Ok, this thing needed it BAD. Sluggish/harsh shifting and rough torque coverter lock up said "it's time". I've had it just 3 years and did have the ZF 5 spd auto serviced at my shop when they did a bunch of other bits after purchase but it was a single drain/fill and new filter. Here I did 4x drain/fill with Valvoline Max Life from Wallyworld (used just over 3.5 gallons of fluid) and a ZF service kit (filter, gasket, drain/fill plugs) from FCP Euro. Took me quite a long time working on the ground and I made a HUGE mess 
. Fluid was nasty on the first drain but was clear/red on the last. Each drain/fill included ~10 min idle with a few passes of the shift selector through the selections. On the last, I use a VW scan tool (OBDEleven) to ensure temps are ~40 deg C (~105 deg F) and remove the fill while it's running and top it off...actually takes quite a bit to get it to overflow. Went out and beat on it...wow. Wow. Shifting so great/smooth as butter. Will likely add a single drain/fill (no filter) each oil change as it's easy and a good thing to do to keep this old girl purring. Did I mention how much of a mess I made? Up next, brake fluid flush/bleed tomorrow and she's ready for a ~1000 mile trip down to NC/TN and back in April for some tasty runs on Tail of The Dragon for the annual VW event Wookies in The Woods! Will be cool to see some Killboy pics of this sled hitting those curves.
You can see some pics/video by looking at the most recent video on my YouTube channel:
. Fluid was nasty on the first drain but was clear/red on the last. Each drain/fill included ~10 min idle with a few passes of the shift selector through the selections. On the last, I use a VW scan tool (OBDEleven) to ensure temps are ~40 deg C (~105 deg F) and remove the fill while it's running and top it off...actually takes quite a bit to get it to overflow. Went out and beat on it...wow. Wow. Shifting so great/smooth as butter. Will likely add a single drain/fill (no filter) each oil change as it's easy and a good thing to do to keep this old girl purring. Did I mention how much of a mess I made? Up next, brake fluid flush/bleed tomorrow and she's ready for a ~1000 mile trip down to NC/TN and back in April for some tasty runs on Tail of The Dragon for the annual VW event Wookies in The Woods! Will be cool to see some Killboy pics of this sled hitting those curves.You can see some pics/video by looking at the most recent video on my YouTube channel:
