and lived to tell about it. I'm still getting this sluggish downshift from 5th to 4th at around 45 to 50. It's not a major problem, just something I'd like to make sure doesn't become one. The jag tranny fluid is super expensive and I was wondering if anyone risked not using it and going with something less expensive.

 

cost me 272 dollars for fluid

 

S'jack - which gearbox do you have and have you made sure TCM & PCM have been flashed to the current software?

The correct fluid for a ZF box is ZF fluid which Jag and others just re-sell, I understand. That would in effect mean ZF has a monopoly.

 

i just relized that the hyundai genesis 4 door has the ZF tranny in it. Maybe see what they sell theirs for?

 

Are you running a ZF trans (ie 2003 and newer) or a Ford 5r55n five speed.

I put over 20,000 miles on my 2000 jag 4.0L's 5r55n after draining and refilling twice with valvoline Mercon V. One of those times I did a pan drop with filter replacement.

The shifting definetly got better after the pan drop with filter change. I also cleaned the pan and magnet off and put in an extra magnet. I hope the new owner appreciates all the work I put into it!!

 

I received the following from the manufacturer of a competing ATF manufacturer. The fluid costs roughly 15 USD per liter. I may write back and challenge them to warranty my transmission against failure caused by the transmission fluid in order to get piece of mind. I don't know if that will work, but I will try it when I am ready.


"our Pentosin ATF 1 is the original ZF ATF for ZF 5 speed Automatic Transmissions (AT). The 6-speed AT you use contains a different ATF but that is compatible with our ATF1. For marketing and price reasons ZF keeps up different ATF service qualities. They would never approve our ATF1 for their 6-speed ATs. There is no new technical requirement of the 6-speed AT that could exclude the use of our Pentosin ATF1 that ZF prescribes for the ZF 5-speed AT . That is similar to an engine oil that works in a four cylinder engine in the same way as in a six cylinder engine.

One general remark: when you make an ATF oil change you exchange only ca. 50%. In terms of oil compatibility this is the worst case scenario. If you exchange it twice you get to 75% of the new oil. From ATFs that are not fully compatible we know that the 70/30 or 30/70 mixtures are always working well. Two oil changes are not necessary in this case but for puristic reasons it would be a better approach.

Conclusion: go ahead and make your oil change with our Pentosin ATF1.



mit freundlichen Grüßen / kind regards
Dr. Edgar Steigerwald
F&E / R&D
--------------------------------------------------
Deutsche Pentosin-Werke GmbH
Industriestraße 39-43
D-22880 Wedel
Tel.: +49 4103 9134 19
Fax: +49 4103 9134 71
email: e.steigerwald@pentosin.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter / CEO & Shareholder: Jürgen Niemax
Stv. Geschäftsführer / Deputy Managing Director: Henrik Niemeyer
Amtsgericht / Local Court: Pinneberg HRB 1556
USt-Id-Nr / VAT-Id-No: DE 134 796 898
Steuer-Nr / Tax No: 1829601292
http://www.pentosin.com"

 

If we keep our 2005 S-Type 3.0 long enough (meaning perhaps 60,000 to 70,000 miles on the odometer), I'll do a drain-and-fill and stick with the ZF fluid (which is Shell M1375.4 mineral oil). Our Jaguar dealer sells it for about $58 per litre. I'll check a Hyundai parts department as well since the new Genesis indeed uses the same 6-speed ZF transmission, and perhaps they'll be selling it for a bit less. I continue to look for it from sources other than dealerships, but thus far I've struck out. If I do get lucky and find a non-dealer source, I'll post it here in the forum.

Changing to any other ATF will always bear some risk simply because you cannot drain every drop of your original fluid out of your transmission and torque converter even with a flush (and flushes can be very dangerous if they drag settled debris up through the transmission's valves and gears). Even though this mineral oil is high-dollar liquid gold and I hate wasting money on products that may be more hype than science, I'm simply not willing to run that risk. I only see myself having to do this once during the lifespan of the car in our household, and I'll spring for it that one time.

At just over 32,000 miles, our S-Type has 2 to 3 years to go in our household before the mileage gets high enough for me to consider changing the mineral oil in the transmission. By then, perhaps this product won't be so damn proprietary here in the U.S., and perhaps the price will come down as well....

 

Jon89 - do you have a conclusive reason for saying it's Shell M1375.4? Isn't that for the previous (i.e. Ford) box?

 

Remember like someone said earlier. Make sure which transmission you have. Either the early 5 speed Ford or the 2003 and up 6 speed ZF. Much different transmissions!!

You might look here for the filter kit. It's expensive because the 6 speed ZF has the pan and filter as a integrated assembly. $145!!

http://tinyurl.com/mtz9lq

Here is the main page. It's kind of hard finding what you want on the website.

http://www.rmeuropean.com/

They also carry the correct Pentosin transmission oil that is equivalent to the shell M-1375.4 for about $11 or $12/liter.http://tinyurl.com/lxr9kg

I plan to change the fluid in my 2005 S Type R somewhere around 50K-60K miles.
.
.
.

 

jagv8,

Do some research on whether Shell M1375.4 is the old Ford ATF or actually mineral oil that is sold for high-dollar prices at various European dealerships as ZF transmission fluid today. Let me know what you find out.

I did my own research back in the January/February timeframe. Multiple sources (including RealTech here on this forum, remember him? Sure wish he'd return to this forum - he is one of the most knowledgeable Jaguar techs I've ever encountered online) confirmed that Shell M1375.4 mineral oil is indeed what is being sold and used as ZF fluid in these 6-speed ZF transmissions. If you uncover evidence to the contrary, please let us know....

 

now that i think about it, my mazda 6 has a 6 speed in it, and it required a special 6 speed atf. it was about 100 dollars at the dealer for 6 quarts. could it be the same stuff?

 

I believe it's ZF LifeGuardFluid6 (ZF part: S671 090 253 for 20l or S671 090 255 for just 1l).

RealTech is probably right, as well, but I haven't found any way to be sure.

I found this site interesting:
http://www.freddiestransmissionservi.../zf_6hp26.html

And this lists other cars with the same box:
www.automaticchoice.com/Catalogue/v_index.pdf

 

I don't think the Mazda has the ZF box but I'm not sure.

 

According to zf themselves our fluid is "lifeguardfluid6". On this page they have a list of lubricants for all their products. If you scroll to te-ml11 which is automatic transmissions among others and than scroll to 6hp26 within the pdf it shows that the hyundai uses the same exact fluid. I have confirmed this by calling my local dealer, their specs call for shell m1375.4 fluid as well. It is by far your cheapest most trustworthy solution at about $12/quart, the only down side is you have to buy 12 quart case minimum as it is a "non servicable gearbox" and therefore a special order.

http://www.zf.com/zfXmlServlet?resul...uageISOCode=en

 

Thanks.