Amsoil SVG 75W-140-Ford PTU

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Dec 22, 2002
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The Garden State
My wife bought a new 2017 Explorer in Feb 2017. Afterwards I started reading and seeing videos of the PTU and it's abuse of the gear oil. This appears to be because the PTU only holds ~13-18 oz of 75W-140 gear oil and is surrounded by major heat sources, especially in the 3.5 EB. Of course Ford says it's a "lifetime fluid" and not to change it
crazy2.gif
. Plus it's a real challenge to change it in the 3.5 V-6, no drain plug. Luckily our Explorer is the 2.3 EB and the PTU holds 23.7 oz and has a drain plug. In addition being a 4 cylinder it's subject to less heat exposure. I had the dealer drain and fill it at 9,000 miles and I had it done again at 22,000 miles with Amsoil Severe Gear 75W-140. This was run for 22,435 miles and changed again with the Amsoil. I did an UOA to see how the fluid held up and whether I can run it more miles. I asked Blackstone about going 35,000 miles on the next change of Amsoil. They thought that would be fine. Comments are welcomed.

Whimsey
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Seems to be working.
Something I found to be weak: In my 2015 owners manual you'd find this 150k nonsense. But Ford had buried severe service in another part of the manual - and now only 30k.
That's one heck of a spread to start with and not even side by side on the same chart.
 
I had the fluid changed in my mom's Fusion earlier this week. The car had jsut over 40K miles and the factory fill came out pretty dark and thin. I had the tech doing the oil change put Amsoil back in. I will probably change it out again at 60K. I still need to do a drain and fill on the transmission.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
I had the fluid changed in my mom's Fusion earlier this week. The car had jsut over 40K miles and the factory fill came out pretty dark and thin. I had the tech doing the oil change put Amsoil back in. I will probably change it out again at 60K. I still need to do a drain and fill on the transmission.


It's amazing for a Ford "lifetime fluid" how short the lifetime is. Hopefully your Fusion has the same larger capacity PTU with the drain plug. Will this be your first drain of the factory fill ATF? I have the 6F35 in the Explorer and did a d&f of the ff at 12,000 miles, it was nasty black. I did it again at 22,000 miles and it was dark grey with a hint of dark red. I did it once again at 32,000 miles and it was more dark red with a strong hint of grey. I'm at 50,000 miles now and will change it within the next week. The Explorer is a heavy vehicle and the 6F35 is a light duty car transmission, not a good combination for a long life if neglected. I've been using Mercon LV for my drain & fills but I now I have 12 qts of Castrol Transmax Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF which is licensed by Ford for vehicles using Mercon LV. It'll be interesting how this last fill of Mercon LV looks like at 18,000 miles of use.

Whimsey
 
The factory ATF was drained when a leak was discovered at 7K miles. The side cover was leaking so it was fixed under warranty and the fluid changed out.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
The factory ATF was drained when a leak was discovered at 7K miles. The side cover was leaking so it was fixed under warranty and the fluid changed out.


Speaking of leaks, the front engine/timing cover was fixed at 40,000 miles for leaking. I was having the tires replaced last week and at 49,000 miles I noticed the cover is leaking again
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.

Whimsey
 
Whimsey: The problem is with the PTU's used on the 3.5/3.7 V6 Explorer/Edge/Taurus, not the 2.0/2.3, so basically your PTU is not going to run into the same overheat problems because it is a different design. The Fusion Sport 2.7L EcoBoost uses a different PTU as well and has a water cooling system with drain and fill plugs. Still, this was interesting to read, thanks for submitting the UOA!
 
My 2017 Explorer with the 3.5 NA is hitting 35,000 and I'm really just learning about the PTU issues. I'm going to try to do the drain and refill with my Liquivac tomorrow. Also scored some Supertech full syn Mercon LV so I can do a drain and refill on the Transmission. I'm pretty sure I have the heavy duty tranny as I opted for the tow package. Is there an easy way to confirm this? I didn't even think I had a dipstick on this truck, imagine my surprise when I saw something online that said it did. They sure did hide that sucker...
 
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