PotatoExplorer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- August 15, 2016
- Messages
- 324
- Reaction score
- 14
- Location
- USA
- City, State
- Carlisle, PA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2008 Ford Explorer Ltd.
Another status update on this RPM issue -
I changed the rear and front differentials with Mobile One gear fluid about 3 weeks ago. The rear differential had a bunch of metal shavings built up on both the fill and drain plugs. It appeared to be about a quarter inch thick of metal shavings on both. The old gear oil didn't appear to be too bad in color though, just a tad bit darker than clean oil. When I did my Rangers several years ago, that fluid was straight black. The following week I did my transfer case fluid using Valvoline Transfer Case Fluid which is suppose to meet the XL-12 specs. The old fluid was very black and burnt looking. I'm guessing the drain/fill plugs on the Explorer transfer case doesn't have a magnet since neither the drain or fill plugs had any metal shavings? I swore my Rangers transfer case did. Anyways, doing the differentials and especially the transfer case, it seems to have significantly helped the RPM surge issue. The issue is still there but the Explorer seems to overcome it a lot easier and makes quicker decisions on up or down shifting. So much better!
Today I decided to poke around the Explorer and was actually testing suspension components. Curiosity got the best of me and I started looking around under the vehicle which eventually led me to wonder about the transmission fluid that I had changed back in February, I believe. I wanted to verify that the fluid level was around where it should be on the dip stick and that the fluid was clean vs the slightly burnt/dull red color when I checked it back in October/November of 2016. Well... this is what I found -
The shop that I've trusted my vehicles with for the last 4-5 years had snapped my dip stick and what appeared to be epoxy to try and mend it back to the base part... on top of that it appears that a piece snapped off. For all I know that other piece is floating around in the transmission somewhere. The epoxy part separated after i tried rubbing the black crud off thinking it was some kind of sludge. The kicker is that when I was checking this, the fluid wasn't even at operating temperature or with the Explorer running, so I'm sure this is a major factor, but the fluid was up to where the red arrow is on the picture. WTF?! I know for fact that the dip stick wasn't broken when I checked it last year. I'm slightly peeved about this and I'm not even sure what I should do. I sure as hell know that I won't be going back there. Oh, and the fluid was bright red so at least that's a plus. I'm wondering if there's too much fluid in the transmission, could this also contribute to the RPM surge issue?
I changed the rear and front differentials with Mobile One gear fluid about 3 weeks ago. The rear differential had a bunch of metal shavings built up on both the fill and drain plugs. It appeared to be about a quarter inch thick of metal shavings on both. The old gear oil didn't appear to be too bad in color though, just a tad bit darker than clean oil. When I did my Rangers several years ago, that fluid was straight black. The following week I did my transfer case fluid using Valvoline Transfer Case Fluid which is suppose to meet the XL-12 specs. The old fluid was very black and burnt looking. I'm guessing the drain/fill plugs on the Explorer transfer case doesn't have a magnet since neither the drain or fill plugs had any metal shavings? I swore my Rangers transfer case did. Anyways, doing the differentials and especially the transfer case, it seems to have significantly helped the RPM surge issue. The issue is still there but the Explorer seems to overcome it a lot easier and makes quicker decisions on up or down shifting. So much better!
Today I decided to poke around the Explorer and was actually testing suspension components. Curiosity got the best of me and I started looking around under the vehicle which eventually led me to wonder about the transmission fluid that I had changed back in February, I believe. I wanted to verify that the fluid level was around where it should be on the dip stick and that the fluid was clean vs the slightly burnt/dull red color when I checked it back in October/November of 2016. Well... this is what I found -
The shop that I've trusted my vehicles with for the last 4-5 years had snapped my dip stick and what appeared to be epoxy to try and mend it back to the base part... on top of that it appears that a piece snapped off. For all I know that other piece is floating around in the transmission somewhere. The epoxy part separated after i tried rubbing the black crud off thinking it was some kind of sludge. The kicker is that when I was checking this, the fluid wasn't even at operating temperature or with the Explorer running, so I'm sure this is a major factor, but the fluid was up to where the red arrow is on the picture. WTF?! I know for fact that the dip stick wasn't broken when I checked it last year. I'm slightly peeved about this and I'm not even sure what I should do. I sure as hell know that I won't be going back there. Oh, and the fluid was bright red so at least that's a plus. I'm wondering if there's too much fluid in the transmission, could this also contribute to the RPM surge issue?