.

 

I was about ready to drill the drain plug, with the xfer case on the car, but I decided to just change the oil until it got cleaned up and it appears to be working out.

 

The oil suction tool I used; http://www.liquivac.com/

 

The oil pump i used to put oil back IN the case; http://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-specialty-tools/fluid-pump/oem-fluid-transfer-pump/94647_0_0/

 

I tried the oil pumps that screw on the top of a oil jug, but they do not suck to the bottom of the bottle so that's a pain. The one above from Autozone works good, it sucks in one hose and pushes it out the other hose, but it's a mess to clean up because it's all full of oil then.

 

I got a lot of help on this forum, I hope this helps someone else out also.

[BrendonA]

Hi jlkansascity...

 

Thanks for the good info and the link to that liquivac pump...that a pretty decent looking unit and my be a worthwhile investment for me. Its good to know that frequent changes have, over time, finally cleaned out the PTU. I have read a lot about this issue and have become curious to see how much fluid is going to come out of mine when I try to extract it...time will tell.

 

Its nice to see the support on this forum.

[jlkansascity]

The first time I did it, after the "puking" leak started, the car had 140k miles on it. The transfer case was nearly empty. I probably got 1-2 tablespoons of thick nasty grease out of it. After filling it, the car sounded quieter, and seemed to be smoother. I think it was very near catastrophic failure...

[Ironpeddler]

Guys,

 

I've been reading this thread back and forth and can't seem to grasp where the fill plug is. I took off the passenger side wheel, took off the plastic inner fender and I can't get a clear shot to the PTU plug...in fact, I can't even see it! I crawled up underneath there and I see the drive shaft going into what I think it is....but I still can't find the fill plug. It sure isn't easy with the car jacked up in the rain and cold of the driveway, but I have to get this taken care of because I just started getting the black spots in the driveway and a low pitched rumble when I accelerate.

 

Any help would be extremely appreciated!

 

Thanks.

[jlkansascity]

Ironpeddler;

 

what kind of car is this, an Edge? I didn't bother to take the wheel off. I put the car up on ramps, and then slid under there and looked up on the passenger side of the PTO / transfer case.

 

Here it is marked in kind of a blue/green on a new case; http://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-2014-Ford-Edge-Lincoln-MKX-transfer-case-power-take-off-unit-OEM-/291017684141

 

Here you can see it on the top right about the 1:00 or 2:00 position on a used case;

http://s159.photobucket.com/user/the_natrix/media/Ford%20Edge%20PTU/KICX5244_zps584a0dfb.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5

 

Here is a image of it http://www.justanswer.com/ford/6y51f-ford-fusion-sport-awd-drain-interval-ptu-transfer.html

 

Probably the best link to see what it looks like on the car from the bottom is the 5th photo in this post, http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php?topic=1706.0

[jlkansascity]

There is also a photo / drawing on this thread that has an orange arrow pointing at the drain plug;

http://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic/15488-ptu-seal-replacement-timeline/

[Ironpeddler]

Ironpeddler;

 

what kind of car is this, an Edge? I didn't bother to take the wheel off. I put the car up on ramps, and then slid under there and looked up on the passenger side of the PTO / transfer case.

 

Here it is marked in kind of a blue/green on a new case; http://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-2014-Ford-Edge-Lincoln-MKX-transfer-case-power-take-off-unit-OEM-/291017684141

 

Here you can see it on the top right about the 1:00 or 2:00 position on a used case;

http://s159.photobucket.com/user/the_natrix/media/Ford%20Edge%20PTU/KICX5244_zps584a0dfb.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5

 

Here is a image of it http://www.justanswer.com/ford/6y51f-ford-fusion-sport-awd-drain-interval-ptu-transfer.html

 

Probably the best link to see what it looks like on the car from the bottom is the 5th photo in this post, http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php?topic=1706.0

 

 

 

There is also a photo / drawing on this thread that has an orange arrow pointing at the drain plug;

http://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic/15488-ptu-seal-replacement-timeline/

 

Thanks for the quick response. I have a 2008 Edge SEL AWD. I saw the pics you posted before, especially the post on the ecoboost forum with the guy who had the 5 extensions on his impact gun...that's the one I was trying to work off of by taking the driver-side wheel off. I guess I have to do the ramp thing being that I can't see the plug through the wheel well at all. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be better and I'll attack it again then.

 

One quick question, in the 5th photo of that post...you're saying that picture was taken from the bottom of the car? Also, is that the drive shaft at the top of the photo. LMK.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

[jlkansascity]

on that 5th photo, the top of the photo is towards the front of the car, and the bottom of the photo is the rear of the car. The shaft going horizontally at the top of the photo is the passenger side front axle; going to the right front wheel of the car. The actual driveshaft going to the rear of the car isn't really visible on this photo but would be down at the bottom of the photo towards the rear of the car.

[Ironpeddler]

on that 5th photo, the top of the photo is towards the front of the car, and the bottom of the photo is the rear of the car. The shaft going horizontally at the top of the photo is the passenger side front axle; going to the right front wheel of the car. The actual driveshaft going to the rear of the car isn't really visible on this photo but would be down at the bottom of the photo towards the rear of the car.

