I was going through the member classified market section and found a member, patrickw813, selling a XFR,, which has had the transmission fluid changed. It specifically said he used OEM transmission fluid and NOT ZF Fluid. Would not ZF Lifeguard 6 be the same or better.

 

Ravenol makes the fluid for ZF
Now Ravenol sells direct. Its called lifegaurd6
I have a black friday coupon if you need.

 

Thanks for the offer. I already bought 7 liters. I was just wondering if the OEM Jaguar fluid is the preferred fluid. If you want to email or pm me the coupon I'll stock up on it if it's a good price.

 

Yep, I'm a bit confuzzled by this.
I have read countless times that if you are doing an auto trans fluid "drop and replace" or "flush and replace" and you have the ZF 6HP26/28 as fitted to all early XFs you simply MUST use ZF Lifeguard 6 fluid and anything else risks at least poor functioning of the gearbox if not damage to it. Same with the later ZF 8HP70, it's Lifeguard 8 or nuffin.
And why would JLR pay squillions to ZF for their gearboxes and not use their fluid as the factory fill?????
Fair enough that there may (now) be perfectly good alternatives to the ZF Lifeguard fluids but were they really around back 11 years ago when the XF first came out?

 

I did a drop & fill, it took just over 9 liters to fill it. I'd purchased 12 quarts, still have two unopened. I hope you don't have a problem, such as What the heck would you do if Not Full and no more fluid to add?

 

So I clicked on the email they sent special offer- come to find out they posted the coupon on their website too.
All the fluids are here including the 8hp (for Ftype)
https://www.blauparts.com/shop-parts...-atf-4900.html

 

Wow, I only bought 7 liters. I thought I got 1 extra. I guess I should get 5 more. Not having enough would be a problem.

 

I'm confused. The below ZF video says 5-6 liters for an oil change. I'm not doing a flush. Do I still need over 9 liters?

 

All I can say about HOW MANY liters to refill is what I personally experienced. Would it have made a difference to me if I'd only had seven liters? Yeah, I'd have my car stuck on a lift, totally undrivable until I got some more fluid from somewhere. That would be a very bad thing.
Maybe other people have had different experiences, although I'd not know how. Same car; same transmission; same pan; same fluid. Can't see how it'd be different. 9-1/2 quarts, just a touch over 9 liters. Course there was a few ounces left in the filler tube upon completion, so let's call it 9 liters.

Dunno, man. Better Safe than Sorry?

 

I am not sure why there is any confusion...the "OEM" Jaguar-branded, and the Land Rover-branded transmiission fluid IS the ZF fluid with a different package and label.

 

Thanks. Much better to have a few left over than not have enough.

 

And the ZF branded fluid is Ravenol in a different package and label as ZF is not a lubrication manufacturer.

 

Ahh, that makes sense now!
Although I am guessing that Ravenol made a deal with ZF not to sell this fluid for a few years after they started making it, other than selling in bulk to JLR.

 

Oh not just Jaguar. ZF transmissions (the same as ours) are in Hyundai's, BMW's, Audi's and more.

 

In general Ravenol resisted selling to consumers in USA, they simply did not exists.
This year they launched a blitz, yes German style and offering everything to everybody.
You wont believe the packaging either, there is a serial code and a USA website on the bottle, so I go to it and enter the number, it tells me its authentic, to test I try 1 digit off, and it says fake. So totally catered to the consumer as opposed to pro, even with a pull-out pour spout built into bottle.

Which Ironically is the reason I wont use castrol anymore, because they only way I can get here in the States is bootleg, i.e. someone is selling something they are not meant to be selling, which means consumers being bent over a barrel, or accepting old stock.
I understand they need to recuperate their R&D, but it wont help me get into heaven for looking out for their well-being.

So they now have a UK specific website, German and USA. Note the name of the UK site
https://www.ravenol-direct.uk/raveno...8hp-fluid.html