Hey all, a little over 2 months ago I replaced the transmission fluid on my 2004 XJ8 using Castrol Multi-Import Vehicle ATF.

I did the flush,top-off,cycle through each gear method using jackstands. I did this a total of 5 times to be safe, this used a little over 15qts. I filled the transmission with a 'fluid transfer tool' purchased at Autozone for $3. its just a hand pump that you screw onto the oil bottle in place of the bottle cap, then pump away.

The castrol oil can be purchased for $15 a gallon at Strauss Discount Auto, or $5 a quart. possibly cheaper online or at a Wal-Mart.


I'm just hear to say that so far so good, about 2,000 and almost 3 months. Shifts great now that the TCM re-adapted after I did a hard reboot.


Ive linked many articles in the faq section and general information sections previously showing why I settled on this. Castrol backs it as a Shell oil replacement, BMW owners have used this and Mobil1 ATF with great success.

I'll update as time goes by.

-Victor

 

thanks for sharing StrateLoss. How many miles on the XJ? And where is the fluid access for filling on the trans? thanks.

 

Good to hear StrateLoss,

Two questions:

Did you change the pan/filter, or just the oil?

Have you experienced any changed in the mpg you are getting?

 

the XJ now has 73,xxx miles. change was done with 71,000.
the fill hole is on the side of the transmission body on the US passenger side. all that was needed was an allen key to loosen, and a fluid transfer tool to fill.
no not this time, ill be doing a drain and fill in the spring for an oil analysis and at that time i will change the pan and gasket as well.

mpg is unchanged.

 

thanks for sharing this info StrateLoss; I see there's another thread called "to change or not to change" and there seems to be quite a bit of agonizing wether should I/shouldn't I change the trans fluid. Your experience has convinced me that it can be done fairly easily so when my XJ8L gets to 50,000 miles I will be changing the oil and pan/filter. thanks again.

 

Since your mileage is still low, you can do a simple drain and fill. It will take about 4/qts , so this will be fairly cheap using oem fluid purchased at either BMW or Hyundai for their 6speed auto cars (745, genesis)

Then you can continue to do this annualy or every 15k. At least thats what id do.

I started off with higher mileage so one drain and fill was out of the question. Using OEM fluids a complete fluid swap would have cost me $500 for oil ALONE. and frankly -> leaving the oil is not an option.

-Victor

 

so far so good.

 

still good.

current mileage is 73,500.

have this in for about 3000k miles now.

Once the cold weather passes, I'll be ordering a new filterpan with a gasket and will switch to Mobil1 ATF.

Its been getting great reviews over on the BMW forums and is supposed to be a better formula.

 

Still so far so good, total mileage on the oil WAS 3600miles. went on a 1,000 mile roadtrip to Niagara Falls over the weekend and all was well.

Today since the weather was relatively warm ( 45f ) I decided to do another drain and fill so I dont leave that batch of oil in there.
In my mind was the idea that the new oil with its fresh detergents and additives was cleaning out the original fluid over the course of some miles and I did not want to drive on that oil for much longer.This is the second time I did a drain and fill after I did the complete fluid swap, the first time was after just 300 miles. This time was after 3600 miles

The first time I did it the fluid that came out was noticeably different then the fluid that went in. Different color, different texture, different smell. This time around it was still relatively new ( my father did even want to drain it at autozone, hes holding onto it in case its ever needed for an emergency on one of our other cars lol ). But relatively new does not mean new, and it still showed some wear.

about 5 quarts drained out, and I topped off with 5quarts. I purchased 2 gallons of Castrol Import Multi Vehicle ATF for a whopping price of $13 a gallon and a new fluid transfer tool that fits onto the gallon bottle. Also got a hose extension so that my father can pump the fluid while I held it to the fill bolt (where as last time I both held the hose and pumped the fluid !)

Topped off, cycled through the gears, measured the temp, put the lever in reservse drive 5 4 3 2 then back into park. filled untill it started dribbling out then plugged the Fill hole.

Now it drive much much smoother ! no more lurch, none at all.

