Zf Slipping

[TER80D]

Hi Guys,

I have a 2009 G6E Turbo with 46,000 k's on the clock and lately the ZF has been a little weird. I don't really know how to explain it but when driving it's like it's constantly slowing down and speeding up and gives the sensation that you are ever so gently rocking back and forth. The engine revs don't really move and shifting feels fine in manual mode but shifts in auto mode just feel sorta slow and doughy like I'm slipping the clutch a bit too much in a manual.

I've bought a 20L drum of Gulf Western Syntrans and am going to do a flush and replace the heat exchanger (My coolant reservoir looks fine so I don't think I have the dreaded milkshake). I'm just in two minds if I should take it into Ford first before changing to non genuine oil in case they blame it on that. Anyone got any idea's of what the possible issues could be and if the flush is likely to fix it ?

[JETURBO]

well your out of warranty now anyway bloke so go for gold and flush that zf

I have used the gulf western oil and currently running it and rate it very highly close on 30,000kms now on it

cant stress enough to get a stand alone cooler though

[rednose]

Check your oil level first, genuine oil is not as expensive as it used to be so it may just need a service and it may come good.

Replacing the heat exchanger is a good idea but also replace your coolant.

[TER80D]

Yeah, definitely going to change the coolant too. Figured the procedure would be to drop the pan, dump the oil, dump the coolant, install new heat exchanger, fill with coolant, fill ZF with oil and hope for the best.

I've read a few times now about the torque converter constantly locking and unlocking but I have no idea what sort of symptoms that produces cause I'm not much of an expert when it comes to transmissions :-S

Definitely hear you Jet about the external cooler, I just want to see how this exercise pans out and when tax time rolls around I'll throw the $700 or so at it and get rid of the crap that is the Ford heat exchanger. Is the fact that my coolant reservoir is clean of oil a good indication that the box hasn't downed a litre or two of water ?

[bionicxr6t05]

Similar symptoms to what your experiencing.... Take an oil sample and check coolant conditon! Have seen several contaminate the oil and not the coolant!

Edited 05/02/13 11:59 AM by bionicxr6t05

[JETURBO]

Yeh locking and unlocking of the converter it a typical symptom of milkshake and oil that is to cold

But I think u should wack it on a hoist and check your levels first easy peasy and it costs nothing to look

[TER80D]

Yeh locking and unlocking of the converter it a typical symptom of milkshake and oil that is to cold

But I think u should wack it on a hoist and check your levels first easy peasy and it costs nothing to look

Yeah, definitely will do. I've already bought the service kit and the Syntrans so I'll do the full flush and service anyways but just for curiosity's sake I'll look at the level and hope it's just running a bit low. Going to do it this Friday night so I'll post results once it's done

[matsfgxr6turbo]

that's not many kays for the auto to be playing up is this because ford says they are sealed for life and never service them mainly?

[JETURBO]

Ter80d

Not being funny , but let it run for a coupla min then while still running ( obviously ) check it

I would expect to see instant dribble come out of the filler hole , if not u got low oil and go from there .... I rag up the end pump hose and give it oil till its full , then hammer a coupla extra pumps in as quick as possiable the filler plug in quick smart

Let us know how u go

[TER80D]

Well, I did the flush today and thankfully for me and my wallet I didn't have any milkshake looking substance in my gearbox. The oil was definitely dirty (To give you an idea, once I had a 20L bucket a bit under half full it was utterly pitch black) but it had no coolant in it at all from what I could tell. I'm pretty happy but after seeing what could have possibly been, I'm going to order an oil to air heat exchanger and go from there.

Jet, unfortunately I didn't get an opportunity to check the levels. My mate who was helping me (Well, I was helping him since he's a BMW master tech and I'm a mechanical novice) had already cracked the bolts on the pan before I could ask otherwise.

On the subject of the Gulf Western Syntrans, the box shifts superbly now and is heaps smoother than before thank god. I reckon for the awesome price of $165 for 20L of the Syntrans it's awesome stuff and makes a ZF flush not only worthwhile but economical as well. I recon I'll still be going strong quite a few Km's from now too. The Ford coolant had also turned a brownish colour and I'm glad it's been flushed out for new stuff. The replacement heat exchanger I installed was the bigger F6 one and it had a yellow dot on it with a manufacture date of May 2012 with a part number of 8r2z7a095-cd

I have no idea what caused my issues in the first place and it may well have been low levels but I'm glad I know the ZF is good to go since it gets tuned on Friday.