zf 8 speed oil change

[genpk]

Well was going to do the Penrite BMV oil but got a decent price on the Mopar transmission oil from the Jeep dealer so decided to stick with the certified stuff
as there wasnt a huge price difference and would guess any issues re mixing of fluids shouldnt be an issue now.
Ive also got a 5 year afternarket policy so if i stick with dealer oils hopefully wont give the dealer any wiggle room should anything happen.
Got 7 litres so hope thats enough for a pan and trans oil change.

[drover]

Damn and I see Penrite BMV on sale at Repco for $40.80 a 4lt keg.........being on the road and miles form one.....

[genpk]

yep, the Penrite, its at a good price.
If i keep the car past the warranty period id certainly have no issues using the
Penrite BMV or the Valvoline Maxlife as it appears both work fine in the 8 speed box.
Interestingly, whilst at the dealers picking up the trans fluid i asked re oil for the transfer case as well.
Parts guy reckons factory standard was Atf 4 but as the vehicles get older you can get a slight clunk in the transfer boxes so they now have a slightly heavier Mopar fluid which stops that happening, so whilst up on the lift will get that done as well being as i dont really have any idea whats been done to the car apart from regular 10,000 km service stamps in the book.
Its a great driving car so will keep it until i can afford a newer version, that is if they all drive this well.
At this point im a Jeep convert.
I got 7 litres of trans fluid so hope thats enough for the pan change.
As the box is only 8 litres total im hoping the torque converter will retain more than a litre?

[drover]

Since they don't have the Tranny or TC scheduled for a change until 100K km I fail to see how they would hear about a clunk, more like they leave the changes far too long, hell they reckon 40K for a fuel filter, all done to make the costs look good...

[genpk]

i reckon your right, the fact that ZF, the makers of the auto box reckons advisable to change the oil and pan at 100,000km and Chrysler reckons its sealed for life does make you wonder.
As for the transfer case oil, im planning on doing a bit of caravan towing so ill put the slightly heavier Mopar oil in instead of the Atf.4 , cars done 113,000km so im sure theres a bit of wear in there.

[johnnywal]

Bought 3x4 litres of Penrite BMV at Repco yesterday for $117. Have had my pan for over 6 months from US, so plan to do transmission fluid change this week, GC done 81000 km. Like drover I think I will change the fluid ever 40000km from now on but only change the filter every second change, ie. 80000.
I saw on the Rockauto site that there is a cheaper pan with a separate filter as well. Has anyone bought one and what are the separate filters worth? The pan looks identical to the one with the inbuilt filter from the outside. Will have to investigate further for next filter change.
With my previous Territory, I was able to buy a pressed steel pan for the 6 speed ZF and separate filters for about $25 if I remember, made things a lot cheaper though I was using Lifeguard fluid at the time.

[drover]

I'm intrigued as to what this heavier oil for the TC is, these 2 speeders have been around a long time using Mopar ATF+4 and I have never heard of using something heavier. An earlier TC the oil was a Mopar TC oil which was expensive, I used Mobil 424 for a few hundred thousand Kms and worked well but ATF+4 was not to be used............. I'd be skeptical of an alternative Mopar oil myself and I certainly wouldn't be putting the 3356 oil for the other TC in something that had ATF+4 in it previously.
. I have also read on the ZF site that they are advising 70,000km tranny changes, MB did the same with their boxes way back as they would give problems, never did in mine though.
Sealed for life is just bean counter bling and is BS....

Alloy pans are available for the 8 speeders but I think the stupid cross member on the GC could get in the way and for the price you would want to do a lot of changes to be worth it.......