I did differentials and transfer case at 60k. I also did the trans, which you will note they dont even have on there. According to ZF, who designed the thing, it should be changed every 80-120k KM, or 50-75k Miles. Jeep says "lifetime" fluid but I think they really mean "lifetime the original owner has the car" and after that they dont care.

 

How you use your vehicle also has a lot to do with how long fluids last. If you tow heavy loads a lot, drive in a lot of stop and go traffic, particularly in the heat, if you do a lot of severe off-roading, particularly is you go in deep water a lot, you may want to decrease the change intervals. That being said, today's systems are designed to go this long without maintenance. Even oil changes can be spread out more. I'm originally from the UK. Folks out there laugh at us in the US on how often we change our oil; cars out there are lucky if they get changed after a year!!

Keith

 

First and foremost if you are using the correct fluids, then change it whenever you want. Every used car I have bought gets almost every fluid changed when it hits the garage. It's reassuring to me to know that status of the fluid coming out and knowing there is a good synthetic fluid going in. That's why they have you "inspect" them every 30,000 miles

To your question about fluid change timings, all the fluids have gone synthetic so yes they can last a long time without having major breakdowns in the oil. Should you wait that long? Again, that's up to you (I would not). Spark plugs on the other hand, I've never had an issue with 100k mile changes.

The only fluid that is somewhat contentious is the transmission fluid. Chrysler says its lifetime, ZF says it's 60k miles and Jim Bob on the internet says 20k miles. I would tend to go towards 60k and for sure by 100k. The process is a little more intense (filter is built into the pan, there is a cross member in the way of three bolts, the ZF fluid is rather expensive), but if longevity is the name of the game, then its reassuring to have changed that fluid.

Like Campfamily said, it comes down to how you use the vehicle, what the manufacturer recommends and then what makes you feel comfortable.

 

Thank you for the great responses everyone, the 2016 JGC I’m looking at has roughly 55k miles on it already so it sounds to me like doing fluid changes at 60k intervals seems realistic enough. It’s only 5k away from the change interval so why not. Plus it would also clear my mind so that I know new fluid has gone in and the old nasty stuff is out like you said jonsfoto. Too bad about the transmission fluid though, some designs are just flat out strange and seeing that the parts and fluids are a bit expensive I would unfortunately have to wait longer then 60k to change that until I can get all the materials.

 

So I can help offer some advice on the transmission fluid. There is a very good video recently posted to YouTube (I'll include the link at the end) that covers this subject. So there's a couple different ways to tackle it depending on how "thorough" and "costly" you want it to be. Option 1 you can buy a few liters of transmission fluid (whether you go oem or aftermarket is up to you but drastically affects the price) simply crawl under your vehicle... undo drain plug and about 3-4 liters will come out... then you can pump (using a small handpump that fits onto a 1 liter bottle) the new fluid in. This will only change about 40% of the fluid and doesn't change the filter (which is built into the pan) but it is the cheapest option and easy to do.

Option 2 is to do the same as option 1 except after you have drained the pan... you can remove it and install a new pan (which will cost around $170 - $200 for a decent one if you shop around, don't take one of the $100 chinese pans) and then refill the transmission with fluid. Again you will only be replacing around 40-50% of the fluid but now you have a new pan with clean magnets and a new filter. This is a little more involved but can still be done fairly easily with basic tools.. there is instructions online from zf which walks you through getting the correct fluid level. Obviously this is more work and a little more costly. If changing more of the fluid is important to you than you can add a couple extra drain and fills after the new pan is installed.

