The ZF8 speed needs to have the engine running for the final fill and at a certain temperature range. I’ve done the service on my bmw and it’s the same transmission.
They weren’t designed for ease of service. They were designed to be assembled as fast as possible. The consumer/mechanic ends up with the short end of the stick.
120,000 miles between services? Just how many miles does Regina have on her Jeep? LOL!! As the owner of a repair shop may I add that oil and filters are cheap. I would recommend doing the oil changes every 50,000 miles. May save a transmission later. Also, don't know what Jeep was thinking, but the first time I change my oil I'd be adding in an oil drain plug kit! But gotta give you kudos. Very informative video. We like watching videos like these as much as any of your others!
Pro DIY tip - always remove the fill plug first, before the fluid is drained out. If you can't fill it, best not to drain it until you sort that out. Unfortunate that Stellantis didn't include a drain plug and high fill port, such as through a dip stick.
The trans fluid needs to be at operating temp and engine running after going thru all gears to get the proper fluid level. If your sending them out without doing them that way they are low on fluid and might cause damage in off camber or steep slope situations
Just saw your comment after posting mine… so, I am not the only one saying this, then….! I was able to repro this on downhill, and hard right turn. Whining up, then quiet down. First though that the transmission did not have enough fluid in it - in them. Since this is happening on my second JT rubicon. Will do child service this weekend and will see if I can check level while hot, before drain/change .
Wow!! That was very labor intensive! The skid plate aside, the fill procedure is kind a pain. With out a dipstick tube to fill the trans, "burping" the trans is a little bit of a pain in the you know what.... Wow!... Great info Brad!!
That was not done right. That’s probably why you had the noise . After the cold fill, you need to run the engine until the trans temp reaches at least 85F switching between D and R every 5-6 seconds at the same time. Then you stop the engine and add more t fluid because the level drops.
Yes, the trick here is that after the initial refill you need to get the temp up on the transmission fluid, keep the vehicle running and fill up till it runs out. This is similar to certain BMW and ISUZU Trooper auto transmission services.
I’m trying to find the best place to make this comment but can’t really figure that out. I have some issues with my truck that I wanted to get addressed and based on Brad’s videos and Jerry’s comprehensive work, I emailed them at night last night and got an almost immediate reply from Jerry. Didn’t expect that. I’ll be taking my truck to them next week and I’m already pretty confident they’ll be able to figure out the best solution for my suspension issue. I can’t wait to have it fixed.
i did this transmission service on my 2019 power wagon, ZF8 speed... the fill procedure is absurd but it does work. gotta be in a certain temp range, run through gears, fill until it comes back out of the hole and good to go.
Crazy, I have purchased everything I need to do the transmission, transfer case, and both diffs. I just hadn’t started it yet and this video popped up. Good info! Glad I saw this before I started in on the project. Should make everything go much smoother now.
Any thoughts on a PPE Aluminium NAG1 Transmission Pan? For example, as a replacement for a JKU? It adds a magnet to the drain plug. Interested to hear what Jerry would say.
Glad you did this, my jeeps a 2023 with 25k miles on it and I ran it without gears in Utah with heavy rims and tires and feel like the transmission oil might have been burnt or something. I'm looking to do mine soon after I stock up on more oil. I've taken mine back to the dealer a few times and they basically told me if there's no light on or codes there's nothing they can do with it and just send you on your way until those come up. Nerve racking not knowing why my jeep sounds like a diesel in reverse and knock or chatters until you give it gas. Oil pressure is normal and all the other oils seem normal also.
Very good and informative video! I just changed the fluid in my JLUR with the 8 speed transmission. It's easier than the 2 door in this video. I didn't even need to loosen the exhaust crossover pipe to drop the pan out, but I did have to remove a cross brace at the rear of the pan. I had to rotate the pan clockwise and move more to the right of the Jeep and it slid right out. It required ~5.5 quarts to refill after all completed steps. Some of it was spilled as seen in this video so the exact amount is actually a bit less the 5.5 quarts.
Wow, what a Poor design! Transmission fluid level is off by a few squirts & it Wines. NOT good !!! Looks like it could benefit from a deeper pan & a Fluid level Sensor to tell u when fluid level is low / Full !
