After a recent cross country adventure left Kitty in the ER for a leaking transmission cooling line, I took advantage of the opportunity to also have the pan/filter and fluid changed. Based on her medical records I believe they had both been in place for at least 65,000 miles, but possibly 135,000. The shop normally handled just German cars, but when I explained the car had the ZF 6HP26 the owner said, “Oh sure, we do lots of those”. After I double checked his procedures I let them have the job. He used Red Line ATF. Here’s a post maintenance report:
Upshifting through the lower gears was initially quite rough, with the RPMs spiking before abruptly dropping into the next gear. I received one Transmission Fault warning on the way home (800 miles), but there were no codes and it cleared after a stop and restart and never returned.
Amazingly enough, the transmission does seem to be relearning how to work. After three days of driving (one was the cross country return home), she is shifting much better. The process was continual and is still ongoing. The last gear to figure itself out was fifth, but it too is getting better with each drive. Today I selected Sport Mode for the drive to work – and it seems that this learning curve needs to be addressed separately, so I’ll leave her in Sport for a few days.
A few nice surprises: That annoying kick-in-the-back when rolling to a stop is gone. So too is the mysterious “bloop” sound the tranny frequently made when upshifting to fourth. She still does that little surging thing in fifth and sixth when going up a slight incline before the tranny is fully warmed-up, so as suggested elsewhere in the forum, this anomaly may not actually be associated with the transmission itself.
It’s only been a few days, but so far it looks as though I’ll be quite happy with the Red Line ATF. Just be patient and give the Tranny a chance to go to school for a while. For those of you needing transmission attention and who live (or break down) near Orlando, I can recommend Han’s Foreign Car Service in Altamonte Springs, FL. It seemed to be a very nicely run shop. Say Hi! to Eema & Jerome for me.
Ciao!

 

Thanks for the info. Much of what you discuss is directly applicable to the 2003 and up S-types.

 

Glad to hear that your experiences with Red Line ATF are improving with each successive drive cycle. Do you know if Red Line ATF meets the Shell M1375.4 specs that ZF specifies for the 6HP26?

After years of research I believe that there are a number of ATFs that will do just fine in these ZF six-speed boxes. Success over the years has been reported here on the forum with Castrol, Pentosin, Mobil, Wolf's Head, and Mercon SP to name a few. When the time comes to do a drain-and-fill on my 2005 S-Type's six-speed ZF (I've decided at 85,000 miles or so), I'm going with Mercon SP....

 

I did much research into the M1375.4 spec about a year or so ago, and found that few if any brands actually state publically that they meet it. However, I too have heard of many people using other brands despite this. What has been lacking are follow-up reports of how these owners faired with the off-brands over time. That's why I started this thread.

At this point, all I can report on is driveability, noise, learning curve, etc. It'll take many thousands of miles before any long term report is possible though. So far at least, the good news here is that no one seems to have "grenaded a tranny" because of off-brand ATF usage. Had I done the job myself, I was considering Mercon SP as well. If it didn't suit me, I wouldn't be out too much money. The Red Line seemed to be a nice in-between.

 

The Redline D6 ATF spec quotes the Shell M1375.4 spec

ZF Lifeguard 6 & 6 Plus - Shell M1375.4
('02 on 6 & 7 Series, '06 on 3, 5 Series and X5 with ZF 6 speed automatic BMW# 83 22 0 142 516, 83 22 0 144 137, 83 22 0 406 929, VW/AUDI # G 055 005, G 055 162 )

 

That is some comforting info George. Thank you. I'm surprised the Mercon SP wasn't on the list. The Red Line is certainly cheaper than the Life Guard, ... especially outside the dealer's maintenance bay!

 

It does indeed here's the list from their site:

Red Line Synthetic Oil - Automatic Transmission Fluids - D6 ATF

Popular product and application crossover:

Dexron® VI (GM #88861003), Mercon® SP, Mercon® LV, Mercon®, Dexron® III '99 on automatic applications

BMW - Dexron® VI - BMW #83 22 0 432 807, 83 22 0 397 114
('06 on 6L45E X3, 6L809E, '07 on 3 Series, '08 on 1 Series with GM GA6L45R 6 speed automatic)

Ford Mercon® SP - XT-6-QSP
(Torque Shift 5-speed Automatic 5R110W, '03 on 6.0 liter diesel trucks, 2005-09 V-10, ZF 6HP26 6R60/6R75)

Ford Mercon® LV - XT-10-QLV
('08- Focus, '09- F-150, F-250SD, Expedition, Navigator 6R80)

Honda/Acura DW-1

Mercedes Fuchs/Mobil/Shell 3353, MB Sheet 236.12 (NAG-2, 722.9,
7 speed transmission - MB # A001 989 45 03 10)

Mercedes Mobil/Shell ATF 134, Fuchs/Titan 4134 (MB Sheet 236.14 NAG-2, 722.9 7G-Tronic supersedes 3353, MB # 001 989 68 03 10)

Mercedes - Dexron® VI MB Sheet 236.41 (722.550 8 speed
ML Class hybrid type 164.195)

Mitsubishi Dia Queen ATF-J2, Mitsubishi # 4040610, 4031610

Mitsubishi SP-IV - Hyundai SP-IV - Kia SPH-IV

NissanMatic S

Toyota/Lexus WS, AW-1 - JWS 3324, NWS09638
(VW/Audi 0C8 8 speed # G 055 540, SAAB '03 on 9-3 6 speed # 93 165 147, Volvo # 31 256 774, 31 256 775)

ZF Lifeguard 6 & 6 Plus - Shell M1375.4
('02 on 6 & 7 Series, '06 on 3, 5 Series and X5 with ZF 6 speed automatic BMW# 83 22 0 142 516, 83 22 0 144 137, 83 22 0 406 929, VW/AUDI # G 055 005, G 055 162 )

ZF Lifeguard 8 - Shell M-L12108
(BMW # 83 22 2 152 426 and VW/AUDI # G 060 162)

Dexron is a registered trademark of General Motors Corporation.
Mercon is a registered trademark of Ford Motor Company.

 

Jeez!..... So why then have folks who contacted ZF directly been stonewalled when it came to fluids compatible with 6HP26?!

 

Might have something to do with ZF preferring to sell their own fluid rather than someone else getting the business?

 

Will a hard reset by pulling the battery cable make the relearning quicker for the transmission or the adaptation can only be cleared by the dealer tools?

 

Nope...

 

Dealer tool needed but a Mongoose JLR clone is fairly cheap if you feel brave-ish.

 

My XJR just turned 100K, and this forum really have a lot of informations. Very savvy and cool people here. After reading 10's of hour here, I figure I would change my Transmission Pan and Oil. I used the Redline ATF D6. The car ran fine; however, after 5 miles of driving, it throw a "Transmission Fault. Thinking to myself, "oh crap!", I probably screwed something up. I pulled over, and restart the car. It has been 500 miles since the initial oil and pan change. So far so good. I plan to drain out the fluid and refill again after another 500 miles. Thanks to all the members here for giving me courage and support to maintenance my car!

 

Had a complete power flush, pan/filter, and Redline D6 refill done on my 04 XK8 w/50K miles about a month ago. No issues and noticibly smoother shifting.