PTU Failure types

[irondoor19]

HA:

I Found a place to post, So got my car back from the dealer
(after Three Months) motor out to fix the oil leak, and well i will not go into the total detail now
(it will be a book), on and off for 2 weeks BACK to the DEALER...? after a couple of 100 plus mile an hour runs, put it in the garage, and then the next day into reverse, it locked the car up, Cracked the PTU, yea now i have broken everything except the Drive shaft and rear end.....HA

wait there is still time....

[TopherSho]

HA:

I Found a place to post, So got my car back from the dealer
(after Thee Months) motor out to fix the oil leak, and well i will not go into the total detail now
(it will be a book), on and off for 2 weeks BACK to the DEALER...? Cracked the PTU,
yea now i have broken everything except the Drive shaft and rear end.....HA

wait there is still time....

DUDE!? Are you sure your not driving my car? 

[MKS Tom]

Do catted PPE pipes help with slightly lowing heat over stock?

[SM105K]

Do catted PPE pipes help with slightly lowing heat over stock?

Not really, but thermal wrapping them does. 

[6500rpm]

All the failures I've seen in the fleet seem to point to cooked out thick fluid. Once the unit starts to fail it's toast. Most likely starts with gear failure and once there's metal in the system and poor lubrication it takes everything with it. Once the bearing integrity is gone-Bang!

[TopherSho]

I literally had to pick up chunks of mine off the road. 

[802SHO]

All the failures I've seen in the fleet seem to point to cooked out thick fluid. Once the unit starts to fail it's toast. Most likely starts with gear failure and once there's metal in the system and poor lubrication it takes everything with it. Once the bearing integrity is gone-Bang!

This is what I've been thinking, how many failures are not fluid related?

Which is why I decided to spend the little extra money on a great suction device to make the fluid exchange easier to do more often.  Gear oil is cheaper than a new transmission

[SM105K]

All the failures I've seen in the fleet seem to point to cooked out thick fluid. Once the unit starts to fail it's toast. Most likely starts with gear failure and once there's metal in the system and poor lubrication it takes everything with it. Once the bearing integrity is gone-Bang!

This is what I've been thinking, how many failures are not fluid related?

Which is why I decided to spend the little extra money on a great suction device to make the fluid exchange easier to do more often.  Gear oil is cheaper than a new transmission

IMO the faliures of the PTU are a combo of heat and fluid failure.  The cats get hot and literally bake the PTU.  In turn that cooks the fluid and literally changes the fluid into a thick grease like substance.  The thicker substance cannot cool and lubricate the direct drive gears and failure is imminent. 

On the liquid cooled units (PP and PI vehicles) I have seen a reduction in PTU failures.  On my personal PP SHO, I researched all the records from the one Ford dealership that worked on the car.  Previous owner purchased my SHO new at said dealership.  Same dealership did all of the maintenance and recall work, and then after 5 years took the SHO back in on trade.  In the records the PTU fluid was not changed.

I changed the fluid myself expecting the worst at roughly 55k miles.  I was presently surprised with the fluid that came out. It was nothing like other people had claimed to pull from their PTU's.  It was still really viscous and not completely black.  When strained the metal shavings were minimal in the oil and on the drain plug.  Having a liquid cooled PTU is the best thing to have with this set up.       

[802SHO]

We need to start getting our non PP PTU units cooled

[SM105K]

We need to start getting our non PP PTU units cooled

I might be wrong, but off the top of my head the PP and PI PTU are different because of the coolant capabilities.  I do not know if a non PP PTU can be retro-fitted.

[shoNoff]

I wish I still had the pictures. I changed my 13pp fluid at roughly 58k it was near a solid. It had the consistency of wheel bearing grease almost. I did 2 more changes before 70k and it got much better. There was never a ton of metal. I may have just caught it in time. I agree the heat of the downpipes baking the fluid.

[griggs95]

I'm not sure I've been lucky or what. I have 98k on my 11 PP now and I went through my records and realized my PTU fluid was drilled and tapped at 40k. Also, that was the first PTU fluid exchange the car ever had. I'm shocked how fast time has gone and just totally overlooked this critical mistake of mine.

I had taken it to a place that had never done anything like this and was excited to do the work since they had seen PTU failures before. I ran the car at a road course type of event in 90 degree temps just after doing the change and no issues other than heat soak (of course).

In panic, I just finished the fluid change a couple weeks ago and found the fluid still drained (thanks to the tap) but around 8-9 ounces came out. I thought 'my god, I'm one lucky mofo'! Nothing would lead me to believe the fluid was low, or that old while driving it this long.

The fill plug was absolutely coated with sludge, the fluid was dark black and stunk BUT it flowed out the drain plug slowly but surely. Also, the car was cold from sitting over-night on jack stands.

One last really important thing. The shop that did it did not put enough fluid in it when they did the tap and fill. I remember them saying that Ford recommended to put enough in and check it with a bent zip tie (no joke) and put it in the fill hole to check fluid levels. I laughed but my main concern at the time was that its done and I put the best stuff I could find in there, so I was ok with it.

I'm thinking the only reason my PTU is still alive it the quality of the fluid I used. And maybe, just maybe its because I drive in the summer without the big plastic shielding (forgot the technical term) underneath the car. My theory is it might help cool the PTU and down pipes with more turbulent airflow.

Now take a guess which brand of fluid I put back in?

[SM105K]

I wish I still had the pictures. I changed my 13pp fluid at roughly 58k it was near a solid. It had the consistency of wheel bearing grease almost. I did 2 more changes before 70k and it got much better. There was never a ton of metal. I may have just caught it in time. I agree the heat of the downpipes baking the fluid.

But did it fail? I kid, I kid.  This is very interesting to say the least.  I am not saying the PP PTU don't fail, I am saying they have a better track record of not failing possibly because of being cooled. 

I am working on my DP's this week. The guy that does my fab work became unavailable.  So I am going to wrap them up and install them this weekend.  I want to safe guard the PTU at all costs.   

[6500rpm]

I'm on the same page with the cooler, the PP capacity is also 17 oz if I recall correctly.  Not sure what the non PP capacity is. I pulled about 12 oz from mine through the drain plug, car tilted. Hopefully the other 5 oz was trapped in the cooler.  It would be interesting to run it hard and drop the shield off and shoot the cats and ptu with a temp gauge. I'd also be curious if the cat's on the tuned cars run hotter.

[shoNoff]

I wish I still had the pictures. I changed my 13pp fluid at roughly 58k it was near a solid. It had the consistency of wheel bearing grease almost. I did 2 more changes before 70k and it got much better. There was never a ton of metal. I may have just caught it in time. I agree the heat of the downpipes baking the fluid.

But did it fail? I kid, I kid.  This is very interesting to say the least.  I am not saying the PP PTU don't fail, I am saying they have a better track record of not failing possibly because of being cooled. 

I am working on my DP's this week. The guy that does my fab work became unavailable.  So I am going to wrap them up and install them this weekend.  I want to safe guard the PTU at all costs.   

I agree the cooler absolutely helps. I bet if mine didn't have a cooler it would have failed. The only thing I don't really know is how the previous owner treated the car. I can take a wild guess he wasn't up on maintenance. I've had one lubrication failure after the next.