Thinking of Changing my PTU Fluid..

[ClearwaterSHO]

Good day everyone! I recently bought my 2013 NON-PP SHO. The car has 50k miles on it, and it was a lease, 1 owner. The car was used to drive up and down the east coast for the person's job. I have read through a number of the topics on this, but I still have a few questions.

1. The 2013 NON-PP, does it have the same issues as people with the 2013 PP, that sensor being in the way, also, since I don't have the sensor, because it isn't a PP, is that plug opened, or is it sealed?

2. I will probably do this on a lift, as a friend of mine owns a car shop, and has told me he wouldn't mind if I take up a bay after hours. Should I still try to tackle it from the front passenger wheel well?

3. I am going to purchase the 7400 MityVac to assist with the job, are the tubes long enough?

4. I called my Ford dealer, and they quoted me over 1k for the job, stating the PTU had to come out of the car to do the service. They also stated that the car only holds 1QT in the PTU, and the reason we are seeing sludge as it isn't enough fluid to not sludge with the amount of heat the unit sees. Does this sound right? AND 1K!! Isn't a new PTU only 600-700 dollars!?

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult is this job?

6. (Transmission Flush Question) - I was quoted 219.95 for this at the Ford Dealer. Is this about right, or should I keep shopping around?

I'm sorry if these questions have been answered already, I would just prefer to have answers about my car, as I haven't seen much in the way of NON-PP 2013 PTU fluid changes.

Thank you, for any and all advice! If I have anymore questions I'll update this post.

[SHOdded]

You will need to do the fluid exchange on either a lift or jackstands (all 4 corners).  So having a lift available is great!

The factory instructions are here in a PDF in this post, starting at #14 after putting car in NEUTRAL and on the lift:
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,1706.msg65609.html#msg65609

For 13+ folks whose SHO has the Performance Package, there are the additional notes here:
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,4951.0.html

Trans flush is usually $179+ most places around here, so $220 at the dealer doesn't seem out of line.

[ClearwaterSHO]

Wow! Thank you so much!! You guys are amazing! I'm going to run the car next Friday night, and I just want to make sure everything is fresh and ready to go.

[skippytx]

I keep going back and forth on getting this service done.  I have a non PP 2013 as well with about 45,000 miles on it right now.

I bought it CPO, so power train is covered for 6/100K which should cover any PTU failures, and I don't plan on keeping the car past the 70K mile mark anyway.  If I was going to keep it past warranty I would probably play it safe and do it.   

The trans flush price isn't out of line for dealer costs.  One of the dealers close to me occasionally puts a 10% off coupon on the website, or in the maintenance notifications they send me.

[pmezo33]

1. MKS owner, so i can't help you here.  Don't want to give the wrong answer.

2. Definitely makes life easy if you have a lift.  Assuming your setup is like mine, just take off the front passenger wheel and it's easy access with a few 3/8 extensions.  I think i used about 22" of extensions and that was more than enough.  You can get right under the ptu and fill it up with one of these.  Very easy.

http://www.amazon.com/Plews-55001-Lubrimatic-Standard-Bottles/dp/B000BQW5LK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445557047&sr=8-1&keywords=gear+fluid+pump

3. Yes and it has plenty of pumping suction too.  You'll be good to go.

4. They probably want to drop the ptu to service it and that's why they're quoting you so much.  Don't bother with the dealer.

5. Very easy with minimal tools.  If changing a battery is a 1, this job is maybe a 3. 

6. Just buy about 15 or 16 quarts of oil and just drain and fill 3 times.  Very easy to do.  If you can change regular oil, you can do this.  Skip the dealer here too.

Good luck

[bpd1151]

The PTU flush is absolutely necessary IMHO.

Shouldn't have to remove any wheels in order to do the job.

I suppose since you claim to be under warranty, and you have no intentions of keeping the vehicle beyond 70K, you could ofcourse opt out and elect not to perform this service. But for any others, it's a must.

PP equipped, or not.

As far as the tranny fluid service..... I'll suggest to you, just as I have to all others previously, why not perform this service yourself?

It's literally as easy as changing the oil, if not easier, as you have no filter to change out.

For the cost of the Mercon LV Trans Fluid alone (approx. $8 at any/most Stealerships) you can easily save the costs of any incurred labor.

You'll need 5qts total, 6 if you want to play it safe.

But when you open up the drain bolt at the bottom of the trans housing, you'll dump out 5 qts anyhow.

So for 30min of time tops (most of that time involving jacking up your car) you can pickup the fluids ($40, to $45) and have it done lickety split.

The entire system holds about 10qts total. Some have performed the trans fluid swap twice. Once at 5qts, then drive it around for a short period of time, and then perform the same exact service a 2nd time.

Save yourself a hundo+ and umm yea.....

[ClearwaterSHO]

The PTU flush is absolutely necessary IMHO.

Shouldn't have to remove any wheels in order to do the job.

I suppose since you claim to be under warranty, and you have no intentions of keeping the vehicle beyond 70K, you could ofcourse opt out and elect not to perform this service. But for any others, it's a must.

PP equipped, or not.

As far as the tranny fluid service..... I'll suggest to you, just as I have to all others previously, why not perform this service yourself?

It's literally as easy as changing the oil, if not easier, as you have no filter to change out.

For the cost of the Mercon LV Trans Fluid alone (approx. $8 at any/most Stealerships) you can easily save the costs of any incurred labor.

You'll need 5qts total, 6 if you want to play it safe.

But when you open up the drain bolt at the bottom of the trans housing, you'll dump out 5 qts anyhow.

So for 30min of time tops (most of that time involving jacking up your car) you can pickup the fluids ($40, to $45) and have it done lickety split.

The entire system holds about 10qts total. Some have performed the trans fluid swap twice. Once at 5qts, then drive it around for a short period of time, and then perform the same exact service a 2nd time.

Save yourself a hundo+ and umm yea.....

Yea, it's under warranty until 60k miles, and I don't think I'm  ever parting ways with the SHO. I'll do all the fluid changes next week, when I can get on the lift. No way I wouldn't service this stuff. My brother told me to pass the stealership, and just do it myself as well. I went to school to be a tech, before I decided networking was more my cup of tea. I appreciate the advice. Now to choose which brand of fluids! Seems to be a lot of mixed feelings on what to use too.

[SHOdded]

Rich (SHOnUup) favors Amsoil, Mike (bpd1151) favors Royal Purple.  Two of our fastest and best (i.e. OCD) maintained SHOs out there.  No mixed feelings about it really   Toss a coin.  If it comes up Amsoil, BTW, Rich is a dealer for Amsoil (Motor City Synthetics).  You can post questions in his subforum here.

[polskifacet]

After doing it a few times, It literally takes 45 minutes. Getting the technique down for draining and filling is the hard part. Measure what you get out. I have gotten about 20 fl oz out of it on average. I usually put some thread sealant on the plug. I use Valvoline Synthetic 75w-140 about $13.