Fusion Sport AWD Maintenance

[fusion0389]

Based off of my observations, the Oil life monitoring system in the Fusion is simply a stop watch. I purchased my vehicle brand new and changed my oil three times within the 10,000 mile mark (without resetting the oil life setting) to wash out the engine build\break-in materials. Interestingly enough, about 2,000 miles after my most recent oil change (10,000 on the odometer), the "change oil soon" light came on and almost exactly 200 miles after that the "oil change required" light came on. Now, if these vehicles actually had some intelligent sensor based monitor in there, im pretty sure it would have been able to notice that the oil was recently changed and in perfect condition. Just thought I would note my observation so that you guys can adjust your change intervals to match your driving conditions vs relying on a pre-programmed stop watch.

 

Secondly, does anybody know about the PTU in the AWD Sports and what is required to change the fluid in those? From the research that I have found ford lists it as a "lifetime" fill, but anyone with common sense knows that any 75w-140 will not last 100,000+ miles. Especially when there is only .3 quarts of fluid lubricating the whole unit. I looked at a schematic of the unit and it has a fill plug, but the ford book says the whole unit must be removed from the vehicle to service. Just curious if anybody has experience servicing this unit.

[Waldo]

If yours is a 2012, then you have the Intelligent Oil Life Monitor.

 

http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1251733926439&pagename=Owner%2FPage%2FArticleDetail&recid=1251387049862&parentheadlineimageid=1234280151966&parentrightrecid=1239636411265

 

It is not just a simple stop watch, however it has no way of knowing that you changed the oil since it doesn't monitor the actual oil itself, it just monitors all the conditions that affect oil life. However it's programmed to put up the warning at 10,000 miles, if it hasn't calculated that you need to change sooner.

[fusion0389]

Waldo, I read the link you posted and i guess I can revise my phrasing to say fancy stop watch. The reason I even brought it up was because the way the feature is sold on their website and through the dealerships is that the car is so smart it will tell you when the oil needs changing, eliminating any need for human interaction until then. Once my car hit 3,000 miles on the factory fill, i sent off an oil analysis to Blackstone Labs for testing and the results showed typical wear for a Ford 3.5 after about 5,800 miles of use. This is due to the break-in wear of new parts and is normal behvior, but is not very healthy if one was to keep it in there for 10,000 miles. In my opinion a semi-intelligent system would have that variable built into the oil life algorithm.

 

On a second note, does anyone know about PTU service? I've been having a hard time trying to get any feedback from someone who has had hands on experience with the unit.

[Waldo]

Once my car hit 3,000 miles on the factory fill, i sent off an oil analysis to Blackstone Labs for testing and the results showed typical wear for a Ford 3.5 after about 5,800 miles of use. This is due to the break-in wear of new parts and is normal behvior, but is not very healthy if one was to keep it in there for 10,000 miles.

 

Says who? Ford has done extensive testing of this and they say it is perfectly healthy. What makes you so worried?

 

As for the PTU, perhaps the reason you can't find anyone with hands-on experience is because nobody ever needs to do anything with it. In other words, stop worrying.

[fusion0389]

Says Blackstone Laboratories, the chemical analysis of an oil revealed what the true life expectancy is and how it is wearing, these things dont lie. It is obvious that motorcraft factory recommended fluids when left in the vehicle for the "recommended" interval cause unecessary and avoidable engine wear. I plan on driving my vehicle well passed the 100,000 mile mark and my goal is to avoid doing any major powertrain work. As far as Ford and extensive testing now that is a myth! All car manufacturers engineer their vehicles so that they can set the lifespan on a part. That guarantees failure and allows them to reap in profits off of the repair bills you will be faced with, its part of doing business.

 

As far as the PTU, I have found many cases where the entire unit had needed replacement shortly after the powertrain warranty ended. This is the scenario I am trying to avoid, there is no 12 ounces of gear oil that I know of that can stand a "lifetime" of abuse and still hold its proper protection and lubricating specifications. I appreciate your input, however my post was intended to be informational and spur discussion, not argument. Thanks.

[Waldo]

Says Blackstone Laboratories, the chemical analysis of an oil revealed what the true life expectancy is and how it is wearing, these things dont lie. It is obvious that motorcraft factory recommended fluids when left in the vehicle for the "recommended" interval cause unecessary and avoidable engine wear.

