When I had my 2001 VDP the transmission went out and costs me $3500 to have it rebuilt. Now I have the 2004 STR and it seems to run fine, but my gut says to have them change the fluid and filter.

The local transmission shop who does excellent work told me the filter is an intergral part of the pan and that they tranny's are sealed for life?

Anybody have any experience with the tranny's on the STR?

They wanted $350 to change pan and filter and synthetic fluid refill

 

Your 2001 had the 5r55 Ford Transmission... A troublesome little bugger...

All S-Types from 2003 and up have the ZF HP26 6 speed transmission.

A tough little bugger....

As for "sealed for life"... what a joke.. Even Jaguar will tell you to service it at 100k miles. That said, there are various opinions on here on what is the "best" thing to do, so if you continue reading, remember, this is just one user's opinion and others will chime in....

The ZF has very specific specifications as to the fluid that goes in this transmission ZF Lifeguard 6 I believe... If it was my car, I would want insurance that the service included the specified ZF fluid. See, if you just do a pan drop fluid change (the best in my opinion) you will still have old fluid in there. Others have mixed fluid and have had no issues what so ever. Me, it would just make me more comfortable to not mix.

Also, there are very specific instructions on drain and fill. These instructions are temperature dependent so if not done properly you can very easily end up with an under-filled or over-filled transmission.... That would be worse than old fluid..

I personally think that the ZF should be serviced about every 60k/70k miles. Now, the price you were quoted sounds REALLY inexpensive..

Either you are going to get a poorly done service, with inferior materials, or you have a real good relationship with the garage and they are cutting you a major deal...

Just out of curiosity, ask them what the fill procedure is, and how much would the service be if you provided the parts and fluid....

 

+1 on what Jeff said.
If you do go ahead make sure to change the electrical sleeve at the same time, it's a $20 part but you have to drop the pan to do it.

 

Please, Please do some searches!!

A member by the name of CCC has posted a great bit about the transmission fluid change. You need to know more before giving the car to a shop. The sleeve has been mentioned and the pan bolts are another issue.

How many miles on the car? Are you having much problem with the lurch??

I hate to say it but you should get the TCM flashed along with the other things and this really is a dealer procedure. So get educated first so you only do it once. I purchased the correct parts and fluid and had the local Jaguar dealer perform the service. Correctly I hope but I have a very good dealer that so far has done great work!

I would use the proper ZF fluid since we can now get it for a decent price of about $17/liter. It was $60+/liter for a long time!!
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I have just over 99k and yes it has lurched a couple of times. As for the repair shop, they are by far the best tranny in the South bend area, they did a great job on the VDP.

 

Have to agree with JOsworth about the $350 price. I changed the Pan assembly on my '05 STR and had a full fluid change in Feb this year at 60K miles. The cost of the pan assembly (inc. filter and sleeve) alone was $278, never mind the fluid and labour.

 

Larry, ditto to all who posted thus far. Though you place great trust in the trans. shop. The ZF 6 speed is an entirely different animal. Be sure the shop repeats what you will learn here on this forum.

 

Yup... Like I said and hinted in my original post, read up on this forum about the transmission. Walk into the shop knowing your stuff and ask questions.. Simple ones like "now how do you refill this transmission?"... If they respond with just "pump fluid in" ask more.. and possibly run away.

Again, your VDP had a Ford transmission. Yes any good shop worth their salt can service them.

That said, ZF Automatics are becoming more and more mainstream. They are found on more general cars.. IE Hyundai uses the ZF 6 speed in the Genesis. Also, the new 8 speed being dropped into new model 300's and Chargers is a ZF box. That could mean that the shop you are going to does have the skilled technicians that work on these... But I still stand by my concern... and that is the price you were quoted.. That is about what you could expect to pay if you bargain shopped the parts and fluid yourself... So, they are cutting costs somewhere.....

I know this is getting a little winded, but I am pretty passionate about this topic... I am confident that the next statement is real... 80% of automatic transmission failures are due to not being maintained.. The ONLY automatic transmissions I have had to replace have been because I bought the beater in that condition. Here is a great example of a manufacturer and a sealed transmission.... First of all, the Mercedes 7 speed from 05 to about 07 has a known issue with the electronic valve body.. It is a part issue where some crap out others don't.... that said, the transmission started out as a "sealed for life" trans.. Then Mercedes changed it to "service at 38k then sealed for life". That told me they decided to look for the valve body issue... But then they changed their tune again. The 7 speed is now spec'd to be serviced every 40k. Hmmm.

So, read up... You'll be surprised how much you learn...

 

I agree with your statement JOsworth, that's why I was going to head off problems at the pass. After spending lots of money on the VDP, I thought regular maintainence made sense. Here in the South bend area Certified transmission has been around for a long time and has a reputation of doing excellent work. Even though the price seems low I would trust them with the job at hand