Hi Scottie,
I have a 2019 Grand Cherokee V6. It has 25K miles and runs great. What kind of maintenance should I perform on this trans to keep it running well? Is the 8Speed ZF a good transmission?
We have a page in the FAQ about transmission fluid changes, check it out (refer below).
Your owners manual should also have intervals for maintenance.
@kerem
The fluid change interval stated in the owner's manual my be different from what ZF claims. ZF recommends changing the fluid on their transmissions every 50k-75k miles, whereas your vehicle's manufacturer may state something else. For example, my BMW owner's manual states that the fluid in the transmission is a "lifelong" fill, which is totally not true! And the sticker next to the fill plug says not to drain the fluid lol!
It's the best automatic transmission out there assuming you're keeping up with fluid changes every 50k miles.
Allison transmissions and Aisin transmissions are much better than ZF transmissions.
@billybob
Yes, Allison and Aisin are great transmissions as well. But I have to give it to ZF for best shift quality and reliability as well. Probably THE smoothest transmission I've ever experienced by far. Have you driven a car with a ZF8HP? The shift quality is really close to a DCT's...only this one will last much longer than a typical DCT.
And the ZF8HP has the ability to shift non-sequentially, meaning it can shift from 8th gear to 2nd gear in milliseconds for sudden braking.
I concur with the shift quality for ZF. I don’t know how they do it, but it just knows how I want to shift.
If you ever have to repair or rebuild a ZF transmission then you pay through the nose.
@billybob
Realize that EVERY automatic transmission rebuild/repair/replacement is very expensive. You're talking as though the Aisin and Allison transmissions are going to be cheap to rebuild/repair/replace. They will all be in a relatively similar price range for a rebuild/repair. And in my opinion, I would NEVER opt for a rebuild...because half the time they end up having problems again and again. Replacing the transmission with a low mileage one is always better than opening up the damaged one and repairing it. Anyways, they are all GREAT transmissions as long as you replace the fluid every 50k miles, it should last a very long time. Any automatic transmission will start having problems when they aren't maintained well.
My car has a ZF 4HP18 transmission. It's OK but nothing special. I've had no experience with their newer models like the 8-speed.
@Razmig Bartassian don't put words in my mouth! I never said that Allison and Aisin transmissions were cheap to repair or rebuild. Yes, any transmission is going to be expensive but ZF transmission are exceptionally expensive.
The 8 speed ATs were good - but I would avoid the 9 or 10 speeds as the jury is out on those. Also, if the ZF 8-speed eventually fails it will cost a small fortune to replace, so stay on top of your transmission fluid changes religiously. The rest of the vehicle being FCA quality could give issues sooner than that transmission would (unless the transmission programming by FCA is off).
ZF only sells the transmission to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers program the transmission how they want to. I'm sure ZF provides a base program/template for the TCU, but it's ultimately up to the manufacturer how they want to program the transmission (shift points, line pressure, faster shifting, etc.)
ZF makes excellent transmissions. The only thing is when they finally do go out, they are EXPENSIVE to rebuild.