 

I don't mean to be argumentative, but you're inferring your own conclusions here. Yes your oil at 3000 miles had the wear equivalent of 5800 miles. But you are assuming that oil that has 5800 miles of wear is somehow causing avoidable engine wear. I contend (and Ford would support), that that 5800 mile oil was still good for another 7000 miles without causing any unnecessary engine wear. If you double something very small, it's still something very small. Just because your oil showed twice as much wear as might be expected, doesn't mean it's showing enough wear to be a problem.

[FusionDiffusion]

Says Blackstone Laboratories, the chemical analysis of an oil revealed what the true life expectancy is and how it is wearing, these things dont lie. It is obvious that motorcraft factory recommended fluids when left in the vehicle for the "recommended" interval cause unnecessary and avoidable engine wear. ... As far as Ford and extensive testing now that is a myth! All car manufacturers engineer their vehicles so that they can set the lifespan on a part. That guarantees failure and allows them to reap in profits off of the repair bills you will be faced with, its part of doing business.

 

^ This is a truly incorrect statement based on many false assumptions.

 

I think you're misinterpreting the oil report. They list typical averages from all the reports they receive. When I got my report I think the average milage was 5800, and they listed the average valves for all the samples received.

 

You are doing two things wrong. First you are trying to extrapolate oil condition based on averages. You can't do this because all the oil components do not change in a linear fashion with time/miles. The oil report does NOT tell you how long the oil will last, only what condition it's currently in. Big difference there. It's very possible that the oil at 3000 miles is almost identical to the oil at 6000 miles. The only way to see how long it will truly last is to test it periodically as I'll explain in a minute.

 

Second, as Waldo pointed out you can't assume your engine will wear any more once you reach a certain oil milage. Wear metals will be higher in the first few samples, but this doesn't mean your engine is wearing out any faster or that you need to change the oil more often. The analysis can't tell the difference between wear metals generated when the engine was brand new vs. ones generated since the last oil change. I'm sure they told you the former was the reason for your higher wear numbers.

 

If you got 10k on the oil life monitor, then you must drive mostly easy highway miles. So the oil should definitely be good past 3,000 miles. If you want to know how long the oil can last, Blackstone will help you. You can take a sample every 3000 miles (without changing the oil) and watch the progression. If you tell them you're doing a lifetime test then they will tell you if the oil is good for another 3000 miles or not after each sample. This is the only way to truly know how long the oil will last rather than guessing or assuming things. I bet you could get 12,000 miles easy based on how good my changes look.

 

Finally, I should tell you a small but measurable amount of wear occurrs every time you change your oil. The fresh detergents can strip the surface modifiers, which leaves the metal surfaces more susceptible to wear. It takes about 500 miles for the surface chemistry to settle down. So in simple terms this means changing your oil too often can result in more engine wear.

 

As far as the PTU, I have found many cases where the entire unit had needed replacement shortly after the powertrain warranty ended. This is the scenario I am trying to avoid, there is no 12 ounces of gear oil that I know of that can stand a "lifetime" of abuse and still hold its proper protection and lubricating specifications. I appreciate your input, however my post was intended to be informational and spur discussion, not argument. Thanks.

 

Again, how do you know more than the engineers? Lifetime is a very loose term, but if you think in terms of vehicle design it's about 150,000 miles.

 

I have not personally heard of any cases of PTU failure on the CD3 platform. You will probably do more harm than good if you try to service it. Leave it alone for 100-150k then you can mess with it if you still have the car. If it fails you still have FWD, so it's not as critical as the older designs.

 

If you're this OCD about oil, I hope you're just as enthusiastic about changing all the other fluids people forget about like the coolant and the ATF. I've seen many religious 3000 mile oil changers that are dumbfounded when they find out they need new heads because they didn't change the coolant for 10 years and the water pump disintegrated. Hopefully you realize there's more to proper maintenance than just changing the lubricants.

Edited August 19, 2012 by FusionDiffusion

[fusionmanor]

If the PTU has a fill plug........the fluid can be (pulled out) with a hose and a vaccum source. I use a battery fill bulb from NAPA to change Brake and P/S fluids once a year..........

[fusion0389]

Thanks fusionmanor, for answering my question.

