2013 F150 Transfer Case and Front Axle Lube

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I have a new 2013 F150 4x4 V6 SuperCab truck for work. I had it over the shop service pit looking it over and checking initial fills of everything. As usual, Ford underfills everything by about 8 ounces. Except the front axle. And I can't check the Mercon LV filled transmission now. It's dipstick-less now. I guess they feel their transmissions will NEVER leak fluid. Suppose I'll have to check using the drain/fill plugs or whatever they use now. Kinda poor on a work pickup. I can see it on a car people never even open the hood on...but this is a TRUCK.

The Ford owners manual calls for "Motorcraft Transfer Case Fluid" in electronic shift on the fly units. When I look at and smell the fluid it seems to be some version of red ATF still. Ford calls this stuff XL-12 for a part number. Anybody know if its still actually ATF V or LV? (Or even SP for that matter?) Being low I added about 8 ounces or more of Mercon SP. It was all I had on hand "Motorcraft". But now I'm concerned about mixing. But it definately made a huge difference in noise when placing in gear and low speed shift noise. It was pretty noisy.

And the front axle calls for 3.5 pints of "Motorcraft SAE 80W-90 Premium Rear Axle Lubricant" (for the front axle....LOL). Anyhow it's part number is XY-80W-90-QL (WSP-M2C197-A). I checked the fluid level and it came running out of the fill hole in the side of the differential housing. However...it looks like yellowish snot. Smells like gear oil...but looks NOTHING like I've ever seen before. The color reminds me of gear oil mixed with water. Milky looking. But it's never been in water...it's brand new. Anybody ever seen this color of gear lube?

The rear axle was about 8oz low. I added Mobil-1 synthetic gear lube to match the 75W-140 synthetic Motorcraft as best I could. That shouldn't hurt.
 
The transmission does have a dipstick, it's on the passenger side of the transmission, under a screwed in hex cover above the pan rail, next to the cat so you will get burned when checking it.
 
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That sounds about right then. Lol. Heck the engine oil dipstick is so low and so far back it might as well be the same way. Might even be easier.
 
My 2010 had the same fluids. The yellow color for the front axle is normal as is the grey color of the rear axle fluid. Note the factory fill fluids are the only ones with this color; the OTC gear oils are not like this.

Here is a post of my first OC on front and rear axles - 2010 FX4 Front & Rear Axle Fluid

The XFer case fluid is not Mercon (although when I had it changed the first time Ford used Mercon V in it). When I changed it the second time I used XL-12 fluid as specified. There WAS a difference between Mercon V and XL-12 regarding operation of the XFer case (noise levels) and in retrospect, I should have forced Ford to use the correct fluid. I would not mix fluids.

You can search my posts and find UOAs on all OCs that I have done--I have done all of them at least twice (Front Axle, Transmission, XFer Case, and Rear Axle).

I hope this helps!!
 
Very helpful! Thanks all! Those are in fact the same colors I saw. That front diff color really threw me for a loop. All the years of knowing what to expect from lube colors and smells gets thrown off when you see that. I like the idea of a change at about 10,000 miles for break in metal to get flushed. I noticed my rear axle already had a nice covering of metel on the magnet. That suprised me too a little so soon at 4000 miles. It's a open diff. No Traction-Loc.
frown.gif


Guess I better drain and refill the T-case soon then.
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Cause I added some SP to it...which is for the Torqshift diesel automatic from 2003-2007.

Not that I will on this truck anytime soon...but I like using 0W-20 synthetic engine oil in transfer cases where ATF is spec'd.
 
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Originally Posted By: neilLB7
All the years of knowing what to expect from lube colors and smells gets thrown off when you see that. I like the idea of a change at about 10,000 miles for break in metal to get flushed.

Agreed; I thought I had water in my front axle when I saw the yellowish color of the oil. I also agree on the early changes; my rear axle had quite a bit of metal in it, but when I dumped it the second time, it had settled down nicely.

