ZF issues in TTG - terminal lack of foward motion

[boyracer]

Hey all.

'07 TTG with 220km on it now and suffered terminal lack of forward motion. Gear selector display flashing and trans 'flaring' . Turned it off and as I was flat out at the time , chucked it under a cover in the back paddock.

Now, 6 months later, I have just pulled the pan and mech unit, old oil was still red, not milkshaked but did smell burnt. Fitted new bridge seal and tube seals and about 6 litres of Penrite Semi-syn so far. Still had flashing gear selector. OBD scan said 'reverse gear incorrect ratio' when trying it for first time. Reset and no more flashing gear selector but still seems not right. Oil level checked after warm up and topped up twice. I did leave it without pan on for a week on the hoist when something else came up so I guess the convertor may have lost some juice. Still not driving as expected. I read somewhere about shaft/pump seal / incorrect gear ratio being a common fault so thought I'd ask around.

Happy to strip it down, repack/ rebuild as necessary, have a hoist and it is not a daily. Going to be mostly the trailer hauler from now on for son's rally car.

Where's good for parts? Got the seals from Auto tranz diff parts at Pooraka.

There was a bit of glitter in the pan but not an alarming amount I'd have thought.

Happy to hear others thoughts? Got good advice from here when I had suspension issues a few years ago. I did try reading a few dozen pages on here with regards ZF. Found a helpful stripdown thread on a Range Rover site but UK based.

[Puffwagon]

8 hours ago, boyracer said:

Oil level checked after warm up and topped up twice.

 

This is not how you check the level. It has to be dead cold and then you check it, you are probably 600mL to 1L low on fluid still. Do this before you pull the trans apart.

[boyracer]

Thanks  Puffwagon.

Love your wagon by the way.

Info sheet  D/L from Penrite says 30-50 degrees critical. Can't see fluid settings on OBD apart from temp, someone suggested it has levels as well?

Looking around seems most on here prefer Gulf Western.

http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://penriteoil.com.au/assets/tech_pdfs/154 ZF 6spd Filling Instructions.pdf

Today did another start up and seems to drive OK if gears manually selected.

Will do cold check Monday first thing.

Edited 26/07/24 06:46 AM by boyracer

[Puffwagon]

Cheers mate, it goes pretty hard. There's no fluid level sensor in the trans, just the temp. In my experience, which includes a lot of actual workshop experience, you need to top them up when they're cold. I know the manuals say different, but I do what I know works.

[devidevighst]

On 25/07/2024 at 4:38 PM, boyracer said:

Hey all.

'07 TTG with 220km on it now and suffered terminal lack of forward motion. Gear selector display flashing and trans 'flaring' . Turned it off and as I was flat out at the time , chucked it under a cover in the back paddock.

Now, 6 months later, I have just pulled the pan and mech unit, old oil was still red, not milkshaked but did smell burnt. Fitted new bridge seal and tube seals and about 6 litres of Penrite Semi-syn so far. Still had flashing gear selector. OBD scan said 'reverse gear incorrect ratio' when trying it for first time. Reset and no more flashing gear selector but still seems not right. Oil level checked after warm up and topped up twice. I did leave it without pan on for a week on the hoist when something else came up so I guess the convertor may have lost some juice. Still not driving as expected. I read somewhere about shaft/pump seal / incorrect gear ratio being a common fault so thought I'd ask around.

Happy to strip it down, repack/ rebuild as necessary, have a hoist and it is not a daily. Going to be mostly the trailer hauler from now on for son's rally car.

Where's good for parts? Got the seals from Auto tranz diff parts at Pooraka.

There was a bit of glitter in the pan but not an alarming amount I'd have thought.

Happy to hear others thoughts? Got good https://casinomate3.com/ advice from here when I had suspension issues a few years ago. I did try reading a few dozen pages on here with regards ZF. Found a helpful stripdown thread on a Range Rover site but UK based.

Since the pan was off for a while and you already had burnt-smelling fluid with some glitter, I’d first suspect either loss of torque converter charge, a weak/air-affected pump, or internal seal leakage (pump seal / converter hub / bridge seal area). These ZF units are very sensitive to correct oil level and pressure.

A couple of questions: what exact gearbox model is it (ZF 6HP / 8HP or something else), and do you have access to live data like line pressure or clutch slip readings?