The warping/etc was posted here or the .co.uk forum.
I suspect many would be unhappy at the idea of backflushing to save $100.

 

Over £100 here not $. There is nothing wrong in backflushing, when I did mine there was next to nothing in the filter so one probably doesn't even need to flush. No point in spending that amount of money for a lump of plastic that isn't required.

 

I just want to know if it will make our trannies howl like this?

http://www.wolfshead.com/

No disrespect to Wolfs Head but if a warranty dispute erupts this might cause a few chuckles and perhaps a loss of credibility for your position.

 

I think you need to look at the actual specifications requirements of the two transmissions as well as the properties of the fluids. No, it doesn't just naturally follow as you're suggesting.

 

Can anyone please help me to find a source of the transmission pan, sleeve and and replacement bolts? I have seen suggestions of ZF transparts.com being far less than the dealer. Also trans fluid...for the ZF6HP26 for a 2004 S. are most of you using the Castroil Multi Import ATF?
Thanks,
Bob

 

Back in October there was a series of threads here discussing alternative sources for ZF pans, parts, and fluid. One of our members discovered a company called California Transmission Supply Company, started by a guy who worked for ZF for more than 30 years. His name is Klaus and his website is www.thectsc.com. I had a long phone conversation with him on October 28th and came away impressed by his knowledge and his recognition that these ZF components and fluids are far too expensive....

At that time, he was offering the pan, gasket, filter, O-ring, drain plug, two magnets, and 6 litres of Lifeguard 6 all for $221.95. Shipping costs would obviously depend on where you live....

If you opt to do this, be sure to also order a new electrical connector sleeve for about $16. These sleeves are famous for developing leaks and then forcing you to have to do a very costly drain-and-fill since the pan has to come off in order to replace the sleeve....

You'll find some very informative documents on Klaus's website, including one on how to change the fluid and one on how to change the sleeve. Check it out and learn all about it. If you plan to pay an independent tech to service your ZF, it would benefit you greatly to print those documents and provide them to him before starting your job....

Good luck. Keep us posted. At just over 54,000 miles on our car, I do not feel the need to change our ATF yet. But developing a sleeve leak would force that issue, and my current plan is to wait for that. If no sleeve leak hits me by 75,000 to 80,000 miles, that is when I'll bite the bullet, drop the pan, change the sleeve, and go with new fluid. I had decided to go with Castrol Multi-Import, but Klaus's pricing is very attractive and may convince me to stay with Lifeguard 6. But I'm also interested in the Wolf's Head discussion and I am awaiting their response to my e-mail question about 6-speed ZF compatibility....

 

Thanks for the info Jon89. I hope to order this today. I think I'll skip the kit that includes the ATF looks costly and shipping it cross country will make it even more pricey. I'm going to use either the Castroil or Wolf's Head that I can pick up locally. I talked to the Wolf's Head people yesterday and they were completely confident and convincing that their fluid was superior but I'm not sure I want to be the guinea pig since most people here have experince with the Castroil Multi Import. I may have to get a bunch of ATF since the TSB for the upshift squeek requires a drain and fill a few times, I suppose to get as much fluid out of the torque converter as possible. I did get a puddle of gold fluid on the garage floor about a year ago on a super cold winter day and I never knew what it was but I think I may now. Rather than tackle this mess myself, I going to buy the parts and hire a local transmission expert to perform the operation.
I appreciate your help.
Bob

 

Wonder if we could get some feedback on the guys who used the Castrol Multi Import, how long they've had it in, miles etc, and feedback as to the driving characteristics of the trans.

George

 

I would also like to hear some feedback from the guys who went with Mobil One synthetic ATF. It is pricier than Castrol, and I still don't know if it meets the Shell M1375.4 specs. Castrol does. Jaguar has a longstanding relationship with Castrol. Although there is risk anytime you change ATF (including using Lifeguard 6), that risk may be lower with Castrol than it is with Mobil One. Or Wolf's Head. Rest assured that my appropriate ATF research will continue right up until I have to pull the trigger and change it in our ZF, assuming we keep the car that long....

 

aholbro1:
Great find at RockAuto!! I had no idea they would carry something like this.
.
.
.

 

Is this the metal pan w/ replaceable filter, or the existing plastic one with the integrated filter.

