Some of this is redundant; I just thought it best to include everything
in one post.

The vehicle is a 2006 S 4.2 with 98,000 miles, purchased new. If you
have no intention of keeping your S past 60,000 miles, read not further;
you would be wasting your time and money.

Quite simply, I don't believe in the 'sealed for life' concept. I can understand why the OEM may not want the owner to add fluids and/or
create a vent to outside moisture and dirt; yet, I just don't believe any
fluid under the heat at pressure is able to maintain its additives past a
certain point...not sure exactly what that point is.

Recently, Jaguar World Magazine's May issue contained an excellent
article, in color, on how to change the fluids in the ZF six speed and
the five speed. If you want to do this yourself, I'd recommend trying
to pick up this issue and www.jaguar-world.com.

Back around 60,000 miles, I took the car to an independent in Portland,
OR; this turned out to be a waste of money and time! Essentially, they
charged me $360 for draining the transmission and replacing 4 litres of
non-Jaguar fluid. Didn't touch the pan or sleeve.

In the interim between than and now, this website provided a real
education. A few of you have changed your own fluid, and, guys like
Searanch picked up the fluid and parts and had it done by an independent.

So, I ordered a kit from Klaus at www.thectsc.com and added the sleeve
and pan bolts; figured it made sense to change the sleeve while the pan
was off, and, the Jaguar World article indicated the pan bolts may come
out with some difficulty..i.e., the torx heads may 'round out'. I also ordered an extra litre of fluid...it's ZF's Lifeguard 6...since I intended to
drain the transmission overnight, and didn't want to run short.

Found a place not far from Seattle to do the work. It's a place called
Circle and Square and run by a gentleman named Reto Filli; the working
area is spotless and the staff is perhaps the most helpfull I've ever worked
with...telling me exactly what they were doing and letting me observe.

My advice? You may not need the pan bolts if you don't live in the
rust belt; mine came out easily and had no corrosion on the heads or
threads. The mechanic pulled the pan about 3 p.m., and started the
refill process about 10:00 a.m. the next morning. After following the
correct refilling procedure...it's been posted here, and, Klaus has it on his
web site...the transmission took about 5.8 liters. Thus, the extra liter of
Lifeguard 6 was unnecessary.

It appears that you just won't get more than 4 liters out the the tranny
unless you let it drain overnight. Fortunately, the mechanics, and Reto,
were only too happy to oblige. I've added a few photos of the pan, pan
off, and what the old fluid looked like after the mechanic poured it into
a cup. The new Lifeguard 6 fluid is straw colored. As for the sleeve, it
wasn't leaking...although Reto mentioned that a few BMWs that they had
serviced recently had leaking seals...The o-rings on the new seal are
black, as opposed to the orange o-rings in the old seal that you see
pictured. BMW, Land Rover, the newer Hyundai Genesis, etc. use this
same transmission.

By the way, the label on the Lifeguard 6 ZF fluid indicates it's synthetic.

Did I notice any difference in the shift quality? I know this is subjective,
but yes. With the old fluid, the 3 to 4 shift would slip...i.e., the tach would indicate a 300 to 400 rpm 'wind-up' between shifts when it was
cold. That's gone completely.

Is it possible to do this yourself? Sure; but you're going to need a lift,
or, 4 jackstands, etc. and a very wide drain pan, plus some type of
temperature measurement device...Circle and Square uses a Bluetooth
device that plugs in the connector below the dash and gives exact temp.
Then, a torque wrench that measures down to 8-10 ft/pd to tighten
the pan bolts, etc. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, drive on up to
the Port Townsend area, stay at a Bed and Breakfast, enjoy some fresh
crab/salmon, and have the work done for you. Reto offers any of the
three options; drain, without pan replacement; drain overnight with
pan and seal replacement, or, transmission flush to replace all the fluid.

 

Good upbeat write-up cliff. Thanks and welcome aboard.

 

Similar write-ups lurk somewhere but thanks for posting a new one especially with the info that the fluid has changed to Synthetic!! Amazing.

 

Good job, it's already been appreciated by valuable members

 

Just adding my thanks as well. If we keep our S-Types long enough, we'll all be facing this task eventually. I expect to do ours between 80,000 and 90.000 miles as long as the factory sleeve does not leak first. I believe that replacing the sleeve as part of the drain-and-fill process is the right thing to do....

 

The Land Rover 6HP26 fluid LRN13754, I am reliably told, is in fact Lifeguard6 at a fraction of the cost. Proceed accordingly...

 

Nice post! Had mine done here in Eugene at the Sports Car Shop. They did a good job, but didn't replace the sleeve, even though I had it with the kit...

 

Just more encouragement for myself when I tackle this job on my own for the first time in the fall. My fluid, pan w/filter has been changed by the dealer at 82,000 already, and now 45,000 miles later, I'm thinking of tackling this myself.

appreciate the writeup for sure!