How to: PTU Oil Change (Tons of Pics) 2016 Explorer Sport

[Will1122]

I replaced mine this week as well, on 2016 sport. My model has a vent scoop just under the bumper pushing air up against it. I pulled out 300ml of oil, so am bit unsure how much to put back in, but will go for 3/4 of a quart.

It smelled plenty acrid, but at 50k miles was about as black as I'd expect motor oil to be after 5k change (not too bad). It did, however, contain plenty of metal shavings, so was grateful to get them out.

The one advice I would have for others, is to keep a backup drain plug on hand. The torx is easily stripped, so I had to resort to vice grips to get it loose and out. I will be replacing it with a standard oil plug.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C9CJM8J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[613GT500]

I replaced mine this week as well, on 2016 sport. My model has a vent scoop just under the bumper pushing air up against it. I pulled out 300ml of oil, so am bit unsure how much to put back in, but will go for 3/4 of a quart.

It smelled plenty acrid, but at 50k miles was about as black as I'd expect motor oil to be after 5k change (not too bad). It did, however, contain plenty of metal shavings, so was grateful to get them out.

The one advice I would have for others, is to keep a backup drain plug on hand. The torx is easily stripped, so I had to resort to vice grips to get it loose and out. I will be replacing it with a standard oil plug.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C9CJM8J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Since you were recently under your 16 EX Sport, do you remember seeing if your PTU was the watercooled version with two ports and plumbing coming out of it?

 

[RhinoQuartz]

Since you were recently under your 16 EX Sport, do you remember seeing if your PTU was the watercooled version with two ports and plumbing coming out of it?

Seconded. Very curious to understand how the design revisions were done. My 17, for example, apparently doesn't have a drain plug.

 

[Will1122]

Since you were recently under your 16 EX Sport, do you remember seeing if your PTU was the watercooled version with two ports and plumbing coming out of it?

I do not recall seeing evidence of water cooling. I'll look more closely next time.

 

[SuperGreg]

Here's 1 without a drain plug, but with a fill plug (different looking plug than your pic):

I see a "Max Fill" line, but I've read elsewhere that you fill until it hits the fill hole? How do you know when it's at "Max Fill"?

 

[KayGee]

I see a "Max Fill" line, but I've read elsewhere that you fill until it hits the fill hole? How do you know when it's at "Max Fill"?

If you fill to fill hole, that is about 18 ounces, which is the stated fluid capacity of the ptu. The lower max fill line looks like it would equate to the ~10 ounces most units seem to be filled (or underfilled) with.

 

[Steve18Sport]

17k miles on my '18, starting to think about PTU oil change in a few months. I really appreciate everyone's time to document and help the rest of us. One question I didn't see asked or answered in the thread: Why is it necessary to remove the factory vent line from the PTU and replace with another hose for filling? Why not just remove the vent unit from the top and fill through the factory vent hose with a syringe or smaller line feeding into that one?

Assuming there's a reason and you do need to change the hose, follow up question: If only temporary for filling, is the effort to install the clamp on the vent nipple worth it?

 

[SuperGreg]

If you fill to fill hole, that is about 18 ounces, which is the stated fluid capacity of the ptu. The lower max fill line looks like it would equate to the ~10 ounces most units seem to be filled (or underfilled) with.

Thanks! That sure is odd to have that mark on the case then. Just did this on my '13 Limited (just purchased a couple months ago). Most likely has never been done, oil was dark black. I found it incredibly easy to vacuum siphon through the fill hole, and pump new oil in (pump screws on the top of the gear oil bottle and look like hand soap dispenser). I was able to put about 1/2 quart of oil in. Way easier than I was expecting after reading this thread. Only thing is when vacuuming you need a hose small enough diameter to fit through the hole and down to the bottom of the case. The hose will have a natural curve to it if it has been stored coiled up, so you can use that to make sure it heads down the right way. It caught up a couple times and I kept wiggling until I was sure it was as far as it would go.

I'll probably do it again soon to flush more of the old stuff out. Thanks everybody for the info! Really appreciated.

 

[Will1122]

17k miles on my '18, starting to think about PTU oil change in a few months. I really appreciate everyone's time to document and help the rest of us. One question I didn't see asked or answered in the thread: Why is it necessary to remove the factory vent line from the PTU and replace with another hose for filling? Why not just remove the vent unit from the top and fill through the factory vent hose with a syringe or smaller line feeding into that one?

