Barry Trobaugh
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- July 4, 2018
- Messages
- 103
- Reaction score
- 20
- City, State
- Memphis Tennessee
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2018 Platinum
The '18 Platinum Explorer has 57K on the clock and with all the reading here and elsewhere, since I was at 25% of oil life remaining, I thought it time to borrow a lift bay and do some things.
First, I have to both congratulate and condemn the engineers that designed the under-hood packaging of our Ex's. Everything is well thought out and packaged as in a F1 car BUT with no real intent of post-sale access intended. There is now no doubt in my mind why FORD refuses to service the PTU and at least claims it is "unservicable." Arg.......
I was prepared with all the fluids to clean out the PTU, drain/refill the transmission and an oil change. I was also mentally prepared to drill and tap a drain-plug for the PTU but happily saw that mine has a drain-plug and coolant lines. BUT AGAIN, you find yourself removing many things (cat, sensors, connectors, heat shields and splash guards) to access the drain and fill areas. One of the cat bolts stripped as did the flange threads, but just drilled that hole out and replaced with exhaust-grade hardware. Nothing really hard, but time-consuming with many raising and lowerings of the lift, again for access.
PTU fluid came out pretty nice for 57K. There was some powdery material on the magnetic plug as to be expected but the fluid was not nearly as dark as I expected and appeared to still be doing its job. Flushed out the unit with foaming transmission line cleaner, brake clean and a lot of compressed air until nothing remained inside. I did measure the old fluid coming out and replaced it with 75-140 synthetic lube. It took about 15oz of new lube and again a lot of lifting and lowering to reassemble things back to norm.
The transmission was totally simple. Pull the drain-plug, measure the outflow and refill via the dipstick with the same volume. Fluid was pretty dark but the interweb says that it gets that way really quickly and not to be overly alarmed. I removed exactly 4 quarts so when ready for the next oil change. Be sure once completed to start the Ex and run the shifter through each gear-setting several times to bleed all air from the valve-body etc. I will drain and fill the tranny again at my next oil change to get a more complete flush. It should be good to go.
Oil change is so much easier with the Ex up in the air. My first time to have usage of the lift and really enjoyed the access. Many thanks to a dear friend, actually one of my former high school students !!
CONCLUSION is to NOT be afraid of any of these tasks. It is quite straightforward and even with a great deal of fellowship, this only took about 3 hours. Many videos are on YouTube to help you both understand and be at peace with the procedures. Man what an advantage to 30 years ago when you you just dove in blind in "hopes" of success.
Carry on everyone.
First, I have to both congratulate and condemn the engineers that designed the under-hood packaging of our Ex's. Everything is well thought out and packaged as in a F1 car BUT with no real intent of post-sale access intended. There is now no doubt in my mind why FORD refuses to service the PTU and at least claims it is "unservicable." Arg.......
I was prepared with all the fluids to clean out the PTU, drain/refill the transmission and an oil change. I was also mentally prepared to drill and tap a drain-plug for the PTU but happily saw that mine has a drain-plug and coolant lines. BUT AGAIN, you find yourself removing many things (cat, sensors, connectors, heat shields and splash guards) to access the drain and fill areas. One of the cat bolts stripped as did the flange threads, but just drilled that hole out and replaced with exhaust-grade hardware. Nothing really hard, but time-consuming with many raising and lowerings of the lift, again for access.
PTU fluid came out pretty nice for 57K. There was some powdery material on the magnetic plug as to be expected but the fluid was not nearly as dark as I expected and appeared to still be doing its job. Flushed out the unit with foaming transmission line cleaner, brake clean and a lot of compressed air until nothing remained inside. I did measure the old fluid coming out and replaced it with 75-140 synthetic lube. It took about 15oz of new lube and again a lot of lifting and lowering to reassemble things back to norm.
The transmission was totally simple. Pull the drain-plug, measure the outflow and refill via the dipstick with the same volume. Fluid was pretty dark but the interweb says that it gets that way really quickly and not to be overly alarmed. I removed exactly 4 quarts so when ready for the next oil change. Be sure once completed to start the Ex and run the shifter through each gear-setting several times to bleed all air from the valve-body etc. I will drain and fill the tranny again at my next oil change to get a more complete flush. It should be good to go.
Oil change is so much easier with the Ex up in the air. My first time to have usage of the lift and really enjoyed the access. Many thanks to a dear friend, actually one of my former high school students !!
CONCLUSION is to NOT be afraid of any of these tasks. It is quite straightforward and even with a great deal of fellowship, this only took about 3 hours. Many videos are on YouTube to help you both understand and be at peace with the procedures. Man what an advantage to 30 years ago when you you just dove in blind in "hopes" of success.
Carry on everyone.