 

AWESOME...thanks for the details! I just needed to get my bearings once I get down there. Now I'm hoping it warms up a bit here in NJ to get this done now that the rain has stopped.

[evilkid500]

Lots of good info here. I'm going to be doing a ptu fluid swap this weekend in my 2012 edge. One piece of info doesn't seem terribly clear to me. Specifications say the PTU takes 0.8 pints of fluid. Does that mean when you re-fill the unit after pumping out the sludge, you measure out .8 pints? Or do you fill until fluid is up to the bottom of the fill plug on a level surface?

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

That's the amount of fluid it takes when the PTU is bonedry. What is actually needed in your PTU will vary depending on a] current volume, and b] volume you take out. So the fluid spec'd in the manual is the MAXIMUM you can put back in before overfilling occurs.

 

Make sure the Edge is level when you drain & fill the PTU. Using a tie strap, measure 44.5 mm (1.75 in) from the end and bend it at a 90-degree angle, measure from the end up to 38.1 mm (1.5 in) and place an index mark. Place it in the filler opening and check the fluid. The correct fluid level will be between the bottom of the dipstick and the 38.1 mm (1.5 in) maximum fill mark.

• Adjust the fluid level as necessary. Slowly add fluid in to the correct fill specification.

• Do not overfill the PTU. This will cause the fluid to be forced out of the unit.

[evilkid500]

Thank you so much zn0w!!! That's exactly what I was looking for. I'll post some pics of the procedure when I'm done.

[evilkid500]

Hey guys,

 

I finally got the combination of a nice day and free time to get this ptu fluid swap done. I took a few pictures. My 2012 edge is currently at 25,868 miles. It's definitely not as easy as an oil change, but isn't the hardest thing either. I kept the car on all 4 tires on the garage floor to keep it level, which makes for a pretty tight spot to get into. I started out by fabricating the zip tie dipstick as described by Znow above:

 

Once I got under the car, I figured the easiest way to access the ptu drain plug was up to the right of the exhaust flex pipe and left of the frame wall:

 

After that I used a standard 3/8" socket wrench with no extension to undo the plug:

 

I stuck the dipstick in to see what I was dealing with:

 

Thing was almost at zero fluid. Figures.

 

I tried to exract fluid with the hand pump everyone else has used and I couldn't get anything to come through. There just wasn't enough fluid in the ptu for the pump to suck anything.

 

Here is what the inside of the plug looked like:

 

The fluid had the same consistency of brake caliper lube. I imagine that the ptu is coated with this sludge.

 

I reversed the pump setup, and pumped in some synthetic motor craft 75w140 gear lube. Checked the level with the dipstick:

 

It's higher than it was. We'll see how things go now. My guess is, I'm going to find a whole bunch of leaks in these junk seals now that there is actually fluid in it. I'll be sure to update.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Fingers crossed there are no leaks to deal with! Hopefully just underfilled at the factory ...

[jlkansascity]

Hey guys,

 

I finally got the combination of a nice day and free time to get this ptu fluid swap done. I took a few pictures. My 2012 edge is currently at 25,868 miles. It's definitely not as easy as an oil change, but isn't the hardest thing either. I kept the car on all 4 tires on the garage floor to keep it level, which makes for a pretty tight spot to get into. I started out by fabricating the zip tie dipstick as described by Znow above:

 

Once I got under the car, I figured the easiest way to access the ptu drain plug was up to the right of the exhaust flex pipe and left of the frame wall:

 

After that I used a standard 3/8" socket wrench with no extension to undo the plug:

 

I stuck the dipstick in to see what I was dealing with:

 

Thing was almost at zero fluid. Figures.

 

I tried to exract fluid with the hand pump everyone else has used and I couldn't get anything to come through. There just wasn't enough fluid in the ptu for the pump to suck anything.

 

Here is what the inside of the plug looked like:

 

The fluid had the same consistency of brake caliper lube. I imagine that the ptu is coated with this sludge.

 

I reversed the pump setup, and pumped in some synthetic motor craft 75w140 gear lube. Checked the level with the dipstick:

 

It's higher than it was. We'll see how things go now. My guess is, I'm going to find a whole bunch of leaks in these junk seals now that there is actually fluid in it. I'll be sure to update.

 

 

Thanks for the great post with all the detail and the photos. I was in the same boat; nearly empty transfer case. My strategy was to change it several times to get it cleaned up. I filled it (after getting nothing out), then changed it in a week, then changed it again in a month. It started getting cleaner and leaking less.

 

I was filling to the fill plug, as I hadn't seen the process for using a zip tie until about a month ago when WWWPerfA_ZN0W first posted the zip tie measurement process (THANKS!). So, it was probably leaking a bit out the vent due to overfilling. But that probably also helped clear out the vent.

 

After 3 changes now, my next one is 6 months out, and it has almost stopped leaking. I get 1,2,3 drops about every three weeks, probably due to overfilling. Of course, this Edge is a 2007 with 140k miles on it so it has lasted a while.

 

Sad thing is, the dealer here said unequivocally that it needed to be replaced for $1600.00. That was 6 months ago. I think they're ripping people off left and right on this situation.

 

Jonathan