Nibroc99
Active Member
- Joined
- August 21, 2020
- Messages
- 93
- Reaction score
- 13
- City, State
- Rochester, MA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '13 PIU Base
Hey guys, got quite a few questions about changing the PTU fluid on my interceptor, a 2013 3.7L Base model.
- Firstly, I haven't had a chance to jack the thing up yet to see what PTU I have - is there a standard PTU used in all police models for that year, regardless of engine type? In other words, just by saying the model year, engine, and transmission I have, would you know what PTU I have (one with a drain plug, one with a temp. sensor, one with a cooler, all of the above, etc.)?
- Second, she's at 122k miles and about 10,530 total hrs on the clock (6,000-ish idle hours). How can I tell if the fluid's even ever been changed? I'm worried about the damn thing failing on me while I'm driving, so I want to get this fluid changed sooner rather than later and I can't wait to see what the fluid looks like that comes out of it (half-nervous half-excited to discover what comes out...)
- Third, should mine be a model that has a temperature sensor? If it does, will it likely notify me of a problem before a total failure happens, or does the system basically not work in detecting a problem based on your experiences?
- Fourth, does driving faster cause more problems with the PTU? My usual cruising speed is 80-90mph (please don't judge or argue about my abundant speed, I'm asking about the PTU here folks hehe!). Safety reasons aside, should I, mechanically speaking, not be traveling that fast for extended periods of time? I do a lot of road trips which often consist of 200 miles straight of high-speed highway driving. I've put about 2,000 miles on the vehicle already since I bought it last month. I also have a tendency to accelerate hard when getting on the highway. Just wondering if I should shorten my service interval for the PTU fluid exchange basically... People recommend every 30k miles but I'm thinking about doing it every 15k miles (which would be every 3-4 oil changes for me).
- Fifth, if I fill it from the vent hose, how do I know how much fluid to put in? Is it easy to fill it with too much fluid or is there a bit of play in overfilling it before it becomes a problem?
- Sixth, I've heard about newer model years having a cooler on the PTU - would mine likely have this? If not, is there a way to install a cooler, and if so, should I go through the trouble/is it worth it?
There is not much information out there from what I've seen about the 3.7L engine and its corresponding PTU. I've been searching literally for the past 3 hours almost on the dot, along with a few other long nights of looking around the interwebs, to find information about the PTU with the 3.7L engine and I haven't found much of anything. I know for sure that I have the 6F55 transmission if that makes a difference. I just want to make sure that I'm maintaining my baby as best as I can - this first fluid change has me nervous about what I'm going to find.
Thank you to everybody who has any sort of answers for me. Even better if someone with the same (or similar) model year, engine, and PTU could offer some advice for how I should go about changing the fluid, how much to put in, the easiest way you've found to do it for the model I have, etc.
I did find this thread but it left me with more questions than answers, really. It was the closest thing I could find to the info I'm looking for. I also know that the newer model years have a cooler installed on the PTU as I said and I'm not sure if mine has it. Also, sorry for so many questions... This is my first AWD vehicle ever, my first Ford vehicle as well, and to explain where I'm coming from, I have owned two of the same type of Jeep Grand Cherokee 2003 4.0l with selec-trac (locking center diff, a true/proper transfer case - not AWD) as my first and second vehicle that I've ever owned. I'm just so new to owning an AWD vehicle, and by extension, a vehicle from this decade, that I wanna make sure I tick all the boxes and maintain everything as absolutely best as I possibly can.
- Firstly, I haven't had a chance to jack the thing up yet to see what PTU I have - is there a standard PTU used in all police models for that year, regardless of engine type? In other words, just by saying the model year, engine, and transmission I have, would you know what PTU I have (one with a drain plug, one with a temp. sensor, one with a cooler, all of the above, etc.)?
- Second, she's at 122k miles and about 10,530 total hrs on the clock (6,000-ish idle hours). How can I tell if the fluid's even ever been changed? I'm worried about the damn thing failing on me while I'm driving, so I want to get this fluid changed sooner rather than later and I can't wait to see what the fluid looks like that comes out of it (half-nervous half-excited to discover what comes out...)
- Third, should mine be a model that has a temperature sensor? If it does, will it likely notify me of a problem before a total failure happens, or does the system basically not work in detecting a problem based on your experiences?
- Fourth, does driving faster cause more problems with the PTU? My usual cruising speed is 80-90mph (please don't judge or argue about my abundant speed, I'm asking about the PTU here folks hehe!). Safety reasons aside, should I, mechanically speaking, not be traveling that fast for extended periods of time? I do a lot of road trips which often consist of 200 miles straight of high-speed highway driving. I've put about 2,000 miles on the vehicle already since I bought it last month. I also have a tendency to accelerate hard when getting on the highway. Just wondering if I should shorten my service interval for the PTU fluid exchange basically... People recommend every 30k miles but I'm thinking about doing it every 15k miles (which would be every 3-4 oil changes for me).
- Fifth, if I fill it from the vent hose, how do I know how much fluid to put in? Is it easy to fill it with too much fluid or is there a bit of play in overfilling it before it becomes a problem?
- Sixth, I've heard about newer model years having a cooler on the PTU - would mine likely have this? If not, is there a way to install a cooler, and if so, should I go through the trouble/is it worth it?
There is not much information out there from what I've seen about the 3.7L engine and its corresponding PTU. I've been searching literally for the past 3 hours almost on the dot, along with a few other long nights of looking around the interwebs, to find information about the PTU with the 3.7L engine and I haven't found much of anything. I know for sure that I have the 6F55 transmission if that makes a difference. I just want to make sure that I'm maintaining my baby as best as I can - this first fluid change has me nervous about what I'm going to find.
Thank you to everybody who has any sort of answers for me. Even better if someone with the same (or similar) model year, engine, and PTU could offer some advice for how I should go about changing the fluid, how much to put in, the easiest way you've found to do it for the model I have, etc.
I did find this thread but it left me with more questions than answers, really. It was the closest thing I could find to the info I'm looking for. I also know that the newer model years have a cooler installed on the PTU as I said and I'm not sure if mine has it. Also, sorry for so many questions... This is my first AWD vehicle ever, my first Ford vehicle as well, and to explain where I'm coming from, I have owned two of the same type of Jeep Grand Cherokee 2003 4.0l with selec-trac (locking center diff, a true/proper transfer case - not AWD) as my first and second vehicle that I've ever owned. I'm just so new to owning an AWD vehicle, and by extension, a vehicle from this decade, that I wanna make sure I tick all the boxes and maintain everything as absolutely best as I possibly can.
I think I need to flush and maybe even install a proper drilled and tapped drain plug like I've seen mentioned here in the past, but I'm wary of -exactly- where to put it, would hate to mess that up.
