How To: Maverick Tremor PTU oil change

The Tremor PTU is different from the FX4 or the AWD.

First the bad news, there is no drain plug, The Good news is you don't need one because you can drain the oil out of the cooler attachment point.

You will need to take the skid plate off. I was able to do the oil change with out ramps but is is tight so you may want to use ramps or jack-stands.

13mm
8mm (deep and not so deep)
8mm hex
T30 torx
some extensions
ratchet
ratchet with flex head

Ford 75w-85 synthetic oil
oil hand pump

I did some research on the bronco sport form, and posted that info here.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...e-on-tremor-maverick.30460/page-2#post-664785
The bronco sport badlands has the same water cooled PTU.

In one of the post they are worried that by taking the PTU cooler out engine coolant may leak out but this is not a problem as it is a sealed system.

First take the skid plate off same first step as an oil change (link for oil change https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/how-to-oil-change-on-tremor-maverick.30460/)

Now you can see the bottom of the PTU. Two tiny 8mm bolts? need to come off to take the PTU cooler off. Now these bolts look like nuts on studs and maybe they are but when it took them off they unthreaded from the ptu like a bolt.


This is a close up of the PTU cooler


PTU and cooler. The two hoses go to the PTU cooler.

Once the two bolts/studs are out the PTU cooler is free. It took very little force to slide it back letting the PTU oil out.

Here you can see the oil coming out. The cooler has an o-ring. It easily slid back into place. I but the two Bolt/stud things back.

Now to fill the PTU back up. One quart is plenty to fill it and dump lots of extra on the floor of your garage with the bottle still not being empty.

The fill plug is hard to see. It is right by where the passenger side axle comes out of the PTU. I had to stack two extensions to get to the point I could get a ratchet to turn it. But it came out easily.

Pump the oil in until it is full and some starts to come out the fill hole.

Put the plug back in, put the skid plate back on and you are good to go.

I only had 10,000 miles on my Maverick when I did this PTU oil change, I had read about trucks with low miles having nasty looking PTU oil and the engine oil from my first oil change looked really dark. But the PTU oil looked OK. This maybe because the Tremor's PTU is water cooled so it does not get as hot. Or it could be some trucks driven in harder circumstances.


Here is the Ford oil I used for the PTU.

And some tools

Some of the tools used, this 8mm socket was too long to get the lower PTU bolt out but I did have a shorter one that worked.
Over all Easy PTU oil change.

The only tricks are that you can not see the fill plug easily and that you need the right flex head ratchet and deep but not too deep sockets to get the cooler out.

I turned the wheels all the way to the driver side to give me a little more room. And from next to the tire I could get a straight but long shot to the fill plug.


Fill plug has purple mark on it.

It's sad there are still no manuals with this procedure for the Tremors. Thank you for sharing. This should be a sticky in the maitenence threads.

Quick question, can you still see the transmission level plug from the driver's side wheel as well? The way you accessed the fill plug on the Tremor PTU is where the transmissions level plug is at on all the other models.

So I'll assume it's been confirmed the oil spec is the same for both PTU's? (Tremor & std AWD)

Source of confirmation?

Damn @Rivers90 - that's a great write up and great work as a Tremor owner I would have gone in blind and probably been frustrated and disappointed.

Seeing this now - I may decide to pass the PTU and RDU flushes off to my dealer.

I'm guessing the Tremor's RDU also has a different process as well...

710-oil-614 said:

Damn @Rivers90 - that's a great write up and great work as a Tremor owner I would have gone in blind and probably been frustrated and disappointed.

Seeing this now - I may decide to pass the PTU and RDU flushes off to my dealer.

I'm guessing the Tremor's RDU also has a different process as well...

Click to expand...

I think the RDU is not difficult as it has a normal drain and fill plug just like the FX4 and AWD.

Montana said:

It's sad there are still no manuals with this procedure for the Tremors. Thank you for sharing. This should be a sticky in the maintenance threads.

Quick question, can you still see the transmission level plug from the driver's side wheel as well? The way you accessed the fill plug on the Tremor PTU is where the transmissions level plug is at on all the other models.

Click to expand...

The PTU is on the passenger side. The drivers side I think would be the same for all Mavericks.

Yes having no manual talk about the Tremor makes it harder, I have turned to the bronco sport badlands information for planning things like the PTU oil change.

Here is a video on the bronco sport forum about changing the transmishon fluid.
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/big-bend-oil-leak.7360/page-2#post-181041
Looks like it is not too hard.
Thank you Bronco sport Forum!

No drain plug. What can anybody say in defense of that.

Great writeup and an asset to this forum. Kudos. Personally I am glad I do not have to deal with that. Not enough off road miles to justify the added expense for me.

Again, kudos.

Bob The Builder said:

No drain plug. What can anybody say in defense of that.

Great writeup and an asset to this forum. Kudos. Personally I am glad I do not have to deal with that. Not enough off road miles to justify the added expense for me.

Again, kudos.

Click to expand...

