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Information on the automatic transmission at 60k miles

Thegrants82

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“ You run the risk of shocking the system by doing a full swap” as soon as I read anything that is so far from reality I stop and call BS. Funny though, I’ve already shared it.
I thought I'd start a thread for those of us with the automatic tranny, specifically those of us who want to see a long life with it.
For starters you can throw out the FCA bull$hit about this being a lifetime transmission or it has lifetime transmission fluid in it or whatever they are spewing... it's not.
These are excellent trannys but they aren't without their problems. The transmission manufacturer recommends servicing the tranny by 60k miles and even if they didn't that's when I typically do my first service on a transmission.
I took it to a reputable, well known, locally owned transmission shop where I live. There was no way in the world I would go to a dealer for a tranny service. I want to go where all they do is transmission work and these guys are VERY familiar with this transmission. For those of you who don't know it's been around for quite awhile, it's simply new to the Wrangler.
For starters, on the Wrangler, you do not need to replace the entire transmission pan like on other vehicles with this transmission. On the Wrangler the filter is NOT built into the pan like on other models, it fits INTO the pan and therefore you only need the filter. The shop I took it to recommends NOT doing an entire fluid swap but only to change out the roughly 6qts of fluid that will drop with the pan. You run the risk of shocking the system by doing a full swap.
They dropped the pan and noted a fair amount of debris in the bottom of the pan and that is exactly what he expected to see. For as awesome as these trannys are, the torque converter is slightly undersized and consequently over worked and all of this produces more wear and debris in the fluid. There is nothing you can do about this except stay on top of fluid changes and understand that, based on their personal experience, the torque converters often need to be replaced around 100k to 120k. That isn't written in blood but he was just giving me the heads up.
The filters he had on hand would fit but were about 3/4" too short and he wanted to make sure I had the best coverage possible so he ordered a filter directly from a dealership for it and will button it up tomorrow. I said moving forward I plan on doing a fluid swap again at 90k and then at 120k and he said that is exactly what he would recommend.
The fluid on for this tranny is not cheap... up to $30 a qt. from the dealer but you can get it from Rock Auto for $20. I got 8 qts. shipped to my door for $188 which included tax and $9 shipping and even the guy at the shop was surprised at that price. I'll probably be into the shop for about $200 so you are looking at $400 for the service. Technically you probably could do it yourself if you buy an after market dipstick and are comfortable doing it yourself. I've done it plenty of times on other vehicles but since we wheel this hard, put a ton of miles on it and it's also a DD for my wife, I wanted the peace of mind of having a pro look at it.
I'll update the thread with any new info after I pick up the Jeep tomorrow.
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mgroeger

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“ You run the risk of shocking the system by doing a full swap” as soon as I read anything that is so far from reality I stop and call BS. Funny though, I’ve already shared it.
I love it how the people with the fewest posts come on the forum and talk $hit.
What's your point? What's your purpose? You clearly didn't stop reading and as noted you shared it. Go troll somewhere else. I almost put a disclaimer on the post specifically aimed at people like you but I thought, nah, I'll take the high road but it never fails.
Maybe "shock" wasn't the right word. Yet if you did keep reading I give a perfect example of a guy who never changed his fluid, at 120k said change it all against their advice and a week later he was in the shop with a failed transmission. Heck, I bet you that guy was "shocked" at the outcome. There are two camps on trannys... full fluid swaps and partial fluid swaps and each can pull and site info to support what they believe. I've done both in the past on my vehicles, but that wasn't the purpose of this thread. This thread was to simply offer information on servicing the tranny since not many people have made it up to that mileage yet.
Then there is a third group... people like you, that offer no insight or advice, just trolling and smart ass remarks. It's become rampant on the forum and derails solid threads. Run along Jr., I'm sure there are other threads just waiting for your wit and insight.
 

nostatic

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I don't know if this is analogous to the "shock", but there was a fairly well discussed phenomenon with old Porsche flat 6 motors where they would be leak free for years with dino oil, but changing to synthetic could cause some to start leaking. The reasoning was that the better detergents in the synthetic would remove "gunk" on the inside of the motor that were helping the seals do their job.

When you've got 12+ quarts in the engine, there is plenty to leak :)
 

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From the mythical castorbeast?
 

