I am going to have to say that this is a proof is in the pudding kinda thing just like when Saab thought it was a great idea to have 10k mile oil change intervals. Yeah, high change intervals work great at getting a car just past the warranty and breaking. The simple fact of the matter is that you don't have unicorn **** in your transfer case or ptu just because some ford engineer slapped a high change interval or even said it doesn't have a change interval, fluid goes bad, end of sentence, period.

 

You go right ahead and not change the fluid on the two most commonly failed major components of the truck. I could understand not changing the e-cvt fluid, they really don't fail, but to not change out the rear end or transfer case fluid slaps reason right in the face.

 

This is a Ford forum not Saab!

Most failed components??? A few transfer cases/PTU or whatever you want to call it but read ends? If the OP's is bad, it might be the second that I've read about in the forums. The other was a lock up in the gas version.

Got a link to these multiple rear end failures in Escapes?

BTW: New Escapes are using a Ford design and manufactured dry clutch unit.

 

History lays out that long intervals are bad no matter who makes it. They're your parts, do with them as you wish, don't expect sympathy when they break or worse yet locks up and kills your whole family because "well the manuals says."

http://www.fordforums.com/f59/2006-e...pieces-159747/

Here's one disintegrating at 59k miles

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/12...-replaced.html

Here's one that references "small print" in the manual that lifetime is only 100k miles.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Es..._failure.shtml

Differential failures, note the average mileage of around 67k, hmm, sounds like a little more than the general service interval for rear ends of 50k miles doesn't it?

 

Hmm, didn't think that there were that many with problems. My own posts as well! Since I only have less than 15K on my 2009, I doubt that I will have to worry.

One thing mentioned in the maintainence manual is a Dana rear end, if equipped it isn't in that lifetime lube group. I have no idea how to tell. I retired from Ford's only rear end plant and they weren't built there. Not sure if American Axle builds a complete rear end.

 

At 7 years old you might want to change it anyways, it does have a shelf life. Especially if you are owner 2. Pretty easy for someone to submerge the rear end and destroy the fluid inside.

 

I'm the original owner and never seen high water.

Used to go to our service pack department where they had quarts of rear end lube to use in machine gear boxes. Machines ran 24/7 for over ten years, no problems. Had one with OEM lube which turn to a solid gunk and stopped the machine dead without any damage to gears or bearings. Never seen anything like it before or since. Gave a sample to a Texaco Oil rep in plant at that time but never heard back.

 

Found lots & lots of fine metal flakes in the drained fluid. With car in park, rear wheels up & checking the tone rings I rotated the rear wheels. The propeller shaft would rotate. It shouldn't have rotated. The lack of PIDS and the loss of 4WD when wheels slip only to restore when on solid surface are symptoms.
Conclusion the gears have worn thru.

With no indication of fluid loss but fluid in fact gone, I've concluded that the proximity of the exhaust piping to the transfer case tells me that the fluid slowly evaporated due to heat. So I'll start checking fluid level about every 25k.

 

No, the drive shaft shouldn't rotate at all, your driving and driven clutch plates are fused together. The procedure if one gets a Full Lock Condition is to pull over till it cools down and the condition rights itself. Since it didn't, driving it when 100% torque going to the rear, you probably blew the transfer case. The drive shaft is powered by the transfer case all the time.

The metal flakes are from your clutch plates. One plate is normally steel and the other is copper coated steel.

The operational check from the Ford manual is for a tech to command 100% rear wheel torque and drive at low speeds, if it resists turns, it's working correctly. The most torque that should ever go to the rear is 50% if you go higher, you have steering control problems.

 

Is that the transfer case fluid or the rear end fluid though?