 

Waldo and fusion diffusion, i understand what you are saying however I dont believe you are understanding my concern. My concern was with using oem recommended motorcraft syn blend oil and filter for the first recommended 10k interval. Full synthetic oil from aftermarket manufacturers coupled with the right filter can definitely get 12k oil changes, etc. My concern, was with Ford saying it is ok to leave the factory fill in the engine for ten thousand miles. The wear metals present were off the chart at only 3k, leaving those metals in there while accumulating more over the next 7k cannot be good. Also, the TBN dropped to 3.6 over 3k miles, how is that supposed to hold up for another 7k miles? I mean i guess it could and im sure that it would not pose any immediate problems, but I am thinking long term (150k+ miles) and trying to avoid unecessary wear and I feel that leaving the factory fill in there for 10k is truly unecessary. My beater car is a 2000 Ford taurus (purchased new in 01) with 260,000 miles on the original engine and transmission, i made sure I changed engine oil every 5kish and tranny every 25-30k. Idk, you may call it coincidence or just plain stupid, but i hold that by swapping fluids and performing other regular maintenance tasks before the required date can help in milking extra life out of a vehicle.

 

Now on to the PTU deal, you are right I am not an engineer, however my line of work in the energy sector puts me in direct contact with mechanical and chemical engineers every day. These guys know way more than I would ever care to know about this kind of stuff and they also feel that a "lifetime" fill is completely unrealistic for anyone who wants to drive their vehicles past 100k. In my opinion, a quart of 75w-140 gear oil is a small price to pay (if replacement is feasable and non-invasive) in possibly extending the life of the vehicles powertrain.

[FusionDiffusion]

Well, if you were just referring to the first oil change, then you might have reason to do it sooner. I did mine at about 4000 miles, but I remembered to reset the oil life monitor and went to normal intervals after I changed it the first time. On some other makes the oil monitor reminds to you change the oil earlier on the first change, but I guess the engineers at Ford weren't too concerned about letting the oil go 10k on the first change. With a good filter it shouldn't be too much of an issue (the factory filter is different than the replacement filters, perhaps it has more capacity).

 

As for the TBN, I believe Blackstone recommends you change the oil before it drops to 1.0. I think the TBN starts at 7.3 for Motorcraft 5W20. If that was the first oil change, then the TBN might have been pulled down more quickly. Again, it might not change in a linear fashion so we can't estimate how long the oil will last before the TBN drops too low. There are plenty of reports of 10k miles on the Motorcraft oils over at BITOG. The TBNs are down right above 1.0, but it proves you can go 10k on a change with this oil, so the 10k setting on the ILOM is reasonable. If you're concerned, go only 7500k. If you switch to a good synthetic you should be able to get 10k miles with life to spare.

Edited August 19, 2012 by FusionDiffusion

[fusion0389]

It looks like we are on the same page now, I used royal purple oil (the API one) and royal purple filter for the first two oil changes and had blackstone analyze them. I ran a short 3/4k interval on the first three oil changes just to be sure that all the break in materials washed out and by the third change everything looked completely normal. On my last change I put in Amsoil Signature Series 5W20 and coupled it with an Amsoil Filter, I know its not an official API certified oil but Amsoil claims that it meets the API and Ford specs and Ive heard great things about it on BITOG. I think im going to run it til 5k before I send in an analysis, curious to see what it will look like, if its nothing special I might save some money next time and get their XL series stuff. Its much cheaper and pretty robust from what I've heard.

 

P.S. If anyone is interested, walmart has pennzoil platinum and ultra 5qt jugs going for 19\22 bucks respectively here on the east coast, there is a manufacturers coupon attached to the jug. Thats around $4 a quart for a pretty darn good oil, just figured id throw it out there.

Edited August 19, 2012 by fusion0389

[fusion0389]

So I was doing some searching for other folks who had similar concerns as I regarding the "lifetime" fill on the PTU and I found an individual who has a Ford Flex and decided to drain his "lifetime" PTU fluid at 90k. According to his pictures\report the fluid was definitely toast... You can come to your own conclusions: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2018140

[fusionmanor]

If you wait to long the seals get crud damaged and the new fluid will make them leak like crazy.........

[FusionDiffusion]

So I was doing some searching for other folks who had similar concerns as I regarding the "lifetime" fill on the PTU and I found an individual who has a Ford Flex and decided to drain his "lifetime" PTU fluid at 90k. According to his pictures\report the fluid was definitely toast... You can come to your own conclusions: http://www.bobistheo...&Number=2018140

 

Well, seeing a UOA would have been very interesting, but he said no metal shavings and it didn't smell burnt. I think we can all agree the fluid looks very dirty (clutch material?), but it's still possible it had lubricating properties left.

 

Interestingly, in contrast there was another guy at the end that said he took his apart and the fluid looked brand new with more than 100k on it. He speculated his PTU got synthetic fluid from the factory. I'm guessing you also have the newer full synthetic gear oil, so you'll probably be better off than the first guy at 100k.

[fusion0389]

I would pay money to see what the UOA on that fluid looks like! Quite surprised to hear that the individual with over 100k said his fluid looked clean, maybe it was serviced by the previous owner or has a slightly different Volvo system, evidently those are more "service friendly" than the ford counterparts. On the original BITOG post another user chimied in with his experience on the "lifetime" fill with his 2002 Jaguar PTU, even more interesting info.

[Waldo]

That post is about a Ford Freestyle, which used the Volvo Haldex system. In 2008, when they changed the name to the Taurus X, they also changed to the current Ford PTU which is used in the Flex and the Fusion. So there really isn't anything you can learn from that as it relates to the Fusion.

 

Now from what I have heard, the PTU lube is sensitive to temperature. If you keep the temps down (ie no race tracks, no towing through mountains), the fluid will last forever. But get it just once up over it's temp threshold and it's toast. The new Police Interceptors use the same PTUs and same lube. But they actually have a "smart" reminder that will advise to replace the fluid if it gets over temp. They also have an engine coolant heat exchanger on the PTU.

[fusion0389]

That post is about a Ford Freestyle, which used the Volvo Haldex system. In 2008, when they changed the name to the Taurus X, they also changed to the current Ford PTU which is used in the Flex and the Fusion. So there really isn't anything you can learn from that as it relates to the Fusion.

 

Now from what I have heard, the PTU lube is sensitive to temperature. If you keep the temps down (ie no race tracks, no towing through mountains), the fluid will last forever. But get it just once up over it's temp threshold and it's toast. The new Police Interceptors use the same PTUs and same lube. But they actually have a "smart" reminder that will advise to replace the fluid if it gets over temp. They also have an engine coolant heat exchanger on the PTU.

 

What I am gathering is information related to "lifetime" fill fluids, which includes fusion, volvo, jaguar, etc. and so far the results are not necessarily in favor of the lifetime claim. Now, no fluid will last forever and Ford does not claim that I will last forever either, they use the term lifetime because it is subject to whatever they feel the duration of a lifetime is. I feel that it would have been nice to add it as a maintenance option maybe under the "severe" category for those who dont drive their cars once a month like a 91 year old lady. Now I do like the idea of a smart reminder system on the new patrol cars and the heat exchanger, that is a setup more worthy of a "lifetime" fill designation in my opinon. I hope Ford implements this technology into future vehicles.

[matthewt]

I see this is an older thread, but I will gladly chime in with my observations. I just bought my 2010 Fusion Sport with 32k about a month ago. I came over from a 2005 BMW 545i, and I have extensive experience dealing with the oil change/maintenance interval issue with Bimmers, and I can tell you confidently that BEWARE of company literature that uses the words "lifetime" or "lifetime fill". Bear in mind, marketing is a heavy driver of auto engineering these days, the results of which can be seen with the higher maintenance intervals recommended by car companies. Now with BMW, they have progressed from the BMW of the 80's and 90's where the buyer expected to have routine, frequent (compared to today) maintenance intervals so that BMW's would live up to their "bulletproof" reputation for reliability. This was one of the main drivers for me owning mainly BMW's for the past 10 years or so, as well as the fact that they are exclusively a driver's car. Now somewhere in the late 90's to 2000's, BMW started recommending 14k oil changes and lifetime tranny fills, as the average BMW owner is the guy or girl that just doesn';t want to "hassle" with routine maintenance intervals and semi-regular trips to the dealer. Man, just let me put gas in it and go!! The result of which is a 45-65k well-engineered machine dying at 100k-130k miles. No exaggeration folks, I spent 7k on a tranny for mine last Sept with 120k on it, not an extreme high-miler by any stretch, especially for BMW. In the queue before I traded it in(HAPPY DANCE) was about another 2k on valve cover gaskets. These engines have failed at 60k, 80k, 100k due to worn piston skirts which necessitates replacement of the block. All this to say, that stick to the tried and true maintenance intervals, ESPECIALLY with driveline components like transmission and differential fluids. You will be happier, and sleep better at night for it!! Trust me on this! On a side note, I LOVE my Fusion! Ford is on their A-game!!

[fusion0389]

I know I am reviving an old thread, but I held to my assumptions and decided to change the fluid. My 2012 Ford Fusion Sport AWD now has 44,370 miles on the odometer. Here are links to the before\afters of the PTU & Rear Diff Fluids. I have samples of each that are en route to Blackstone Laboratories for analysis.

 

Rear Differential

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39579852@N06/11998323235/

 

PTU

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39579852@N06/11998618093/

 

PTU Plug

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39579852@N06/11999136996/

 

You can come to your own conclusions regarding the results of lifetime use but, the fluids were exhausted. Before changing the fluids I drove for about 45 minutes to warm up the PTU\Diff fluid to help with extraction. Both fluids had the consistency\flow properties of cold honey, and this is after they warmed up. I replaced both units with Amsoil Severe Gear, 75W90 was used for the rear differential, 75W140 was used for the PTU. Both of the Amsoil fluids were left outside in the shed overnight and even in their ice cold state flowed better than what came out of my car. I will be attaching links to the oil analysis from Blackstone next week when I get them.

[fusion0389]

As promised here at the Blackstone Labs reports for both the PTU and the Rear Differential. The values for the PTU were completely out of line, as I suspected wear was off the charts. Approximately 10 times the amount of wear metals than what is expected for a transfer case. In any case, take a look at the pictures of what the fluid looked like and look at the reports below. You can come to your own conclusions, but in my opinion, the lifetime fill designation is bogus. Take a look at the rear differential link below to read Blackstone's opinion on the rear diff fluid (did much better than PTU, only needs change every 40k or so) and their comments regarding a "lifetime fill" designation. I hope this has been useful and shed light on the maintenance our vehicles need if you plan on driving it past 50,000 miles, think twice before any manufacturer claims a life time fill!

 

PTU

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39579852@N06/12102229586/

 

Rear Differential

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39579852@N06/12102226186/

[cbdallas]

I won't abide by a lifetime fill claim on anything. My 2005 Sport Trac has an alleged lifetime fill on the rear diff oil. I changed it at 90,000 miles and it was DISGUSTING. It barely qualified as oil and the level was very low. I don't know if they under-filled it at the factory or if it just evaporated over the last 8 years, but if I had just ignored it, I'd surely be putting a new rear axle under that truck before too much longer.

 

Since my sister-in-law's run in with the oil life monitor in her 2010 Equinox (GM admitted it was mis-programmed at the factory and was allowing her to run the oil too long), I don't trust those things either. She ended up getting a new timing chain & guides after her engine started to sound like a thresher.

 

My oil gets changed at 5,000 miles and I re-set the monitor just so it won't go off during the OCI. My transmission fluid will be getting changed at 50,000. I just can't imagine never changing automatic transmission fluid, especially in Texas. It's reddish-brown at 43,000 and I'm sure it's tired. I'm hoping that cures the occasional slamming-into-gear I'm getting in the mornings.

[FusionDiffusion]

Thanks for posting back the UOAs for everything. Now we have data.

 

First of all, glad to see you are embracing the 10k engine oil change interval, and as you can see you can even go a little bit further if you want.

 

I think the rear diff fluid looked and tested pretty much normal, so you should have to worry about changing that again until you hit 100k+. TBN was high enough you could have gone a fair amount longer (up to 100k perhaps?).

 

I will concede that the PTU fluid was pretty nasty and it was likely a good thing that you changed it. However, I'm interested to see how much of that was due to initial break-in and how much is normal wear, so I hope you will do another sample in 20k miles like they suggest. That should establish if the wear is excessive or not.

[fusion0389]

Thanks for posting back the UOAs for everything. Now we have data.

 

First of all, glad to see you are embracing the 10k engine oil change interval, and as you can see you can even go a little bit further if you want.

 

I think the rear diff fluid looked and tested pretty much normal, so you should have to worry about changing that again until you hit 100k+. TBN was high enough you could have gone a fair amount longer (up to 100k perhaps?).

 

I will concede that the PTU fluid was pretty nasty and it was likely a good thing that you changed it. However, I'm interested to see how much of that was due to initial break-in and how much is normal wear, so I hope you will do another sample in 20k miles like they suggest. That should establish if the wear is excessive or not.

 

I stuck to 7,500-10,000 or OCI's after validating that my oil/filter combo would support it without any negaive effects on wear. So far everything has been ok. The rear diff fluid did test in a "normal" range according to blackstone, I was very surprised to see the restults. However, I will change it again on 40-50k intervals. When the fluid came out of the rear diff, the cold flow properties were horrendous compared to the fluid I pumped back in. I dont know why it was like that, maybe lower qualiy fluids? The differences between what came out (conventional 80w90) and what went in (synthetic 75w90) is obviously conventional vs synthetic and cold flow properties of 80 vs 75. Synthetics are known to do better at temperature extremes, maybe that coupled with the slightly lower cold flow weight of 75 are the reasons for the percieved flow differences? Regardless I think that a severe interval would be around 50k while a normal use interval would be around 75k in my opinion. The TAN wasnt out of line but that number gets higher with time/usage and I dont want the acidity of the fluid affecting the wear. I have a feeling that the Amsoil Severe Gear fluid that I used will be capable of geting 75-100k based upon its performance in truck applications. I will continue to do UOA's along the way to see

 

Now the PTU was a whole different story, my only regret with this car is that I didnt pump out that nastiness at 10,000 miles... Blackstone says to leave it for 20k before I sample again, but I'm planning on cutting that reccomendation in half. I'll probably exchange the fluid in another couple months when it warms up a little. Im sure that the clean fluid i put in has helped suspend any residulal fluid/contaminants so I'd like to get that out of there ASAP. I put in Amsoil Severe Gear 75w140 which is a very stout oil that can withstand much more abuse that most gear oils, I am very curious to see the results! I'll be posting my findings within the next few months.

Edited April 3, 2014 by fusion0389

[fusion0389]

Just thought I would update regarding some more maintenance data. I have two analysis reports below showing the analysis of the PTU and also the first drain/Fill on the transmission. The PTU Showed slight improvement in wear numbers, most notably iron. I had a conversation with Blackstone rearding the report and they think that it will be several intervals before everything starts to normalize. The clean fluid is having to go suspend all of the particulates/contaminated fluid thats been sitting there for 44k. I'll continue to report back on that.

 

The transmission is another "lifetime fill" part from Ford if i'm not mistaken. In August of 2013 I had the local Ford dealer do a drain\fill while i was on vacation which evacuated 4qts out of an almost 8qt system. The report below is from a sample taken of the original fill. The report is not bad at all. Blackstone reported that there were a couple high points, but thats normal with a factory fill. Enjoy!

 

 

 

PTU/Transfer Case OCI

https://flic.kr/p/nY7pkR

 

Transmission OCI

https://flic.kr/p/nY7niV

 

[cccerbeus]

Just want to offer my experience here on the PTU "lifetime" service

today (49,695 mi) i did my oil change and diff and PTU fluids.

 

oil was nice, but it was an early change since i bought it from a dealer used with 43,000 on it, a fresh oil change, but who knows what oil they put in it ( i use mobil 1 in everything.. its cheap insurance imho)

when i pumped out the diff oil it was barely colored at all from original condition.. that was good to see.

 

The PTU was a different story all together.

There is an obvious leak from the side that appears to mount to the transaxle, and from the case seam near the right side CV output.

The plug had a 1/4" of magnetic sludge stuck to it, and when i tried to pump out any existing fluid, i got nothing.

Knowing the unit takes 12ozs to fill, i put in 8ozs before any started coming back out.. and what came out was pristine fluid with ribbons of what looked like asphalt..

 

i expect to drive it a bit tonight and pump it out tomorrow, and refill again.

 

Bottom line, if you have an AWD model, laughingly disregard their assurance that the PTU is a lifetime fill, and consider servicing it at least every 40,000miles

If you are a bit anal about this sort of thing like I am, you'd probably want to do every 30,000 max, maybe every 20,000 if you have a very heavy foot like i do..

 

now i'm wondering about cost and availability of PTUs, as well as time to do the job...

Edited August 31, 2014 by cccerbeus