Yellow Cake Kid

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Why not use the hundreds of thousands of ZF transmission owner-operators that never think about, or change the fluid in their transmission, yet have never had any problems with their shifting as the "control" when comparing the efficacy of the differing maintenance regimes?

While we wait to see what happens, here is some business to business information that can be useful if you want convincing proof that its time for a transmission to be tinkered with:

https://gearsmagazine.com/magazine/the-zf-8-speed-transmission-fluid-and-filter-change/

A synopsis; there are two good options for professionals that service transmissions. Scan the transmission, demonstrate that it doesn't have any problems, and get some money to fix that, or scan the transmission, demonstrate that it has some problems, and get some money to fix that.

" Either way the transmission shop wins. "
 
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Thegrants82

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Just the funniest thing that I have read in a long long time. My Jeep will go into shock if I replace the transmission fluid...dude that is just priceless. You made it up. LOL.
I love it how the people with the fewest posts come on the forum and talk $hit.
What's your point? What's your purpose? You clearly didn't stop reading and as noted you shared it. Go troll somewhere else. I almost put a disclaimer on the post specifically aimed at people like you but I thought, nah, I'll take the high road but it never fails.
Maybe "shock" wasn't the right word. Yet if you did keep reading I give a perfect example of a guy who never changed his fluid, at 120k said change it all against their advice and a week later he was in the shop with a failed transmission. Heck, I bet you that guy was "shocked" at the outcome. There are two camps on trannys... full fluid swaps and partial fluid swaps and each can pull and site info to support what they believe. I've done both in the past on my vehicles, but that wasn't the purpose of this thread. This thread was to simply offer information on servicing the tranny since not many people have made it up to that mileage yet.
Then there is a third group... people like you, that offer no insight or advice, just trolling and smart ass remarks. It's become rampant on the forum and derails solid threads. Run along Jr., I'm sure there are other threads just waiting for your wit and insight.
 

mwilk012

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At my shop, we have been servicing the ZF 8 speed for years doing a full flush of the system, haven't had a single issue. YMMV, but I'll be doing the same to mine. The only tranny we won't flush out is any old beater that is way past due for service. You flush those and they never move again.

As far as the fluid being a "lifetime fill", that means it should last until you are outside of the dealer warranty. If the manufacturer recommends service and never refers to it as a lifetime fill, you should take their advice.
 

blnewt

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Just ask @cosine he knows!
The pressure flush is something that may dislodge some buildup that may be harmful, that's just a general view of some ATF service threads I've read throughout the years on a variety of autos. FWIW I will only do a drain & fill (or a pan drop & fill) for any lifetime AT that's in my garage :) If a pressure flush is something you're experinced with and have had good results, that's your call :)

But I WILL sure as hell service the AT as I've done enough of these to know how that fluid degrades over time and just nice to get all that history out of the pan :)
 

mwilk012

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The pressure flush is something that may dislodge some buildup that may be harmful, that's just a general view of some ATF service threads I've read throughout the years on a variety of autos. FWIW I will only do a drain & fill (or a pan drop & fill) for any lifetime AT that's in my garage :) If a pressure flush is something you're experinced with and have had good results, that's your call :)

But I WILL sure as hell service the AT as I've done enough of these to know how that fluid degrades over time and just nice to get all that history out of the pan :)
It uses the Transmission's own pump to exchange the fluids, its practically just normal operation.
 

conFUcius

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@mgroeger: Did you get it done in NC and, if so, where?
 

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miketike

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Has somebody problems with overheating of the transmission? I added to my wrangler an extra cooling system because I wasn't satisfied with how my transmission was working before. I know that this is an old car and I obligated to have respectful care. I found how to check transmission fluid in any car because it is necessary for a long live of it. I have also a Passat Arteon with dsg transmission which is not very strong and I decided to add also a cooling system for it. I think that in this way my dsg will work much more time.
 
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mgroeger

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mgroeger

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conFUcius

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Geronimo

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We spent a week running the San Juan's last week. Ive discovered the long down hills were where I decided to do a gear swap to 5.13s for 37s. Steep climbs were no issue at all, rock crawling no problem. But long down hills like corkscrew and engineer 2nd and 3rd gear would not hold and ran up the RPMs. Required dragging the E brake to keep it managed. It was ok but I like to stay off the brakes as much as possible. It will also help while pulling our Little Guy Camper on highways. It was big fun regardless.
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