Red Line D6 and ZF 8 Speed

[IndyFan]

Red Line claims compatibility with the ZF 8 Speed. Any thoughts?

I know it is apples to oranges, but I have run their C+ fluid in place of ATF+4 in my 2018 Wrangler manual gear box and it smoothed out the shifting a little bit. I have been running it for nearly 80k miles with no issues, so it has given me great confidence in Red Line.

Has anyone run this in a ZF in a Jeep or Ram?

I am coming up on 60k miles on my Gladiator and am going to service the transmission. Warranty will be over at 60k. I´m just thinking about it as I creep up in the next couple months on this swap. I do plan on putting a PPE drain pan on it with a drain plug to make swaps easier in the future. It also happens to add 1 quart of capacity, although that isn´t really what I was after.

 

[RBT]

Personally I would not take the chance and would use the Mopar fluid and the factory filter, which I think is integrated into the pan as it is on my truck. A second cousin is a CJDR tech and has told me not to mess around when it comes time for mine - just use the Mopar fill% It is also unclear what you would achieve by adding additional capacity as this is a very well designed and built transmission. Seems like risk for little real return.

 

[kschachn]

You might find some useful information here. I used to pay extra for Red Line as well, there is a Pelican Racing store near my house that sells their products. These days I just go to Walmart and get Maxlife.

S

Thread 'ZF 8 speed fluid and filter'

Apr 25, 2017

Did my RAM's transmission service. New fluid from Brian at BND, New pan/integrated filter combo with new bolts from Mopar. FYI this fluid retails for around 40 bucks a quart! BND custom blends this stuff for about half that with superior additive pkg proven in years of dealing with Audis and such with ZF units in them.

Only took about 6 quarts, relatively easy (about 1 hour), had to drop some exhaust down a bit to clear the pan. Factory fluid was astonishingly clean and beautiful at 50k hard miles in less than 2 years. The pain for me was my primitive fluid transfer pump. Took a while...

• SteveSRT8
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Mechanical/Maintenance Forum

Thread 'ZF 8 Speed Fluid Poll'

Aug 6, 2021

I need some help deciding. Please tell me any good info.

• BMW Dom
• Replies: 43
• Forum: ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S

S

Thread 'Lifeguard 8 and Audi 8hp55'

Jul 22, 2018

I just picked up a new to me 2013 Audi Q5 3.0T with 90k kms on it with the zf 8spd 8HP55?? At 100k km I'm planning on changing the trans fluid, finding lifeguard 8 for a decent price its turning out to be a bit of a task, does anyone have a link for decent priced fluid? Keep in mind I'm in Canada, even the dodge dealer when asking for 8spd fluid for a new ram is asking for all the money for this fluid.

Any tips to doing this job? I've had 3 other automatic Audis with the 5hp19 trans so I know the fill procedure.

• seanf
• Replies: 23
• Forum: ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S

Thread 'Who makes a fluid for 8 speed Ram 1500?'

Apr 22, 2015

Looking to pick some extra fluids to keep in the garage. The manual says Mopar ZF 8&9 speed ATF.

Has anyone seen anything like this, or is it a dealer only fluid?

• MuzzleFlash40
• Replies: 138
• Forum: ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S

Thread 'What makes lifeguard 8 special?'

Jul 8, 2021

What makes this fluid special? Has anyone used Pentosin in these, or even Maxlife?

I find it interesting that Valvoline says Maxlife will work in for Lifeguard 8 and other lifeguard fluids.

How can this be?

• BMW Dom
• Replies: 44
• Forum: ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S

 

[panthermike]

If they claim compatibility, I think it would be fine. Many many people use Maxlife in the ZF's and I haven't heard of any issues there.

 

[IndyFan]

I haven´t found a single Maxlife user with issues and I think it is pretty common on the Ram forums. Not finding as many folks using Red Line, but I´ve used their C+ in my 2018´s manual transmission and it has been great and smoothed out the gear engagement a bit.

Others?

 

[kschachn]

I haven´t found a single Maxlife user with issues and I think it is pretty common on the Ram forums. Not finding as many folks using Red Line, but I´ve used their C+ in my 2018´s manual transmission and it has been great and smoothed out the gear engagement a bit.

Others?

I liked Red Line, I never had any complaints except the price. But I’m equally happy with Maxlife, maybe that’s just me.

 

[IndyFan]

I liked Red Line, I never had any complaints except the price. But I’m equally happy with Maxlife, maybe that’s just me.

Yep, I think I would be, too. I have a deal offered for Red Line through Amazon through my Credit Card, so I´d get 6 quarts for about $70. That ain´t a Max Life bargain, but not bad for a premium brand like that. That´s what made me consider it.

Max Life is $25 a gallon. That´s really a bargain.

 

[IndyFan]

Personally I would not take the chance and would use the Mopar fluid and the factory filter, which I think is integrated into the pan as it is on my truck. A second cousin is a CJDR tech and has told me not to mess around when it comes time for mine - just use the Mopar fill% It is also unclear what you would achieve by adding additional capacity as this is a very well designed and built transmission. Seems like risk for little real return.

While I don´t see added capacity being a risk, I also don´t see a huge advantage other than thermal and detergent capacity. These transmissions seem to do just fine with the standard capacity and even some that have been seen that were somehow shipped from the factory not completely filled. The transmission wouldn´t know the extra capacity was there. But that has zero to do with the purchase. It has everything to do with having a drain plug to make swapping the fluid much easier and maybe more frequent. I might do 30k or 40k instead of 60k drains/fills, depending on how much towing I do.