Here are all of the UOAs:

Rear Axle

Transmission

Transfer Case

Front Axle
 
Thanks again. Water was the first thing I thought too. And the rear gray color looked like it already had 100K mile on it. I've always done 50K change outs for axles and transmissions...regardless of what the manual calls for.

I've seen alot of water in gear axle lube and what it looks like. Mainly from servicing fire engine transfer cases and front bearings. And that Ford axle lube looked perfect for a water-in-lube scenario.
 
I called my dealer about the transfer case fluid. He said it's essentially plain Mercon fluid. They call it T-case fluid because they don't use that spec ATF any longer and don't want it confused with the newer Mercon ATF's in any way. And it was better for the simple needs of the transfer case moving mechanical parts. Perhaps the new LV and even V has too many unecessary additives that waste money or aren't ideal in a t-case.

I pulled a sample out before topping off. It was red. Smelled like ATF. That's why I topped off with the SP I still had a couple of quarts of.

Maybe that's wrong but it makes sense as the t-case just has some roller bearings and a chain. No clutches that I'm aware of in a shift-on-the-fly part time unit.
 
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Originally Posted By: neilLB7
I called my dealer about the transfer case fluid. He said it's essentially plain Mercon fluid. They call it T-case fluid because they don't use that spec ATF any longer and don't want it confused with the newer Mercon ATF's in any way. And it was better for the simple needs of the transfer case moving mechanical parts. Perhaps the new LV and even V has too many unecessary additives that waste money or aren't ideal in a t-case.

It could be, I have not had any issues with mine after running it with Mercon V (although it is much quieter --less whine-- with the XL-12). I could never get a straight answer from any of the 3 dealers that I questioned about it and so went with XL-12 just to be sure.
 
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: neilLB7
I called my dealer about the transfer case fluid. He said it's essentially plain Mercon fluid. They call it T-case fluid because they don't use that spec ATF any longer and don't want it confused with the newer Mercon ATF's in any way. And it was better for the simple needs of the transfer case moving mechanical parts. Perhaps the new LV and even V has too many unecessary additives that waste money or aren't ideal in a t-case.

It could be, I have not had any issues with mine after running it with Mercon V (although it is much quieter --less whine-- with the XL-12). I could never get a straight answer from any of the 3 dealers that I questioned about it and so went with XL-12 just to be sure.


Is it a part time transfer case or full time? Aside from the electronics (I have no idea how fluid would affect them) , part time transfer cases really don't care what is in them.
 
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: neilLB7
I called my dealer about the transfer case fluid. He said it's essentially plain Mercon fluid. They call it T-case fluid because they don't use that spec ATF any longer and don't want it confused with the newer Mercon ATF's in any way. And it was better for the simple needs of the transfer case moving mechanical parts. Perhaps the new LV and even V has too many unecessary additives that waste money or aren't ideal in a t-case.

It could be, I have not had any issues with mine after running it with Mercon V (although it is much quieter --less whine-- with the XL-12). I could never get a straight answer from any of the 3 dealers that I questioned about it and so went with XL-12 just to be sure.


Why not run this by bdcardinal? He's a Ford Master Parts Counterperson and could set the record straight on what is necessary where.
 
Mine is part time shift on the fly. The manual still says use LV on the "torque-on-demand" transfer cases. I assume those are Fords automatic engage 4x4 system (not AWD however).
 
It appears that Fords are not the only ones that have the yellowish front diff fluid. I have a 98 Chevy 4x4 that I bought new. I changed the front and rear diff fluid out at around 20,000 miles. My front diff fluid looked just like you described. I knew I had never taken the truck in deep water so I didn't know why it looked like that. I thought maybe it was condensation buildup in the front diff from not being used hardly ever. Later fluid changes did not look as bad.

Wayne
 
Originally Posted By: countryboy69
The grey/ watery front axle lube is from the gear marking compounds they use when setting up the diff. It is completely normal.

Exactly right. There was even a TSB issued about it at one time.
 
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