BruceB Posted September 20, 2010 Report Share Posted September 20, 2010 (edited) Ok, SO my wife's 2003 Explorer has one of the Cam Chain cassettes go after 7 years and around 85K miles. Like two weeks after it was in for service and I asked the dealer if there was anything I should do because I planned to keep it another year. After driving everything else out there, it came down to three...........Subaru Tribecca, Mazda CX9 and an Edge Limited. After going back and forth and driving all three my wife decided on a red 2010 Edge Limited AWD with just about everything but the nav system. It's our seventh new Ford and so far before it we've only had one problem car. We picked it up 1 February 2010 It first started dumping Mercon on my garage floor at about 1200 miles (late Feb). Passenger side seal replaced by dealer. A few weeks ago on a day trip with my kids we started smelling that smell again..............took it to the dealer the next day..............and yup, it gets another new seal (late August 7,500 miles). A week after we got it back we could smell that smell again, but only occassionally. late last week my wife smelled it when she was backing in the garage so I slid underneath for a look. No Mercon this time. Instead, nice thick gear oil leaking down the left (driver's) side. Dropped it off at the dealer today. PTU is bad. New unit on order and supposed to arrive on Wednesday. Anyone else having this problem with the 2010's? Does the new PTU end the problem or will I be bringing it back for new seals in a few weeks or at the first cold snap? And last.............................how is this problem still ongoing 3 years later? Maybe it's time to spend a little less money on Mike Rowe commercials and a little more on engineering a solution. Edited September 20, 2010 by BruceB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 I hope this is an isolated case. It was my understanding that Ford had fixed this problem and come up (finally) with a retro fix kit, not just for the Edge but for other vehicles with the AWD system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceB Posted September 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Just came from the dealer. I'm on leave all week and have time to waste. PTU came in this morning. Overnighted from where ever. It was up on the lift so the Service writer showed me the problem. This time th e seal was not leaking. Instead, the gasket where the two halves of the PTU were joined had gone bad. My wife has already looked up the dimensions of a GMC Yukon and measured to see if it fits in our garage....................................This had better be a permenant fix or Ford Motor Company will be sharing the pain and expense with me (helps to have lawyers in the family and a state with a lemon law that's easy to navigate). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Just came from the dealer. I'm on leave all week and have time to waste. PTU came in this morning. Overnighted from where ever. It was up on the lift so the Service writer showed me the problem. This time th e seal was not leaking. Instead, the gasket where the two halves of the PTU were joined had gone bad. My wife has already looked up the dimensions of a GMC Yukon and measured to see if it fits in our garage....................................This had better be a permenant fix or Ford Motor Company will be sharing the pain and expense with me (helps to have lawyers in the family and a state with a lemon law that's easy to navigate). This doesn't sound like the same problem and once fixed shouldn't reoccur. I wouldn't worry - yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceB Posted September 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 This doesn't sound like the same problem and once fixed shouldn't reoccur. I wouldn't worry - yet. I've already had the right side axle seal replaced twice. Both times it was leaking Mercon. This time it was clearly leaking gear oil from the left. That was actually one of my questions for them. Now that I have a new PTU, will I end up with leaking seals on the new one.? According to the service manager they are permitted to replace the seals but are not permitted to split the PTU. Allegedly that has to be shipped back to Ford. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igcitng Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Is it the Mercon that has the horrible smell or the oil? The PTU on my 2008 was fixed this spring and I am anxious about whether or not it will go again when the cold Chicago weather hits. Supposedly my Edge got the 'new and improved' seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceB Posted September 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2010 Is it the Mercon that has the horrible smell or the oil? The PTU on my 2008 was fixed this spring and I am anxious about whether or not it will go again when the cold Chicago weather hits. Supposedly my Edge got the 'new and improved' seal. I'm assuming that what was leaking when I had the seal replaced (X2) was Mercon, which is really just a type of automatic transmission fluid, because it was red. On the right side, which is the seal that apparently fails the most, it drips directly on the exhaust right around the area of the collector that joins the down pipes from each bank of cylinders. It burns off almost instantly and smells horrible. This time it was very clearly gear oil which just looks like thick engine oil. It too smells bad when it burns, just not as bad as the other stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwest Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Ok, SO my wife's 2003 Explorer has one of the Cam Chain cassettes go after 7 years and around 85K miles. Like two weeks after it was in for service and I asked the dealer if there was anything I should do because I planned to keep it another year. After driving everything else out there, it came down to three...........Subaru Tribecca, Mazda CX9 and an Edge Limited. After going back and forth and driving all three my wife decided on a red 2010 Edge Limited AWD with just about everything but the nav system. It's our seventh new Ford and so far before it we've only had one problem car. We picked it up 1 February 2010 It first started dumping Mercon on my garage floor at about 1200 miles (late Feb). Passenger side seal replaced by dealer. A few weeks ago on a day trip with my kids we started smelling that smell again..............took it to the dealer the next day..............and yup, it gets another new seal (late August 7,500 miles). A week after we got it back we could smell that smell again, but only occassionally. late last week my wife smelled it when she was backing in the garage so I slid underneath for a look. No Mercon this time. Instead, nice thick gear oil leaking down the left (driver's) side. Dropped it off at the dealer today. PTU is bad. New unit on order and supposed to arrive on Wednesday. Anyone else having this problem with the 2010's? Does the new PTU end the problem or will I be bringing it back for new seals in a few weeks or at the first cold snap? And last.............................how is this problem still ongoing 3 years later? Maybe it's time to spend a little less money on Mike Rowe commercials and a little more on engineering a solution. The new FWD or F/awd 2011 Ford Explorer cools the PTO/PTU using engine coolant. Perhaps you could get Ford to retrofit the 2011 Explorer's PTO to your...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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