Perfect presentation! But, there is so much fail right here. I don't care what anyone says about service intervals recommended by the manufacturer, 120k is ridiculous unless you own a transmission repair shop. Anyone with common sense can see how black the fluid was. I was cringing seeing that come out. FYI that is what has been circulating through your transmission, for tens of thousands of miles. IMHO that amount of metal on the magnets would be concerning. The vehicles that are services at a proper interval will have very little metal there and a few flakes in the bottom of the pan. There is no such thing as lifetime fluid, 100k fluid. Same with motor oil, even the best synthetic is at best at it's half life at 10k and damage has been done. I did fleet type service and changed trans fluid every 25-50k and commonly the transmissions last 300k (90% highway driving) and had one go 410k before needed repair. These modern vehicles are complex, generate lots of heat. Modern vehicle service intervals are designed to provide a reliable vehicle, for a determined amount of time, ie, planned to fail so you need a new vehicle every few years.
The reason you heard the whining noise during the test drive is because, after running through the gears, you are supposed to check the fluid level with the engine idling and the trans fluid temp between 30°C-50°C (86°F-122°F). That comes from a pdf by the ZF transmission manufacturer.
Thanks for your wonderful video it’s really helpful , I have Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon 2018 just wanted to know the size of the transmission oil pan fill plug is it 8mm socket ?
I have read the fluid level check must be done at a certain fluid temperature, and on some models with the pan rail level, which may mean raising the rear of the vehicle, in some instances.
Would this be a reason why when I put my tranny in drive and accelerate I get a small little crack from either tranny or transfer case?? I have a 2018 Sahara JL, stock and have not done no major off-roading, it’s the wife’s Jeep….. but I’ve been breaking my head trying to figure out what it is or what I need to change and/or check
If you look at the service interval on these transmissions from the transmission manufacturer they are typically 30k-50k miles. That fluid looks terrible coming out, clearly burned. Just changed my gladiators at 60k and you have to use the service manual fill instructions and run it through the gears above 80 degrees so you don’t drive off with low fluid.
How much does it cost for this service ? I have 2023 jl at 12k miles , drive super carefully on trail and through some mudding ( 2 or 3 times ) … then the transmission is leaking . Slipping gear , low acceleration , low gas mileage , sound coc coc coc when reserve shift … Bring to local dealer to diagnostic … Dealer refused to cover the repair because they see some mud left in the skid plate ( already wash before i come to dealer ) … they told me it was abuse in mud 😢😢😢 I’m stuck rightnow … should i pay dealer to repair it or come to local jeep shop like this and order a used tranmission parts online to replace ?
Did you monitor the temperature? You serviced the transmission wrong. You’re asking for trouble. These transmissions are designed by ZF and have a special service procedure.
This is why I am glad my 2010 Wrangler Islander is a 6-speed manual shift. All I have to do is change the gear oil which is a little challenging as the clearance between the exhaust crossover pipe and the drain plug is about 1". Automatics are too expensive and require a lot of work to maintain them in good shifting order. And I would rather be in control of the shift points rather than an automotive engineer who predetermined when it needed to change gears.
I would not wait that long to change the trannie fluid, 120000 miles or in my case 193000 kms, personally I'd be doing it every 40 to 50 thousand ks or 30000 miles. Just my opinion.
Interesting...I'm wondering if 120k , and a drain and refill (6 qts, not a complete replacement of the fluid) is the way to go. I have a sealed transmission and don't believe the manufacturer that it's sealed and doesn't need regular fluid replacement. I was thinking 50k and a complete fluid replacement is the way to go.
It’s all depending on how You drive & Ambient temperature. The More You change it the longer the Transmission will Live ! If You Run a Transmission Hard & Hot 🥵 with Air conditioning on All the Time & it’s 90 degrees out all the time. transmission fluid is going to Need replaced every 1-2 years For Max. Life. They should Make a Port off the transmission cooler line where u can take a Fluid sample / Remove 1 Quart for analysis & You could add 1 quart of new fluid every year. Or better yet. Put an external transmission fluid filter in the Transmission cooler line and change Filter Yearly while looking at Fluid color at the same time. Towing , Heavy load , Ambient Heat , Running Air conditioner ALL Contribute to Shortening Fluid Life. Adjust accordingly. Every Few Years Going to be Best practice ! Best Life ! Change every 3 yrs / 36,000 miles.