Assuming there's a reason and you do need to change the hose, follow up question: If only temporary for filling, is the effort to install the clamp on the vent nipple worth it?

I used the hose to fill, and then just zip tied it to something sturdy for next change (50k miles). Indeed, put the cap back on it.

 

[san~man]

'19 Sport.

Crawled under the Ex today to do this, and found the following:

1. There's no way to get to the nipple other than from the top.

2. From the top, there's no way to get to the nipple without removing the rear turbo intake.

My EPP dual intake is coming in next week, so this will have to wait until then.

 

[Bubbab]

My 17 Sport 3.5 TT has a drain plug, but no fill plug (most likely cause it has the external cooler for PTU and has the coolant lines housing where a fill plug might go).

There is option to remove the temp sensor and use that as fill hole but the cat needs to be removed to get to it, other option is the vent nipple line but I have yet to be able to see the darn thing much less get my hand down in there.
A Fumoto drain valve could easily be put in place of the drain plug and then pump the new fluid back up into the PTU from its nipple close the valve and be done. The Fumoto is M14x1.5 and would make the fluid change easy.

Ford states in manual to change it at 30K and yet offer no fill plug and Ford dealers wont do it.

Now interesting take on all this.
My owners manual states right in the scheduled service to change the PTU fluid at 30K if you tow or in lots of idling hot weather driving. You'd think Ford would make this easy with a fill plug, think of the oil pan not having a fill location, yea Ford this is how stupid you look over this!

My dealer I bought car from states they have never done a PTU fluid change on the 17+ models and they wont unless there is a problem. I stopped by 6 other dealers within 50 miles and got the same response, nope we wont do it. Most common response is its covered under warranty if it goes bad, Its lifetime oil fill or the manual says to change it only if you've done towing (which in my case they still wont or they dont know how).

I heard 2017+ models went to different ptu idler gears to run cooler thus temp sensor installed to monitor fluid temp.

So with all this considered I'm not gonna change it yet and will maybe get the Fumoto valve and replace the drain plug with this (or use a m14 plug with a nipple on it and pump fluid in that way then put drain plug back in quickly).

I have 36K on vehicle now I leased it new and bought out the lease a few months ago so my warranty now goes to 2025/100K miles. I'll probably get rid of it before warranty goes out so not even sure why I'm worrying about this but wow Ford what were you thinking!

I did have PTU fluid changed in an Escape and it still failed.

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum Bubbab.

Peter

 

[Oggie]

Hello all. I have a 16 ex sport. Just turned 80k on the odo. I'm scared to death to see whats in that ptu but im ready to try and tackle it. Ive searched and searched but have yet to find any video or written instructions on pulling the cat, then draining and filling. Yes I did find a thread that shows how to mod the vent so you have a fill line in the engine bay. But, how can you be sure of the actual level of fluid in the ptu? Of course you measure how much you put in but how can you be certain its not over or under filled? Seems to me, i could be wrong and probably am, that you could unbolt the cat. Leave the o2 attached and hang it aside. If you pull the wheel the bolts are fairly accessible. Then be able to flush from the fill plug through the drain plug. Close it up and be absolutely certain of the fluid level. If anyone has any thoughts and/or advice I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks

 

[peterk9]

^^ Welcome to the Forum.
Your thread was merged with this existing one. There are a few more threads similar to it but I don't recall anyone actually pulling the cat to do the fluid change.

Peter

 

[Squirtle]

Good evening all.

I've recently become the owner of a 2017 Ford Explorer XLT 4WD with the regular 3.5L engine and a factory towing package. I tend to take my cars to around 200k miles, so this will be a necessity for me. The car has 38,000 miles on it and was a lease, so I'm sure the PTU oil was never changed prior. I had a few questions:

1. Post #135 in this thread stated that there is a drain plug in Explorer models from 2016 and on (good news for me I guess). Assuming I have the drain plug installed on the side, is it still worth attempting to tap one on the bottom in order to achieve a more thorough draining of old fluid and allow for easier access in future changes?

A Fumoto drain valve could easily be put in place of the drain plug and then pump the new fluid back up into the PTU from its nipple close the valve and be done. The Fumoto is M14x1.5 and would make the fluid change easy.

