Many thanks to Rick (joycesjag) and Wayne (cjd777) for yesterday's ZF drain-and-fill on my wife's 2006 XK8 at 100,725 miles at Rick's home in Fort Mill. As always we had a blast together both during and after the job. I'll let Rick explain how he managed to talk the meat sales guy who showed up in the driveway after we had finished up out of $400 worth of steaks and prime rib in exchange for drinking a few Miller Lites while we were all shooting the breeze....

Rick and I had initially done a ZF service on this car back in July 2013 at 67,000 miles using one of Klaus' CTSC pan/filter, sleeve, and Lifeguard 6 kits due to my wife complaining about rough shift quality in stop-and-go traffic. So 33,000 miles later, my wife began complaining about the same rough shift quality during the same driving conditions. This time I elected to do just a drain-and-fill using Mercon SP as we had done on my 2005 S-Type 3.0 in November 2014 and again in October 2015. Since about 40% of the Lifeguard 6 in my wife's XK8 was still factory-original, the fluid was essentially Coca-Cola colored when we drained it this time (exactly as I expected it to be)....

The ZF's performance during the drive back home was considerably smoother and more predictable so there's no question that the fresh Mercon SP has helped. But it is still not quite perfect so I am expecting my wife to ask me to get the ZF Adaptation Drive Cycle IDS procedure done at the Greensboro Jaguar dealership again, just as I did after our first ZF service back in July 2013. The fresh fluid combined with the Adaptation procedure restored her ZF performance to completely normal at that time. I'm hoping it will do so again although now at nearly 101,000 miles, there may be some physical wear-and-tear on her ZF that fresh fluid and the Adaptation procedure may not be able to fully overcome. We'll see....

Thanks again to Rick and Wayne for the great times yesterday. Those of you in the general area should make plans to join us the next time we get together. I guarantee you'll have a blast with us....

 

Just wanted to add a recommendation to all you ZF 6HP26 owners out there to do your cars a big favor and change your ATF if you have yet to do so. After going through this process four times now (twice on my S-Type and twice on my wife's XK8) and witnessing how degraded the fluid becomes after just a few years, I completely understand why the ZF engineers I've spoken with recommend 50,000-mile ATF change intervals at a very minimum. If you go with Mercon SP (yes, it meets the required Shell M1375.4 specs) and tackle this yourself with a knowledgeable friend (following all the steps exactly as required), this admittedly-messy job is quite doable with the car up on a hefty set of jack stands (be sure to take the time to get the car perfectly level). But it is definitely a two-man job with the more experienced guy underneath the car pumping in the fresh fluid while the second guy sits in the drivers seat and runs through the gears while slightly applying the gas pedal with the selector in "D" as instructed by the guy doing the fluid pumping....

Along with ensuring that your cooling system is healthy, refreshing your ATF is the best thing you can do to keep your car on the road for many, many miles to come....

 

my 03 has all these hard shifts/odd shifts at times as I have seen on the site and now this thread. It drives fine 98% of the time stupid shift issues here and there. I am at 103k and I know I need to gt this done to mine. I read somewhere that if that IDA reprogram was done that there would be a sticker on the side of the trans showing so. When I called Jag USA the lady told me there was a REPROGRAM but it did not specify.

 

So when I get mine done I need to make sure they use MERCON SP? I had read it you let it sit over night when draining that more then half of the fluid will drain out?

 

To my knowledge, no sticker is applied to the side of the ZF when a Jaguar dealership performs the ZF Adaptation Drive Cycle IDS procedure. Keep in mind that this procedure never involves getting underneath the car or checking the fluid. One tech drives the car while another tech sits in the passenger seat with an IDS laptop hooked up through the OBDII port and follows the program instructions. They essentially drive around allowing the ZF to go through its various upshifts, making certain that the correct torque conditions have been met, watching the laptop to ensure that the series of clutch boxes appearing on the screen actually turn green with a "tick" to show that the specific clutch has adapted as designed. They start with the 1-2 upshift, and once it completes properly they move on to the 2-3 upshift, then the 3-4 upshift, then the A clutch, then the D clutch. Once each clutch has successfully adapted three times as shown by the green "ticks" in the program boxes, then the "Status - Adaptation Complete" box with turn green with a "tick". At that point, the ZF Adaptation Drive Cycle operation is complete, and the two techs can drive back to the dealership and turn the car back over to the owner. The ZF is now reset back to factory specs and is ready to once again "learn" the driving style of the owner. You are told to keep the ZF out of sport mode for at least 200 miles and drive the car as you normally would....

This process normally requires 60 to 90 minutes. I believe part of that time is allowing the ZF to cool down from your drive to the dealership....