Thanks in advance,

George

 

Pretty sure it was the plastic with integrated filter. Motorcarman changed the fluid for me and he actually ordered/rec'd/installed the pan. I told him Rock was the best deal I could find and when I picked up the car he said he ordered from them as he didn't find anything any cheaper. He cruises the forums from time to time and may weigh-in and confirm, otherwise, I'll be doing an engine oil change on it in the next two weeks and I'll try to remember to peck on it with spanner and see if it makes metal-ish or plastic-ish noises. The one that came off was plastic with integrated filter...I kicked it around the floor of his shop a bit whislt we solved some of the world's problems.

 

Just remember my contact with Castrol... They stated that they DO NOT have a compatible transmission fluid for the ZF box in the Jaguar, despite their own spec sheet..

My take is they don't want to get into warranty issues with owners or dealers..

So, Lifeguard 6 for me... My loose math... It would cost around $160 for the Wolf's Head fluid and the pan from Rock Auto along with the sleeve.

The kit from CTS is around 220... Again, real rough estimates, but seems to me that the savings is less than $100. Not worth it considering no matter how good you are, you will end up with mixed fluid in the trans....

 

I totally agree with Jeffs statement above!!



As many of you know, I went with Castrol Multi Import, I did NOT flush so theres about 7.5 qts. mixed with the original. I plan on another fluid change in the spring. I will more than likely contact Klaus and purchase the fluid ONLY through him.

I cannot say 1 way or another about running with Castrol Multi Import, because Joyces Jag gets about 5 miles a day on her ticker and very few highway miles. So far though, Joyce has put on about 1,000 miles since the change with no problems.


I should add this for the guys that don't know my story. Our sleeve was leaking and I had to replace it (along with the pan/filter). At the time the liquid gold was priced at somewhere around $80.00 a qt., I could not bring myself to pay that and after extensive research I choose the Castrol. Now that the liquid gold has come way down in price, I would go that route!

Lastly, this Wolf Head alternative is the first I have read about them in any of the research that I had done.

 

I need to drain and refill at least twice maybe three times for the squeek TSB . I got an email from Klaus, he says there is a one liter additive instead of the drain and refill.

ZF has a fluid additive called "LifeGuard
Fluid One" that eliminates the shift squawk into 3rd gear.
The cost for the additive is $135.88. (1 liter bottle, you drain 1 liter of
trans fluid and then add the additive).

Why does this need to be so difficult? If this was a chevy, (There would be a dipstick on the trans) I could buy red ATF at PepBoys for 2 bucks a quart and be done with it! I really wish that there was a clear and correct proceedure for these damn ZF "sealed for life" transmissions! The Jag TSB says drain and refill 3 times, the OEM oil is more expensive than perfume, the oil companies say their ATF will work in a ZF trans, some people say it wont.
and now Lifeguard has a quart of miracle squeek fluid for only $135/liter!
I think I will by 2 cases, 24 quarts of Wolf's Head Synthetic ATF and drain and refill the case until only the Wolf is in there. I talked to the company and they say most of these expensive oils are all produced by larger oil companies and then private labeled and sold at 10-20 times their cost.
Wolf's Head product manager and chemist both claim their synthetic ATF is fully compatable with the ZF6...I'm going to try to get it in writing.

 

It's so difficult because ZF made it so

No dipstick, also due to ZF

The expensive tranny oil is also due to ZF

The additive is as TSB JTB00070 (Search if you didn't find it yet, I guess also in the TSB sticky). I'd no idea it was also so expensive but probably ZF yet again

 

Nalley Jaguar (a sponsor here on this forum) sells the 1-litre additive (Lifeguard 1) for about $41 with free shipping if you call them and tell them that you are a member here. The $41 price was as of mid-October, so it may have increased a bit since then. Our ZF had the same "whirr" noise for a while (you call it a squeak, some call it a bark) on certain upshifts every now and then, but the noise went away in November and neither my wife nor I have heard it since. So I have held off on draining one liter of Lifeguard 6 out of my ZF and pumping the 1-litre additive in. If the noise returns, that's what I'll do, and I'll be ordering the additive from Nalley. But even at $41, this stuff is grossly overpriced....