Option 3 Where I live (vancouver island bc) there is a place called great canadian oil change which has a fluid exchange machine. Now I want to clarify it is NOT a normal flush/exchange machine which would pressure new fluid in while forcing old fluid out. Alot of people think this type of machine has the potential to do harm to a transmission and you will find alot of articles/videos/forums advising not to do this. The machine they have works differently... they undo your fill plug and insert a wand into your pan... the machine then pumps in one liter of fluid... then pumps out 1 liter of fluid... they continue this procedure for around 30 - 40 mins with the vehicle running the entire time. This has a few advantages.. first the plastic drain plug on these pans is fairly weak and is known to strip/break fairly easily... with this method you dont need to touch the drain plug. Second this method get about 95% of the old fluid out. Third this method relies on your transmissions pump to circulate fluid as it normally would so no high pressure pushing/forcing fluid through components. Fourth it costs $200 canadian (at the location i went to) and they include 15 liters of vavoline maxlife (which i was comfortable using after doing my research) to flush through. The other nice thing is you can bring your own fluid... so if you don't want to use valvoline bring whatever you want. If I had brought my own the cost was $150 (but by fluke I wanted vavoline and they happen to be a vavoline dealer). This method requires no work, no mess, is pretty cheap and gets almost all the old fluid. The downside is it doesn't change out the pan (they wouldn't have anything to do with removing it) so no new filter or clean magnets.

Option 4 is a combination... (and after watching the guys youtube video the one I did) you drain your pan.. remove it.. install new pan... pump the fluid you drained out right back in.... then proceed to the oil change place to have the fluid exchanged... this gives you a new pan, filter, and all brand new fluid.. with not alot of work, basic tools and a total cost of $350- $400 for pan + service.

It is important to understand and follow the fluid level checking procedures properly, remember if you find a shop with one of these kinds of machines they may not be familiar with the fluid level checking procedures. After the 30-40 min exchange service your tranny temp is too high to correctly check fluid level so you should come back the next day (with your transmission at the correct temp) and check the level. Here is a link to the guys video... its long but very thorough and detailed

 

Spark plug replacement intervals were changed for the 2014 and later model years from the previous 30k miles to 100k to reflect a change in the type of plug specified.

 

If you do the fluid changes based on what problems people actually report and/or their observations of how "bad" the fluids looked at a particular mileage you won't worry about the transmission for a long time/mileage, I have not seen a single post indicating transmission problems related to fluid, most of the trans problems crop up quite early and are due to solenoids and computer. programming issues. Many people have related how their transfer case got "quirky" in some way, chatter, bind, chirps and they cured it by a simple fluid change. I'd say my eyeball estimate of time frame of those reporting an issue is about 50K so I'd put a TC fluid change down for 50Kish. I have not seen anyone actually report a problem with the rear diff but many who have changed the fluid (mileages between 30k to 70K by eyeball) said it was quite a bit darker then the new stuff. So if you don't like the idea of dark fluid you might change it about the same time as the TC. As to the front diff, those who have changed it say it looks like new. Most likely the diff in the diffs is because the rear is "lock up" with clutches and the front is open and the darkness of the fluid is most likely from clutch material discoloration in the rear. Changing the fluid in the diffs is easy so if you have a mind to do it yourself you could do both diffs and the TC all at 50K and be done with it. But if you are paying dealer prices you might let the front go to 100K. Almost anytime is a good time to flush the brake fluid if you don't know how long ago it was flushed. Every 50K is probably a safe number and good insurance, sooner if you're anal. Antifreeze go by maintenance schedule unless it starts getting muddy.. then you need wonder why it got muddy. Plugs easily go 100K.

 

I know this is an old thread, my 2017 JGC trail hawk just hit 50k and I dont tow. Do you think I should still do the TC fluid change, and if so should I include transmission fluid change?

 

IMHO - If you aim on keeping your JGC for a while, doing both Diff and TC fluid changes at 50k would be sensible progressive maintenance.
For the tranny, you could wait another 12k, which would then put you at the ZF recommendation for a fluid service.

 

IMHO - If you aim on keeping your JGC for a while, doing both Diff and TC fluid changes at 50k would be sensible progressive maintenance.
For the tranny, you could wait another 12k, which would then put you at the ZF recommendation for a fluid service.

I booked an appointment at the dealer so I did TC fluid service and rear diff to minimize cost. Anything else you might think I should do.

 

When was the last brake fluid flush done?

 

3 years ago

 

I would get that done....cheap insurance.