Change trans fluid? If so, how and with what?

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Embarrassingly enough, I haven't changed the trans fluid in my Land Rover LR3. It has a ZF6HP (I think that's the name, it's a 6 speed ZF auto). Up until recently, it was thought to be a lifetime fill, so I never thought about it. Now Land Rover and ZF have changed their tune. I have 160k miles on it and it shifts perfectly, I sense no issues with it. I have a 2000 mile round trip coming up in mid March and was wondering if I should change it, and if so, would it be too risky to change before a trip? Should I do a pan drop or full flush? I was planning on sticking with OEM fluid, but open to other ideas.

Thanks!
 
I just changed mine for the first time (GMC Envoy) by taking off one of the cooler lines and attaching a clear hose. You have a 5 gallon bucket to let the fluid from the hose run into, let the vehicle run until the fluid starts sputtering. Shut the vehicle off. Put in 3-4 quarts of trans fluid, start vehicle again until it starts sputtering fluid. Then you turn the vehicle on and start filling fluid into the top fill until it is nice and red coming out of the hose into the bucket. When this happens, turn the vehicle off, reattach the cooler line, and then fill to the proper fluid level.

Works a lot better with two people, so one can watch the bucket/hose and start/stop the vehicle, while the other one fills.
 
I would do a pan drop, clean, replace filter and do a line off fluid exchange with Amsoil ATF.

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At that mileage, I think a complete exchange is in order with filter replacements as well

I would imagine the ATF looks like an old 10W30 engine oil by now.
 
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Vote to wait until after the trip.

And then I also vote to do a series of drain and fills. No cooler line exchange.
 
Look into dropping the pan and changing the filter too! ATF usually stays pink or red for life
unless something terrible is happening. ATF is not supposed to get visibly dirty like engine oil.

ATF picks up lots of super tiny wear metals that are only partially picked up by the OEM pan magnet,
so swapping out the fluid helps. In my case I put extra magnets in the pan since GM admitted in a TSB
that the OEM magnet was inadequate. Key thing is to make sure there's enough clearance.

However, I'd avoid a 'flush' since this can stir up particles that settled in the tranny, at 160K,
I would not do it. Do a google search for "ZF6HP transmission problems" and see what other people say.
 
Wait until after the trip.

If you really want to change it, I would recommend to drop the pan and do a filter replacement and use ZF fluid. I wouldn't use Amsoil or some other non-OEM fluid.
 
Yeah, at that mileage do a filter change, too. It will be pretty easy once you get most of the fluid out through the cooler line. I should have also suggested that.
 
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
Embarrassingly enough, I haven't changed the trans fluid in my Land Rover LR3. It has a ZF6HP (I think that's the name, it's a 6 speed ZF auto). Up until recently, it was thought to be a lifetime fill, so I never thought about it. Now Land Rover and ZF have changed their tune. I have 160k miles on it and it shifts perfectly, I sense no issues with it. I have a 2000 mile round trip coming up in mid March and was wondering if I should change it, and if so, would it be too risky to change before a trip? Should I do a pan drop or full flush? I was planning on sticking with OEM fluid, but open to other ideas.

Thanks!


A cooler line ATF exchange provides the best exchange of fluid using only a tiny bit more ATF than the transmission holds. Way to go if you use expensive ATF. Look at Amsoil. Its the only ATF I have used in many years.

If your vehicle has a filter than can be changed or wiped clean that should be done and will probably require the pan to be dropped. Not a bad idea as you can wipe the crud from the pan.

Then there is probably a transfer case and front and rear diff. They should be serviced also. But the transmission is the priority.

Do not believe any shop who says that they add a cleaner to the ATF, run it for 20 minutes and then do a flush and the process cleans the transmission filter. It does not.
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. I think I'm settled on using ZF fluid and will definitely replace the filter. I'm leaning towards doing a pan drop for now and then a full flush later. Do you think that will minimize the risk of creating an issue or do you think either way it'll be safe?
 
I'd do at least one drain and fill before dropping the pan, which can get pricey with the OEM fluid. I did that with my parent's car before I swapped out the filter.
 
I wouldn't do a full flush. Maybe a couple of pan drop changes in quick succession like after 20k miles or so if you really want to do that.
 
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
Thanks everyone for the tips. I think I'm settled on using ZF fluid and will definitely replace the filter. I'm leaning towards doing a pan drop for now and then a full flush later. Do you think that will minimize the risk of creating an issue or do you think either way it'll be safe?


Make sure you get the correct fluid. In the Audi forums a few people who "upgraded" their fluid started experiencing transmission issues when none existed before the change.
 
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