And yes, many of us despise the fact that the ZF box has no dipstick / fill tube. Life with this car would be so much easier and less expensive if it had one....

 

Thanks for the news on the less expensive miracle fluid. I'm committed to the drain and fill now. After remembering the puddle of golden fluid on the garage floor a year ago, I have no idea how much fluid is left in there. i guess it could have been the sleeve leaking, but it seems to be overwith since that one puddle. I ordered the pan and sleeve and even a new fill plug and a dozen screws (can only snap half of them) from zftransparts yesterday. I'll get 24 quarts of the Wolf's head Synthetic ATF (too bad the stuff is red and not gold) so I can drain and fill at least 3 times, button it up and hope for the best. The wife's 2004 S is 7 years old but only 35K miles and has had zero trouble since new.

 

It's been three days now and Wolf's Head has yet to respond to my e-mail inquiry asking if their synthetic ATF is indeed compatible with the 6-speed ZF. My guess is that they will avoid putting that in writing even though their website indeed claims that the product meets or exceeds the Shell M1375.4 specs required by ZF. Like many manufacturers, they'll verbally tell you that their product is tested and proven and meets all required specs (and they will gladly sell you as much product as you are willing to buy), but they will not commit in writing in an effort to avoid costly litigation in the event of consumer transmission failure that may or may not be related to the fluid selected....

ZF managers at their U.S. headquarters in Chicago have verbally told me on two separate occasions that only ZF Fluid is proven and warrantied and if I opt to go with a different ATF, I am completely on my own. But one of them also acknowledged that other ATFs may indeed function normally in the 6-speed ZF, but since ZF has tested and endorsed only ZF Fluid, ZF will warranty-support only vehicles that have always run ZF Fluid in the event of a transmission failure. This is exactly what I would expect to hear from ZF - they have a vested interest in selling their gougingly-overpriced fluid and that will not change....

Do I believe that ZF Fluid is the only ATF capable of keeping these 6-speed ZF boxes running for long and relatively trouble-free lifespans? Not one iota. Lifeguard 6 may indeed be an inferior product to other far less expensive ATFs now on the market. Wolf's Head may be one of them. Castrol and Mobil One may be as well. The problem is that there is simply no way to know since no valid corporate research appears to have been done other than individual consumers like ourselves digging around to see what we can find that appears to meet the required specs, and then deciding whether or not to risk deviating from ZF's edict to use only ZF Fluid....

I have come to believe that ZF's requirement to run only ZF Fluid is strictly to maximize profits by selling tremendously-overpriced fluid to many relatively wealthy folks who may not even raise an eyebrow when their dealership tells them that they need an ATF change and by the way, it will cost you about a thousand dollars. But ZF is obviously feeling significant economic pressure on this parasitic sales tactic even as we speak - look at how the going price for Lifeguard 6 has fallen drastically since I initially raised this issue with ZF/Chicago last March. I firmly believe that enough consumers have raised complaints to ZF (both directly and through their automotive dealership relationships) over the past year that ZF has had no choice but to drastically reduce their prices. Even the luxury car dealerships have had to significantly reduce their ZF Fluid retail prices to their customers. The transmission parts vendors and some of the on-line sellers have cut their prices even more substantially. Through our perseverance here on the forum, we've found sources that now sell a litre of Lifeguard 6 for less than $20. Back in March, the best price I could find for the same one-litre bottle was about $40. That's a huge difference, and in time we could find that this stuff may even approach the $7 or $8 price point where the ATF aftermarket dictates that it belongs....

So, good luck with the Wolf's Head product. I'm betting that it will indeed work for you. Glad to hear that you're willing to step up to the plate to beta-test this alternative. Keep us posted on your impressions and experiences as you get some miles on it....

 

I hope to have the flush/refill finshed next week.
From what I could find out, the Lifeguard 6 has a ASP15 classification and so does Shell M1375.4 and LA2634 and the Wolf's Head Synthetic AFT fits all of these specs. I talked to a transmission repair expert and he too is amazed at all of the different ATF's and the prices. He said that some mfg's claim there fluid is better, they may use an additive to make the trans perform better, secret recipes; but if the oil fits the specs using a different fluid should not do any harm....I hope.
I hope the cats and dogs get along well with this (Wolves playing with Jaguars) HA!
I'll post my findings