Actually - I could not be happier to deal with it. Did you see his PTU oil? It was still amber and clear compared to some black junk coming out of the PTUs that don't have coolers (don't take that as hate AWD bros). Wouldn't it be great if Ford did a cooler AND a drain plug?

Crappy design, but two small 8mm bolts to break the cooler free isn't a deal breaker by any means. In fact it is a small price to pay for a big time advantage for longevity of the system.

That doesn't even begin to count the benefits of 4WD lock (from that PTU) and then the benefits of the RDU itself.

Rivers90 said:

The PTU is on the passenger side. The drivers side I think would be the same for all Mavericks.

Yes having no manual talk about the Tremor makes it harder, I have turned to the bronco sport badlands information for planning things like the PTU oil change.

Click to expand...

I was at the dealer for another P0451 code today (apparently the fuel pressure switch located underneath the vehicle - which I'm surprised they didn't pin it on Fluid Film) and I asked the service tech if he'd look for the service procedure for the PTU with a cooler.

Explained what you did and said I don't see another way or doing it but it'd be nice to confirm - I still might have them just do the PTU for me at least this first go around.

710-oil-614 said:

Actually - I could not be happier to deal with it. Did you see his PTU oil? It was still amber and clear compared to some black junk coming out of the PTUs that don't have coolers (don't take that as hate AWD bros). Wouldn't it be great if Ford did a cooler AND a drain plug?

Crappy design, but two small 8mm bolts to break the cooler free isn't a deal breaker by any means. In fact it is a small price to pay for a big time advantage for longevity of the system.

That doesn't even begin to count the benefits of 4WD lock (from that PTU) and then the benefits of the RDU itself.

Click to expand...

It looks so much cleaner than mine, that's for sure. But I have to agree with others... no drain plug sucks. I know when FORD started having the PTU issues in AWD vehicles, Dorman released their version of the PTU with a heat shield and a drain plug. It seems the updated designs got the memo about the drain plugs, just not the ones that use this style.

Rivers90 said:

The PTU is on the passenger side. The drivers side I think would be the same for all Mavericks.

Yes having no manual talk about the Tremor makes it harder, I have turned to the bronco sport badlands information for planning things like the PTU oil change.

Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying. Just wanted to make sure since your OP said you turned the drivers side wheel.

710-oil-614 said:

I was at the dealer for another P0451 code today (apparently the fuel pressure switch located underneath the vehicle - which I'm surprised they didn't pin it on Fluid Film) and I asked the service tech if he'd look for the service procedure for the PTU with a cooler.

Explained what you did and said I don't see another way or doing it but it'd be nice to confirm - I still might have them just do the PTU for me at least this first go around.

Click to expand...

Yea man it's sad because they genuinley don't know. I asked about the Tremor when I was in there clarifying everything for my FX4 and even had a FORD Tech on this forum look it up. They both said the same thing - no specification differences in the manual. Just have to go off the part number and I think another member that previously posted about this said it's the same as the Bronco's with that setup.

I have no doubt if I had this setup I'd push to 10k for the initial flush then every 30k after. With my FX4, I'm going 20k.

I asked my mechanic to take a look at the PtU while doing my first oil change. He laughed and said if I furnish the PTU fluid he'll change it every time the skid plate is pulled and he is under there for maybe 25 bucks more. No problems. My turn to laugh and suggested maybe every other oil change or so. Given what little I drive that translates to one oil change every year and one PTU change every other year. If these things are getting that hot then maybe I am not being over the top with this maintenance schedule. You guys tell me.

I spend more money than that on coffee and donuts every week.

Different story for those that drive a lot. That is a nice set up Ford does with the Tremor PTU sans the lack of drain plug, BUT, at least there is a common sense work around and that is good.

Bob The Builder said:

maybe I am not being over the top with this maintenance schedule. You guys tell me.

I spend more money than that on coffee and donuts every week.

Click to expand...

If you plan on keeping the Maverick for a long time I think changing the engine oil, PTU, RDU, and transmission oil on a regular schedule is about the best thing you can do for the longevity of the vehicle.

Montana said:

Thanks for clarifying. Just wanted to make sure since your OP said you turned the drivers side wheel.

Click to expand...

I turned the wheels as if I was turning to the drivers side (making a left turn). This made a little more space behind the passenger side tire. Maybe this is not needed, I think you could reach the drain plug without doing this, but I think it gave me a little more room.

Overall it was easy to do. When I do the RDU I will write that up too.

Thanks Ben, great write up with quality photos. Good to see how clear/clean the oil is. Don't think I've ever seen PTU oil that clean, definitely not the air cooled versions. But hey they at least they have a honest to goodness drain plug.

No drain plug is a wrinkle but no big deal to me. Actually I like the fact that the drain opening is that large. I'll be tempted to shoot some elec contact cleaner in there for an added flush, followed by my micro usb inspection cam (endoscope/bore scope) for a look see.

@Administrator Sticky in the Mechanical Maintenance: Break-In / Oils & Fluids / Consumables / Servicing section?