Everyone time I did the fluid change the outcome was that it drove much better then previously, this time was no different.


really its quite simple and everyone should definately do this. It took me 40 minutes total, thats including warmup cooldown setup and clean up.

tools neccesary, allen keys, jackstands, fluid transfer tool, oil, jack, a rag, and a thermometer.

-Victor.

 

great to see some DIY having success with this fluid change, you're inspiring many i'm sure!

 

StrateLoss, you make it sound so easy. Can you take some pics next time you do the job?

How did you do the complete fluid swap the first time?

 

1. I put the Vehicle on 4 jackstands
2. drained the fluid
3. topped off till it dribbles
4. I put it in drive and got the driving wheels up to 90mph
5. then I shut her down
6. I repeated steps 2 through 5 three more times.

Then I let the car cool down, did an additional drain and followed the refill procedure according to ZF (well to the best of my ability anyways).

 

Still going good up to this point. Today with 76,859 miles I did another drain and fill. The Castrol oil that came out was still nice and red and flowed well coming out. I didnt refill with Castrol this time around, I used the Mobil1 Synthetic ATF. I purchased 5 quarts and $7 each. So, ATM Im running with 4.5 qts of Mobil1 and the rest is the Castrol.

Car shifts noticeably better at WOT, and in normal crusing. While Im sure the actual oil has enough to do with it, I kind of did a much better job of allowing the oil temp to reach 45c degrees and letting the proper amount drip out.

Previously it had a bit more oil than needed in which probably caused sloshing and windage, hence my improvement in shifting.

Either way, crossing fingers, still going

 

Strateloss,

Nice job. I have a "few" 6HP26s out there with Mobil 1, tens of thousands of miles all together. This includes my own X350 with about 25K miles on Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF.

I use a liquid probe to get temp., but set it precisely at the 40c, per spec. Yes, you're pushing a little more fluid out if you're holding the liquid to 45c, but I'd not push it to 50c. That'll put you close to a qt low. Even though I think the trans will work at 50, I believe temps will rise with the loss of a qt of fluid. If you drive aggressively, that could eventually come to bite you.

I haven't gone through this entire thread, I'm new to this site, but did you originally replace the pan/filter? Did you replace the shifter sleeve?

 

No I didnt replace them, the pan filter wasnt available at that time. I just got an e-mail from eriksson industries a few weeks ago saying that my order is ready for shipment, due to a national backorder on the pan itself.

The sleeve on mine does not leak, But I do have it on order along with the panfilter,bolts, and gasket.

Will change at next OCI, and see how it goes. Ive read the pan is pretty hard to take off at first.

 

Yes, the pan can be a bear removing the first time. The original 21 #27 torx bolts get seized because they're steel in an aluminum case. I've had "challenges" with everyone I've removed. I usually grind a slot in the bolt head, then use a flat blade to remove. If that doesn't work, you want to be careful not to break the screw off flush in the case, so, if I have a tough one I just grind the head off all together. This gives me a stub that I can use penetrating oil on and remove with a pair of vice grips. The replacement bolts are SS with a #30 torx - better. I always replace all 21 bolts with the newer larger sized torx. Use anti-seize on the bolts on assembly. The pan often gets knackered in the process of removing the bad bolts.

Just a little friendly advice - If you're going to remove/replace the pan/filter/gasket, it is HIGHLY advisable to replace the sleeve. These leak frequently engough at around 60K miles that it is just economical to replace it. The pan has to be removed to do the sleeve and you'll be right there. The other thing - the sleeve is only $14.

Surprised about Ericksson because I buy from them all the time. Just received a pan from them less than two months ago. Maybe a shortage since then.

 

I will replace the sleeve at that time, and I was surprised too about the backorder but then I also wasnt lols.

The bills at erikkson came out to like $170 and will order it for the next oil change about 5k miles from now.

Thanks for the info budd

 

No problem, glad to help and glad to see that you took the challenge to maintain the trans that assists in longevity. Too many people on the fence about doing maintenance for all the wrong reasons.

When you get to that point, I'll talk you through the sleeve replacement if you've not done one yet. It is simple once you're past the first one, but you can screw it up too if you guess at removing/replacing it.

