Hi!

Got a bit of a problem:

The previous owner put the wrong oil in both gearbox and transfer case.

I found out now because the oil coming out of the gearbox seems like red standard synthetic ATF oil.

I just changed the transfer case oil and it seems he must have filled it with red w75-90 oil or so...red color anyway. Having changed the transfer case oil a few times now with the special land rover transfer case oil a few times it is yellowish like it should. A quite expensive fix as the special land rover oil is very dear...

I did not have any practical problems with the wrong oils up until now...its not dramatic. Gear changes are smooth and no need for any panic. BUT, there is sometimes, when pulling out of a parking spot, at low vibration grind - I assume it comes from the gearbox. Had I been aware earlier about this I would have changed it right away.

Now, I live in Sweden and Ive called around workshops around the country and no one can flush my gearbox with a machine. Because this car is quite rare here and no one seems to have the proper adapters for a flushing machine...Ive called about 30 plus garages.

So what do I do? I know that the gearbox oil is wrong - its red and synthetic ATF oil now. How about I just change the oil -take out as much as possible, drive a little and keep on doing this repeatedly until green correct oil comes out. Then I change the filter and put in new oil again. Ive just bought about 40L of Fuchs Land Rover/ZF spec. gearbox oil. Fuchs Titan ATF 6008. Both oils are ATF so should be mixable without any serious drawback, right?

Its not ideal, but ideally they should have just put the proper oil in the gearbox in the first place.

Beside the fact that I will have to do 4-5 gearbox oil changes and so on, is this a good way to go? Most if not all of the wrong gearbox needs to come out somehow and in the absence of a MEGAflush service around here I dont know what else to do really. After this I will just have to do gearbox oil changes more often.

Any advice or insight would be much appreciated. Oh, my car is a 2011 4.4 TDV8 with the ZF 8 speed box, Vogue SE.

Cheers,
Gus Fuji White 2011, 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE

Get some *cheap* oil of the correct spec. and keep flushing with that after driving a few km's - in UK I can get 20l of Smith and Allan ATF for ZF 'boxes for £99. Don't worry too much about the fill level being absolutely correct, just use it to get the wrong oil flushed out, then once happy, fill with the correct ZF oil, preferably with a filter change as well. Personally, whilst I was in there, I'd drop the mechatronic and change the interfaces ('rubbers') as well.

As Phoenix says, just cycle the gearbox for 1,000km or so with some cheaper oil of the correct specification and then drain and change the filter, replacing with the genuine ZF fluid.

You've got a 4.4 TDV8 so your gearbox uses Lifeguard 8 fluid. Smith & Allan and Mannol (may be easier for you to obtain in Europe) both make inexpensive compliant transmission fluid. Smith and Allan market theirs as Lifeguard 8 and Mannol's correct oil is AG60. I've bought Mannol from Germany to the UK before so you must also be able to get it to Sweden easily. 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8

Im on it. All good ideas.

Got 34 liters of Fuchs ATF 6008, correct spec ZF/land rover and now I have 9 litres of ZF lifeguard 8.

I'll keep you posted how it goes.

Cheers
Gus Fuji White 2011, 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE

Will change filter etc after the last flush and proper ZF fill. Fuji White 2011, 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE

There's a great tech article on here somewhere of a home done flush with no special tools beyond a largeish plastic tray. Invoves running the engine with the trans pan removed and a gravity fed source of new fluid. Got a bit messy when I did it but its a one time deal and gets the bulk of the fluid out. Look in the wiki.


Chris

im in UK, I bought 8 litres of ZF lifeguard 8 and a sump/filter, for about £150, delivered from Holland. via Ebay. you can only put about 3 litres in from a drain. (tdv8 4.4 2012)

Ok, that would be great. I cant seem to find this in the wiki - only for tdv6 and other gearboxes not the ZF8p70 one. If you know where to find it that would be really great.

What Im doing now is, everyday, draining out 3-4 liters after driving and getting the gearbox oil temp up to about 70 so the thermostat opens up. Then filling up 3-4 liters again. Done it now 2 times and will have to keep at it until only green comes out.

When its getting more green than red I will change the filter and put in ZF 8 Lifeguard. Now i use Land Rover spec Fuchs gearbox oil for flushing.

I reckon I will need to repeat this process at least 3-4 more times...I get better at it, first time - really messy. Had a tarp under the car and most oil missed then bucket i had...I got soaked in old gearbox oil...but me and my mate just laughed at it

Its already a lot better but just want to get it right.

Any advice on how to get more out in one go, without taking the filter down is much appreciated or guides how to DIY flush the gearbox.

Cheers
Gus Fuji White 2011, 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE

Apologies. I was referring to the 3.6 and now realise that you have the 4.4. Having said that, I can't find the procedure I followed successfully almost exactly a year ago, in the wiki now. Very strange.

Chris

GustavW I have private messaged you the genuine ZF service procedure for the 8HP70 gearbox.

Print it out and tick off each step as you go.

You'll need to remove and change the filter once you've finished your cycling. But filling with cheap Lifeguard 8 oil and cycling for 1,000km then draining overnight and filling with genuine ZF Lifeguard 8 and a new filter should be all you need to do a "flush" and remember to drive a very short distance in low range. I'd change the mechatronic seal and the valve seals whilst you're at it. 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8

No worries!

Is this a suitable mechatronic seal and valve seal kit?

https://www.automatic-berger.de/ZF8HP45-ZF...1087298413

Cheers
Gus Fuji White 2011, 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE

The mechatronic seal is correct.

The valve seal also:

 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8

If the wrong oil is in now, I'd say 1000km is too much, personally I'd just do enough to warm up the transmission to running temperature and then drop the contents. You could have the whole job done in a day.
BTW, one of the square transmission drain pans are great for dropping the mechatronic pack out, they catch all the dripping oil and give you somewhere to rest the pack whilst you change the seals.

I meant if wishing to 'flush' it, put in a cheaper Lifeguard 8 for 1000km and then change the filter and ATF for genuine Lifeguard 8. 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8

So heres an update:

This is day 3 of essentially, pulling out about 3 liters of oil and putting in 3 liters of new oil.

Before and after each oil change I have gone for a drive to get the gearbox oil temp up to about 70c. Driven perhaps 40-50km and some more between each change and so to say flushing it.

How many times do you reckon will be necessary? My first idea was to keep changing until the gearbox oil is green (like it should be). Obviously, the oil gets mixed up but how much really?

After oil change number 3, it seems slightly thicker but still quite red.

I did a small sample with Schweppes and water to get an idea of how many changes might be necessary to get to green... The viscosity is very different (water vs oil) but anyhow. I took out a quarter of schweppes and added a quarter of water...took 10 times of this procedure to get to about clear water....that makes me wonder how many times I will need to subtract old oil and add new oil...it seems more than 10 times under ideal circumstances...you get the picture.

Am I being too crazy about this? should I do a few more oil changes. Drop the filter etc to get out more than 3 liters of oil. Put in new filter and top up more like 6 liters of genuine ZF lifeguard 8.

Also, Im doing this in my street parking spot...bought some tarp, drain pan etc. Raised the car to off road height, rolled under the car and my mate pumps a manual oil pump on my sign...people passing are just shaking their heads...English car and so on. Have to get this right and prove em wrong  Fuji White 2011, 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE