Flex has PTU drain plug

[askoncemore]

Changed my PTU fluid to today and to my pleasant suprise I have a drain plug.

Does this mean I can add the factory PTU cooler?

 

[SHOdded]

So there's separate drain & fill plugs?  Good to know!  Adding a factory PTU cooler would not be a small task though, but IDK.  In the PP/PI implementation, there's a temperature sensor involved, don't know if it's critical to the cooling operation or controlled by the PCM.

 

[Sabtaj1]

I am in the same boat.  I am glad I have a 13 cause it has the drain plug and fill plug as well.  How much fluid did yours take to refill?  PS....  I don't think the PTU cooler does anything by the way.  I say that because Our local PD's have totally bombed and smoked multiple PTU's in their explorers and they aren't even ecoboost models.  Like blown up...

 

[askoncemore]

I got about 13 oz. In and out.

I think I will change the fluid again in a few weeks to get a full flush.

 

[Sabtaj1]

what did you end up putting in? Also what did you use to fill it?  Thanks, I plan to do this real soon

 

[66 Galaxie]

IIRC PTU drain plugs appeared starting with the 2013 models.

Temp sensor on PP SHO and Police Interceptor cars has nothing to do with the function of the cooler but does report temps to the ecm on those cars.


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[66 Galaxie]

To pump the new fluid in you  can get a cheap hand pump at most auto parts stores that screws onto a bottle of lube/oil.
A lot of folks here like Amsoil to refill with. Mobil 1 and others also have synthetics that will work.


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[askoncemore]

I filled with the Motorcraft fluid using a basic hand pump.

Is it possible to retrofit the Flex with the SHO PP cooler?

 

[66 Galaxie]

The cooler set up circulates engine coolant through a water jacket on the passenger side of the PTU. The coolant is drawn from the bottom few rows of the radiator which involves a different radiator which is not offered for the flex.  The radiator part numbers for Taurus, SHO or Explorer are different so I don't believe they are interchangeable.


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[askoncemore]

Do you have any schematics or part numbers?

I might need to run a modified version.

 

[66 Galaxie]

A while back I did some parts searching on the Tasca parts website and came to the conclusion that I would only worry about it if my PTU died.

A few of the approaches I came up with were get a cooled PTU unit and
A) plumb it into the existing coolant system using lower radiator hose from SHO with oil cooler.

B) plumb it to its own radiator and coolant circuit and use an electric water pump to circulate the system

Another thought was to set up a PTU cooler system similar to what racers do for differentials.  Suck the fluid out of the drain plug, pump it through an oil cooler and back into the fill plug.


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[SHOdded]

MDesign had proposed production of a PTU cooler of their own design, but the Silence killed it (a Dr Who patented character).

 

[askoncemore]

I think I will stick to regular PTU oil changes and possibly do the factory transmission cooler.

My trans temps are running a little high for my liking. 

 

[glock-coma]

I think I will stick to regular PTU oil changes and possibly do the factory transmission cooler.

My trans temps are running a little high for my liking.

what temps are you seeing?180-200 is normal operating temp.

 

[askoncemore]

205-210 no matter what the temp is outside.

 

[SHOdded]

What are the coolant temps?  Fans coming on ok/when they are supposed to?  Stock TStat is 180F, I believe, so fans should come on 190-195F.  You can check the fan duty cycle to verify operation.  Verify the fins on the radiator are straight & clean.  Any shifting issues?

Changing to a good full synthetic ATF like Amsoil should help the trans run cooler as well.