2. Has anyone tried this yet or will to share their thoughts on it? This seems like the obvious solution for both easier draining and filling. Once installed, you just open and close a valve to drain it without ever having to worry about cramming a socket in between a tight space or having to make the duct tape dam to redirect fluid. To fill, I would imagine you could simply attach a pressure fit tubing onto the same drain valve and reverse pump fluid back in through the drain port. The only reservation I would have about doing this is that the valve kit is missing a magnetic end which would catch the metal shavings floating around.

 

[peterk9]

^^ Welcome to the Forum.

Peter

 

[Lexingtonian]

Good evening all.

I've recently become the owner of a 2017 Ford Explorer XLT 4WD with the regular 3.5L engine and a factory towing package. I tend to take my cars to around 200k miles, so this will be a necessity for me. The car has 38,000 miles on it and was a lease, so I'm sure the PTU oil was never changed prior. I had a few questions:

1. Post #135 in this thread stated that there is a drain plug in Explorer models from 2016 and on (good news for me I guess). Assuming I have the drain plug installed on the side, is it still worth attempting to tap one on the bottom in order to achieve a more thorough draining of old fluid and allow for easier access in future changes?



2. Has anyone tried this yet or will to share their thoughts on it? This seems like the obvious solution for both easier draining and filling. Once installed, you just open and close a valve to drain it without ever having to worry about cramming a socket in between a tight space or having to make the duct tape dam to redirect fluid. To fill, I would imagine you could simply attach a pressure fit tubing onto the same drain valve and reverse pump fluid back in through the drain port. The only reservation I would have about doing this is that the valve kit is missing a magnetic end which would catch the metal shavings floating around.

The fluid is supposed to be good at least for about 30,000 miles. When I changed mine and had an oil analysis done on it it was still fine. I would say if I were in your shoes, I would drain it and allow as much a drip out as possible. Let it drain for hours with the driver side cantilevered up a little higher than the passenger side. You’ll get more than 2/3 of it out and that is plenty. The big thing is there’s a magnet on the other side of the drain plug so you’ll have lots of fun steel and iron hair stuck to it. Getting that cleaned off so we can pull more out of the oil is also important. Wait 15,000 miles and change it again to make sure everything’s good and clean and tiptop. No need to worry about full extraction. Getting fresh oil in there with fresh lubricants and additives is the number one thing that needs to happen.

as far as a few Fumoto valve is concerned, there isn’t much room up there and there’s a lot of heat right there. I would be concerned that the ball valve seal and that for Moto may fail with that much heat. It’s literally right next to the downpipe’s. Frankly the job is not very hard once you’ve done it once. It can be done in about an hour.

If concerned about getting all the oil out first time I would simply just run more oil down it to keep flushing it out. See how much oil you get out of it on first drain and set that number aside to know that’s at least how much you should put back in. Then run another quart down it, let it fully drain and put that amount back in.

Hope this helps. Might also recommend oil analysis if you’re concerned about it. My guess is it’ll be OK. I do recommend Blackstone in laboratories. Cheers

 

[NSXNEXT]

My dealer I bought car from states they have never done a PTU fluid change on the 17+ models and they wont unless there is a problem. I stopped by 6 other dealers within 50 miles and got the same response, nope we wont do it. Most common response is its covered under warranty if it goes bad, Its lifetime oil fill or the manual says to change it only if you've done towing (which in my case they still wont or they dont know how).

My dealer said the same thing about my 2017 Sport as well.

 

[Squirtle]

Well this is rather unfortunate. It appears as if not all 2016+ models have a drain plug. I have a 2017 3.5L V6 XLT (non-Ecoboost) with factory towing package (supposedly gets you a slightly different transmission) and I do not have a drain plug, only a fill. On the plus side, I don't need to deal with filling through the vent nipple. On the downside, I gotta buy a vacuum pump now......

 

[mguy13sport]

I attempted this job on my 2013 Sport today and so far after a couple hours I have only managed to get the new fuel line onto the vent nipple... its not even tightened down yet because I could not get my socket around the nut on the hose clamp. This is going to require a very small ratchet or some kind of stubby flathead to get in the tight space and then be able to turn it... no idea how any of the guys in this thread got that sucker tight.. its probably the hardest part of this whole job. Luckily, its a one and done kinda thing and you wont have to touch it again after you get it tight.

I definitely recommend taking the rear (firewall side) turbo piping off and out of the way. This will significantly increase access to the vent/nipple area on the PTU. Once there is room, it can be accessed from the top pretty easy. I got some wooden planks I used as a stool to get all the reach I could inside the engine bay from above and it was plenty.

I am going to re-attempt tomorrow and will update then.