F6_Tornado

Farkkkkk Input shaft is only @ $500.00 including a BIG mark up (I pay much less) so that leaves $2k for a handful of plates and discs with some piston machine work @ $100. Couple of hours labor!! Id be shopping around if I was you. Maybe ask some of the guys who have had them done and see what they have paid? and ask by Whom.

I guess that depends on what they are putting in it! however to me that sounds high as you are removing and fitting and as such will be paying for the oil, labor etc so all they will be doing is modifying a couple of clutch packs and depending on what Input shaft is in it now maybe a new Shaft. U need to know what they are changing. It would have to be absolutely U/S to cost that much and maybe they are quoting a worst case? However they may quote worst case and if its in good nick then they make a killing but if its rooted they only make 30% profit. A steel Pan with a Drain and changeable filter is @ $300. but next service all u need to buy is a Filter. The weak point are E and B clutches and they both need to be beefed up along with the input shaft if its the older type. it doesn't hurt to do A,C & D packs whilst in there. But you can only go so far as the Intermediate shaft along with the input will only take so much HP so there is a limit to what you can do and as such a limit to what you can spend on one. Like I said before U need to know what they are changing.Or what they are telling you they are changing.

Not sure its complicated as such. Basically check with engine running and fill to the bottom of the fill hole in the r/h rear side.Just above Pan level. So another words fill till its running out the same hole your filling from with the engine running and then make sure you put the filler Plug back in whilst the engine is still running... Drive it and recheck (with engine Running) once its settled down and warm and the air has bled out.

Used it for the first 3 or 4 transmissions years ago and had nothing but trouble with HP above STD so I went to Castrol TransmaxZ and have not a had a problem since.

NO!! I built heaps and have taught two Tuners in WA how to do them so now I can leave it all to them. I help them out and they both do a good job but these small transmissions are just toys as I usually work on the Bigger ZF stuff. Just shop around and most of all get a quote on what they are actually doing and what parts they are putting in or intend to put in. I think some just charge BIG $$$$ because its a ZF and its made in Germany ahhahaha People naturally think it will cost a fortune to fix and that's simply not the case. I just cant comprehend the price some people charge when I know first hand what they cost.

The input shaft in a BF changes directly to a FG Shaft and over the two models there have been about 4~5 different heat treatments. $4k is way over the top in my opinion and I have done many but I guess some people have BIG Overheads. In most cases now the input shaft is OK depending on the tuners ability and the quality of tires you use. Find out who does ZF's near you and get a quote on the work they will be doing broken down into parts and Labour then see what you are getting!!!!. A late model FG might just need some pistons modifications and some extra clutch plates & Discs resulting in Just $500 or less in parts, Input Shafts another $500 if needed. Labour to remove and replace and oil. GST etc etc Typically they are very good and cheap to do so look around.

Its about an hours work once the box is on the bench and takes very little to beef up the box to handle way more that your would ever give it. JUST dont wait till its gone BANG! Prevention is better than cure and way cheaper!

You bought it with over 90K on it and jacked up the HP with a wog tune so its bound to slip. Just beef it up before you screw it altogether. hell it might even cost a grand max! but that's cheap because ounce it snaps the input shaft and it takes out the intermediate shaft your up for easy $3k. Input shafts are $400.00 alone. The tuner will have a lot to do with the longevity of the ZF depending on how he deals with the torque tags.

Hard to say without testing myself but it DEFINITELY won’t be the Diff Ratio as it has little to do with the Transmission and nothing to do with the mode. The transmission has its own two sensors internal and I know of a couple of guys who have changed the diff ratio without any dramas at all. Sounds like an electrical fault and maybe just the selector… find a mate with same car and swap over the selector in the console.

The box is simply slipping with all that torque and as such will need some new clutch's and preferably upgraded to handle the 350kw you are shoving down its throat. Once upgraded it will handle that 350 easily. as long as the tuner also knows how to set the trans setting in his tune.

Yes its good and I am using it for a few months now... I HATE Vista but I don't have any gripes with Win7 as it doesn't seem to have all the driver issues Vista had and it also process way faster on the same hardware.

Hasn't effected the $ so who cares? :bsflag: 1 Australian dollar = 0.8907 U.S. dollars

Ford sell them as do MotoSpec.. then of couse ZF, but you will need an account with ZF direct. Motospec sell a mixture of Aftermarket and genuine so it pays to ask when u buy.

ZF LifeGuardFluid 6

I personaly only use Castrol but have always heard good reports about Penrite but I don't have personal experience with it so I cant comment.

Yours and the 50 I have built and all still work a treat. Most of the time its from a bad oil fill and not filled correctly but people will believe anything!!! Use whatever you feel comfortable with, Penrite is OK a is Castrol and at stock power so is genuine oil.

Just service the trans for god sake

Sounds like to me that it could do with a New filter and oil change.

Genuine ZF oil is a clear to light Honey color when NEW. It usually comes out Dark brown after some abuse. The TransmaxZ I use is Green

Go to page 3 and it shows you the Fill Plug. Flick a copy to your Mechanic The plastic Pans have a drain plug The steel pans used by Ford in Australia dont have a drain plug. I buy Steel pans that have drain plugs but they have to come from Germany. This pdf explains it and should be used as some of the methods listed on the forum are quite scary :blink: Also if RED oil comes out then your in deep Sh!t 6HP26_Oil_Refill.pdf

No box Ive done has had a problem with that oil so it would be a case of they blamed the oil instead of the actual cause. Most people have never even seen inside one of these ZF's let alone know if the oil was a problem.. even Ford send them back to ZF and don't overhaul them. Ford change the odd Oil pan but that's about their limitations.

Transmax is one oil that is better than factory spec oil but there are other oils that people use with good results like Penrite. I have never used Penrite personally but I believe its good. No matter what oil you use you just need to make sure its meets or exceeds the ZF spec and if it does technically ZF cant refuse warranty. Although if your vehicle is STD I cant imagine you would have a warranty problem with a ZF during its 3 year warranty period Without beefing up the packs I think people will continue to have problems. I wont build yours as I don't build them for a living and only help others and supervise them to build them themselves. I rather see people learn and save a dollar at the same time.

Make no mistake these are a good transmission and treated right will last a lot longer than 100K. Even at Higher HP Ive had some 30 in pieces helping mates modify them to handle the extra HP and some of those have done 100k before we opened them up. My own personal transmission I used genuine Oil at first and had it out 3 times in 15k but since I repaired it last time and started using TransmaxZ I have done 40k and not touched it. (375rwks) Just this week I helped Simon from extreme replace his input shaft on his Blown FG with over 500rwks and the oils and discs were in top condition since we modded it. The only way you can achieve some sort of longevity and reliability is with good quality CLEAN oil. To state that Baffles me somewhat!!!Ask yourself this question: What sort of wear should we expect then when the transmission is new with new oil? The above quote is like saying the transmission will wear out rapidly when NEW until its worn out at which time the the clutch material gets suspended in the fluid and alters the viscosity and friction profile. Its 2009 and most oil manufacturers are quite capable of making oil that is of the correct viscosity and friction profile from new.. It doesn't get better with age sorry! Maybe too Much wine being consumed which does get better with age ahhahahahah

Read this and it will explain all! 6HP26_Oil_Refill.pdf

I’m sure some of these guyz like weasel mean well but somehow I think something has been lost in the translation. The bit about changing the oil will do more harm than leaving it is wishful thinking and as much as I wish it was true as it would save us all a squillion dollars on oil and parts it’s not going to happen. This bit amazes me a bit!! If the particles stay suspended in the oil and don’t get filtered the oil would become more abrasive and as such increase wear. The oil should provide a membrane between the moving parts to lubricate and cool them whilst reducing friction and as such heat. Clean oil without the suspended particles would have to be a 1000 times better and anyone who has had a ZF that has been playing up and then done a service the results amaze them at the new lease of like the box now has. Modern day oil is designed to keep partials in suspension for one reason and that is so they travel to the filter where they get filtered out. In the old days this was not the case and in engines for example when you took the sump off there would be 2” of sludge in the bottom. Oil does many things besides lubricate and two important things in a ZF are cooling with the ability of the oil to hold up when hot and the ability of the oil to reduce friction between the clutch plates when the clutch is “disengaged” The first thing you will notice when using genuine ZF oil with an increase in HP is its discoloration and the rapid rate in which the filter blocks. The first think you notice when changing to TransmxZ is the filter stays clean longer and the oil doesn’t discolor apart from some discoloration from the old oil if not flushed out. I think the biggest problem with tech people like BMW is they don’t see the HIGH HP wear and tear and are only dealing with low HP on Standard BMW’s and as such call it like they see it. We live in a HIGH HP world and in some cases double what the box was designed for and as such need to use different oils etc. A STD HP vehicle would probably be fine over its “lifetime” without an oil change but if you think you can wind it up and leave the oil in without regular changes then you deserve the bill for repair at the end of the day. I would say anything over 365rwks and hard driving would welcome a oil change @ 10k and if some hard track days or drags I’d even reduce that.