Love your videos! I saw something in this one at 4:50. Check your passenger side rear tire. You might have a nail in it. Or it could have just been a rock. Keep up the great work. You are keeping my sanity as I am waiting to do axle seals and a hub on my JKU.
Those BFG K02 series are really bad for holding small rocks in those tapered grooves of the outer shoulder blocks, my brother bought a JL this summer with the stock 35's ( Rubicon with the XR package ) and we live out in a rural farming area with gravel and it hardly takes any distance driven on the gravel and those smaller stones stick into those grooves and they are very stubborn to come out once they get in, even driving at speed down a highway for many miles won't kick them all out at all, that is a bad aspect of that tire design unfortunately.
Hardest part about this job is getting the fluid level right. You can get aftermarket pans that have drain plugs. One of the superior things about the JK w/ W5A580 trans is there is dipstick.
Trail Recon, if this is 9 speed ZF transmission, l have work on these transmission when I was at the Acura dealership, they have lots of software problems, under early 9 speed 2015-2017 had transmission cooler will go bad and leaks into the engine coolant side, replaced bunch of them transmission during warranty. You have to get the engine temperature up to 120F and let the ATF fluid leak out of the weep hole side inspection bolt.
@@bwofficial1776 the transmission are good, the transmission warmer were leaking and caused the transmission to fail, you had to replace all coolant hoses, flush out the coolant system in the engine, it was a pain to flush out, because ATF fluid was all over the engine and radiator, if you don’t get it all out, you will have a coolant hose leaking, they had software update constantly,
@@bwofficial1776 the transmission was built in South Carolina, when l was still working in the dealership 8 years ago, the head of ZF and American Honda engineers came out to the dealer and was trying to figure out what was failing, because we had a few transmission here they were looking at.
Stellantis uses the 9 speed ZF trans in the Cherokee, Renegade & Compass, the Chrysler Pacifica & short-lived 200, and some Ram ProMasters as well. Early models experienced software issues as well, which could lead to hardware failures. Wranglers, Grand Cherokees, Ram 1500s, and the full size RWD cars all use the ZF 8 speed, with very few failures.
@@jimstoneman1732 the transmission were all designed by ZF, and sold to bunch of Automotive dealers, the transmission case were slightly different to adapt to the engine, because l had talked to the ZF technician back then and they were trying to figure out what to do with this problem, l had replaced more than 20 of these transmissions back then. It had too much electronics systems tied to the whole car, when you replaced and updated the software, you had to flash bunch of other control units on all the systems, they all worked together. The car pretty much can drive itself if you design a program for it, most of sensors are there, my guess is they don’t want the liability it something goes wrong.
Jerry and Shift Autowerks has become our go to mechanics for our TJ and JL. Already have plans for him to do this trans service on my JL. This stuff, though doable, I like to leave to the experts and I like supporting small businesses. 😉✌
Ugh…exhaust bolts. I did a transmission service on my 2016 Colorado. To get the transmission pan off/out, you need to take the exhaust apart because of the crossover pipe. One of the exhaust flange bolts that was hard to get to (no power/impact tools) rounded off. Dremel cut off wheels, an air chisel, and several hours later, the nut was off. I had to rethread the stud. A different bolt size for the one, but the transmission got serviced and the exhaust went back together.
There’s a fill plug on the other side of the trans. I have a JL with the 3.0 ecodiesel and my plug is right beside my exhaust. Then I looked at the other side and realized there’s another plug.
Modern cars: good at creating billable hours for the dealership. The dealership surely would have dropped the tank instead of getting crafty with what was on hand.
I'm pretty sure the proper fill procedure requires you to fill while running after cycling gears and trans Reno must be in a specific range. Then you fill tillnit runs over.. nice helpful video l! Mine is coming up soon in my jt
Also, the trans skid covers the exhaust so encasing it to reflect even more heat towards the trans pan... ever consider wrapping that part of the exhaust with thermal material?
You took it to Jerry and his shop to have it done but you also said you can save a lot of money “if you do it yourself like we are”? How are you doing it yourself?
