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Differential & Xfer Case Fluid Change

11K views 48 replies 11 participants last post by  Jake07WK 
#1 ·
I have 107,000 miles on my 2014 4X4 Limited JGC Turbodiesel and am planning to change the fluids in the both differentials and Xfer case this weekend. For someone that has done this I stuck a 10mm Allen Wrench in the drain and fill plugs to make sure it was the correct size and it seemed a little loose. Am I just imagining that or does it take an 8mm Allen (which I don't currently have).

Thanks in advance for your help.

---------- Post added at 09:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 AM ----------

Sorry, I meant to ask if 10mm is the correct size or do I need like a 3/8" inch allen?
 
#13 ·
Always read "Filled for Life" as "Filled for the Life of the Warranty".

If you want to keep your vehicle long term, then the transmission will definitely need changing of oil. If you frequently turn over vehicles, then don't bother.
 
#5 ·
As background I have fairly extensive experience with ZF transmissions and ZF states that the transmission fluid should be drained and refilled every 80,000 kms or 50,000 miles. I will be changing mine in 10K miles since I am at 40K right now.

BMW also stated lifetime fill until transmissions started failing then changed their policy to every 100K miles which is half of what the transmission manufacturer recommends.

I provide this as information so that others might understand that there is no such thing as lifetime fill unless the lifetime is 100K miles which you are already at.

Lifeguard 8 is easily obtained from places like CTSC in California for around 9 bucks a L if you buy a dozen L which is what I will do since this trans will take around 5 1/2-6 to drain and refill.

Genuine ZF Parts

Please post where you get your diff and transfer case fluids. At this point I am thinking of using MOPAR products which are rebranded for them by some manufacturer...
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the info, im seeing it for $17 L on the website link. Where is it for $9? Also where is the best price on the pan filter for jeep. Now that we have a much more decent price on the fluid the pan filter is where we need to find a good cost on to get the trans fluid changes reasonable on these 8spds
 
#7 ·
I bought what the Owner's Manual recommended:

For the transfer case fluid change I bought 2 qts of Mopar ATF+4 at $12/qt off of Amazon Prime.

For the differentials I bought 3 qts of Mopar Synthetic Axle Lubricant 75w85 at $40/qt off of Amazon Prime. Each diff has a 1.2 qt. capacity.

I appreciate your thoughts and experience with the transmissions. Maybe I'll change my plans at 150k.

Thanks.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Treeguy
Thanks for the information. I do plan to buy those products as I think I will have no problem if a warranty issue comes up.

For those interested the transmissions in virtually all ZF transmissions are serviced the same way.
Drain the pan. Refill through the fill port until weeping out the fill port. Next start the engine after putting the fill plug in loosely. Run the engine until the trans fluid temperature is between 80-120F open the fill port fill until weeping again then put the plug back in place.
Once you have access to the drain and fill plugs this is about a 30 minutes procedure.
LG8 is a very slippery synthetic that will smell bad. I don't know why but all LG products stink so be forwarned.

Found this I knew I had it somewhere

Here's the response I got from ZF when I asked for confirmation about "lifetime" transmission fluid...

generally we suggest to change the oil between 80.000km and 120.00km. Attached you can find our
official list of lubricants (TE-ML11) with the necessary information about, when to change the oil and
what kind of oil you should use. The second document shows you how to change the oil. But, please
be careful, because you need any kind of tester to read out the temperature while you change the oil.
If the temperature is not correct, you could damage your transmission!
Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Kind regards
-----
ZF Services
Technische Projekte / Technical Projects

ZF Friedrichshafen AG
Untertürkheimer Straße 4, 66117 Saarbrücken, Deutschland/Germany
Telefon/Phone +
 
#14 ·
So it appears that I have not done enough reading on the ZF transmissions and will be servicing soon.

Fun 2 Drive, are you saying that a transmission service is simply a drain and refill? On other posts I've read where changing the pan and filter (built in) are mandatory. If so where do you guy the replacement pan?

Thanks
 
#11 ·
No I was wrong corrected the quote above.
It is exactly what you posted. Not long ago he had LG6 and LG8 for like 112 and 125 a dozen but my guess is his cost went up.

Apologize for the confusion and wrong pricing.
It is still not bad since I think the dealer wanted 30 a Liter for it or close last I checked.
There is another supplier Motul but it is around the same price as LG8 so really no point in trying to find that.
 
#12 ·
No I was wrong corrected the quote above.
It is exactly what you posted. Not long ago he had LG6 and LG8 for like 112 and 125 a dozen but my guess is his cost went up.

Apologize for the confusion and wrong pricing.
It is still not bad since I think the dealer wanted 30 a Liter for it or close last I checked.
There is another supplier Motul but it is around the same price as LG8 so really no point in trying to find that.
Yeah i agree $17 is still great price on it, when i was looking before it was like $45 from dealers. So do you think that pan kit they have on there for the bmw 8hp70 will work on our jeeps or are there different pans on 8hp70s depending on the car.
 