Best,

 

You have the thread with the photos and everything right ? If so thats what made me order the sleeve replacement because I seen it was SO simple to do once the pan is off. I need to pay for the order, but just dont have the room in the budget atm. Most likely in a month or so, then Ill tackle it when I change the oil for the winter in late fall.

Its actually pretty simple once all fears are put aside, it would have REALLY been great if the car had a dipstick. Its such a small detail but really kills in the maintenance department.

One of the reasons why I tackled this job on my own (because I actually tried to get it done professionaly) is NOONE would take the job on, including Jaguar of GreatNeck.

The independant shops I went to all asked me whats wrong with the car, and started telling me stories of BMW owners that screwed them by coming back a week later saying they used the wrong oil and the trans in broke now.

Jaguar of GreatNeck says they havent EVER done a fluid change, and dont even have the means of doing it ( huh ). I then called them to get the firmware updated on the TCM but they told me theyd have to diagnose and that my throw out bearing may be bad, this all over the telephone ?

I do not doubt their expertise, but I called them with the specific TSB # to have performed and the service manager called me back with those replies. So I dunno I guess they arent of any help in my department.

But Im managing, its just been an expensive endeavor because with every flush Im just replace half old fluid and the rest is new/good fluid. But owning a Jaguar isnt supposed to be cheap with out of warranty non scheduled maintenance I guess.

 

First of all, the "sole sourced" fluid in the ZF is nonsense. I do not know of one single failure that can be attributed to "wrong fluid". There might have been transmission failures, they happen all the time, but I'll bet any money they're just coincidental and not related to the fluid change. One needs to think "marketing" on sole sourced. ZF and Esso have a marketing agreement. Esso agrees to discount their synthetic ATF to ZF as initial and permanent fills; ZF agrees to name Esso as the only TESTED and approved fluid. The Esso fluid develped for the 5HP24 was developed in the mid-nineties - it's old! It's not a miracle fluid that got by every other manufacturer. Mobil 1 Syn ATF and Castrol multi-import ATF are much, much newer formulas. ZF is one of the very few transmission manufacturers. Castrol, Mobil, and every other trans fluid supplier have targeted Essos formula a long time ago, but, they'll NEVER be named by ZF as alternatives..think marketing.

Regarding the Jaguar dealership (of Greatneck), here too, you need to understand the real meaning behind "seal for Life" and new service policies. Greatneck is responding just the way they were trained. So, here goes:

Jaguar, as well as many auto manufacturers, especially luxo ones, are striving to provide a maintenance free product to their customers. Either maintenance free, or, what little maintenance is left is provided for free in the warranty period. Seal for life is a MARKETING POLICY in conjunction with longerlife, synthetic fluids - seal for life is another way for the manufacturer to offer a service free product to its customer - namely the first buyer. The ideal customer buys new, keeps for 4 years, then trades in on another new one. To THIS CUSTOMER (only) Jaguar provides seal for life units (Trans, diff, etc).

In conjunction with seal for life, Jaguar (and other manufacturers) do not make repairs below the unit level. They only do a remove/replace (R/R). This saves the company and dealers loads of money - no stocking of replacement parts below the unti level, no factory training of field techs below the unit level, etc. PLUS, it makes for a desireable and competitive product to Jaguar's customer THE FIRST BUYER.

Now, for all of US (that includes me) who buy these cars as second, third, nth owners, seal for life has no meaning. In fact, we 2nd owners are RED MEAT to the dealers who have a remove/replace training and policy, and is where the dealers are promised some back room repair opportunity. That is why when you go into the dealer and you ask for a transmission flush they reply...Huh? What's wrong with it? Drive it until something breaks and we'll replace it. That what they are trained to do.

For anyone doubting the meaning of Seal for Life, it is as much legal as it is marketing to Jaguar. If you doubt that, try getting a dead trans replaced by Jaguar at 51K miles. Seal for life ends both technically and legally at 50K miles (in NA). Don't misunderstand seal for life or unit replacement. It is NOT a technological breakthrough...Marketing!