For full details, read Jaguar Technical Service Bulletin JTB00145, published Feb. 3, 2009....

And keep in mind that no Jaguar dealership will do a ZF drain-and-fill using Mercon SP. You'll either have to do that yourself or find an indie (or a transmission shop) to do that for you. You'll save money if you bring your own supply of Mercon SP with you (available at any Ford dealership for about $7 per quart). Most ZF 6HP26 transmissions will drain from 4.5 to 6.5 quarts if you pull the drain plug and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. If you let it sit overnight, it may drain close to 7 quarts....

Do a ZF drain-and-fill before considering having the ZF Adaptation Drive Cycle procedure done. These two actions together may give you your best shot at restoring your transmission performance to normal again. It worked for my wife's XK8 back in July 2013. Here's hoping it will be just as successful this time. I'll post more results after I've had the procedure done, hopefully in the next week or so depending upon my schedule as well as the Greensboro Jaguar dealership's schedule. I'm headed to mandatory jury duty tomorrow morning but I'm usually the first potential juror to be excused. For some reason the defense attorneys are always afraid of me....

 

Tech Bull JTB00040 VER 2 mentions a label put on trans oil.

 

Read my explanation more carefully. The IDS ZF Adaptation procedure is covered by JTB00145. There is no ATF change involved in this procedure....

 

Regarding Filter,pan, fluid and T27 to T40 bolt change, my 6HP26 used 6+ qts. of Mercon SP with minor spillage for the pan/filter change. Drove it 2-3K miles and drained the pan thru plug and refilled with 4+ qts. of Mercon SP. The shifts have smoothed out. The pan/filter was worth the extra effort and now I know I'm almost 85-90% fresh. capacity is listed at 10 qts. Pete's idea with header wrap on the exhaust pipe is another good idea. READY TO GO!

 

Good to hear that it worked well for you. My wife is pleased with her properly-functioning ZF now, too. Thus far she has not asked me to get the Adaptation procedure done....

I'm planning one more drain-and-fill on her ZF in the October/November timeframe. That should get it to 85% Mercon SP. I'm hoping that will be all I need to do to her ZF for the duration of our ownership. We'll see....

 

Update:

Rough shift issues returned earlier this week, though not as pronounced as before we did the latest ATF drain-and-fill using Mercon SP two weeks ago. So I scheduled another ZF Adaptation Drive Cycle IDS procedure at the Greensboro Jaguar dealership that I trust. Their master tech initially talked me out of it, concerned about the procedure leading to even faster wear-and-tear on the clutches given the vehicle's relatively high mileage (101,500). So I had an extensive phone conversation with ZF Tech Support in Chicago, obtained their blessing to proceed, and rescheduled the procedure with the Greensboro dealership. It was done yesterday. The 75-mile drive home afterwards was certainly smoother than the drive to get there was. So fingers crossed that the car is now back to smooth shifting (for me, anyway). We'll see what my wife has to say about it as she gets behind the wheel again....

I've spoken with several area ZF-familiar indie transmission shop owners this week in case I eventually must consider the rebuild route in order to keep this car which my wife still dearly loves. Rebuild prices vary significantly, so take your time and do your research before you even think about pulling the rebuild trigger. One point they were all very consistent in making to me was that in order to go the maximum distance with the minimum trouble, these 6HP26 transmissions should get regular drain-and-fills on a 30,000 to 40,000 mile interval. ATF recommendations were all over the map and included OEM Lifeguard 6, Amsoil, Mobil, and good ol' Mercon SP. Food for thought for all of us....

I'll report back on how the car is performing now once my wife gets some significant time behind the wheel....

By the way, one of the lead ZF Tech Support team members in Chicago told me that he is coming to Greensboro on May 7th to conduct a series of presentations to some of the central North Carolina select transmission shops they work with. If ZF will allow me to attend, I hope to be there. I want to meet the ZF tech support team as well as talk with the shop owners in attendance because I may need their services at some point down the road....

 

Update:

Three days and about 200 miles after the most recent ZF Adaptation Drive Cycle IDS procedure and my wife is very happy with her car's new shift performance thus far. No jolts, no hesitations, just smooth shifts in both directions. So fingers crossed and I'm hoping we won't be tearing into her ZF 6HP26 anytime soon. Time and miles will tell....

 

Update:

Smooth, effortless shift patterns every time my wife drives her car now with no hint of the infamous "ZF squawk". Still planning to do one more Mercon SP drain-and-fill in the October/November timeframe just to ensure that close to 85% of the ATF inside the ZF is relatively fresh. Sure hope that will allow me to keep this particular transmission buttoned up for the duration of our ownership of this car....