#15 ·
This fill procedure sounds similar to the DSG on the Jetta TDI that we had before the Jeep. I had the Ross-tech vagcom to measure the temperature of the transmission. Is there something similar available for the Jeep?
 
#16 ·
Yes ZF does not recommend flushing the transmission but draining and refilling. My guess is that steels and clutch material that are sitting someplace doing no harm is dislodged and gets into the check balls which then causes loss of pressure.
All I know is that I just follow their recommendations vs what the vehicle manufacturer suggests and I have never had this cause a problem in the vehicles that I worked on.
Without changes as an anecdote my M3 went 200K miles before the transmission failed. If you don't expect to keep this for a long time then you might just not bother.

Changes at 50K miles will show the LG to be dark brown to black but that is nothing unusual. It still looks fairly clean and with no burning smell but like all ZF LG it stinks...
 
#17 ·
Just ordered the same MOPAR fluids:
transfer case fluid change I bought 2 qts of Mopar ATF+4 at $12/qt off of Amazon

differentials I bought 3 qts of Mopar Synthetic Axle Lubricant 75w85 at $40/qt off of Amazon. Each diff has a 1.2 qt. capacity.

Looking to pick up a case of LG8 in the next couple months and do all these at the same time. CTSC is where I get all my ZF parts and fluids.

Will report and take pics of how this goes. Might be a waste of time and money this early (50K miles) and I am fine with over servicing my ride...
 
#26 ·
This is definitely a DIY job if you have the basic equipment. You gotta get the vehicle off the ground though (at least another foot) as there's just not enough room to work otherwise.

Once I drained the old fluid overnight, I filled the pan till it was draining out the fill hole. I was only able to put 2.5 liters in before it started draining back out. The instructions say that the process of re-filling needs to be done when the transmission fluid is between 86 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit. I put the first 2.5 liters in with a small hand pump that probably took 10 minutes per liter. I was concerned I would get to 122 degrees before I could get the other 3.5 liters in so I bought a 1 gal garden sprayer and rigged up tubing so that with a few pumps the other 3.5 liters would go in under pressure and quicker. This was cost effective and worked well. I had someone in the driver's seat going through the gears and monitoring the trans temp on the EVIC. The trans was in park the whole time I was pumping fluid in.

Yeah the other 3.5 liters went in in about 5 minutes and I wasn't near 122 degrees. I'm sure I wasted/spilled a quarter to a half liter trying to get that damn fill plug back in with my hands so slippery but the fluid was definitely coming back out the fill hole.

I drove the GC about 15 miles and got the trans temp up to the high 150's so everything was fine with the shifting. Glad I did it.
 
#27 · (Edited)
so as long as you stay in the specified temp range you really cant over fill it right its just a matter of making sure you get enough in before temps rise to over 122. so a method to rapidly input the 6L in while the jeep is running while in park would be benifical rather than the standard 1 quart hand pumps correct?


do you think something like this would work good? it claims 3 liters per minute for oil

https://www.amazon.com/Fluid-Diesel...1468777740&sr=8-2&keywords=fluid+pump+for+oil
 
#28 ·
I was probably more concerned about the upper end temp than I needed to be. Instructions were that if you reach 122 degrees that you had to shut the process down and I didn't want to lengthen the job another 12 hours to let the temp cool down to 86 again. Heck, down here in MS, it's already so hot that the trans temp was already 91 degrees and the vehicle had been off for 12 hours.

The electric pump looks fine and no, I don't see that you can overfill this thing due to it running back out the fill hole when it's reached capacity.
 
#35 ·
AMSOIL Limited Warranty - Lubricants
I wouldn't hesitate for 1 second to use in my GC.
I was just stating there are alternatives to Mopar and Lifeguard 8. I think Pentosin even makes an equivalent fluid.
Yea but does it meet or exceed the ZF specs. Like I don't remember seeing it on the data sheet at all. ZF transmissions are a different animal than something like a transfer case. The specs say it meets or exceeds Chrysler MOPAR ATF +4, but I don't see it saying anywhere it does the same for ZF
 
#47 ·
Fill plug 68145443AA
Drain plug 68174052AA

I used the Amsoil Signature Series Fuel-Efficient Synthetic Automatic transmission fluid. Code ATL

I posted in a thread started by Belto "Trans oil change?" In Engine Performance/Intakes/Exhaust section of the forum.

I swapped fluid first while I was locating tooling to remove the pan. The front 4 bolts are a pain because of the cross member.
 
#48 ·
Fill plug 68145443AA
Drain plug 68174052AA

I used the Amsoil Signature Series Fuel-Efficient Synthetic Automatic transmission fluid. Code ATL

I posted in a thread started by Belto "Trans oil change?" In Engine Performance/Intakes/Exhaust section of the forum.

I swapped fluid first while I was locating tooling to remove the pan. The front 4 bolts are a pain because of the cross member.
How many miles you have on it? Have you had any issues like people claim happen in the zf when using non lifeguard fluid?
 
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