AL4 'sealed for life' auto fluid change!!

[ex-vaux]

Sealed for life!? Possibly.

Really just a question of how long said item is supposed to/actually live(s) for!

Modern car manufacturers seem to make some curious claims regarding the life of their products, without actually making any solid predictions regarding true life expectancy.

Some AL4's have met a premature demise as early as 70,000 miles, mostly those mated to HDI engines! Petrol models fair better.

Has any ATF fluid manufacturer produced an oil that will cope with extremely high mileages and sold it to mainstream car makers?

My wife's 165,000 mile 406 2.0, still runs sweet but was starting to get a bit jerky particularly when cold in first and second and was becoming sluggish on kick down. Normally, in my grey old fashioned world, I would have changed the transmission fluid and expected to see a dark brown solution draining from the bottom of the gearbox.

But read any official publication/web article on the subject, and the only recommendation is on rebuild. Haynes dutifully tow the party line and whilst explaining the procedure for draining and refilling it is not part of a recommended service plan.

So, what's my point? Well, I decided to do what probably most of us suspected needed doing several thousand miles ago, but did'nt do and possibly lived to regret it whilst handing over large quantities of well earned to the nice man at the garage.

Even a hasty prayer to the gearbox god and an offering to the sump monster may not be sufficient to prevent the stop light coming on, or the 'snowflake' syndrome afflcting the dashboard.

The older brother to the AL4, the 4h20 does have a recommended fluid change interval and a dipstick to boot! So why none of these on the AL4?

Okay, so I'm being wild and rebellious: But, feel the difference!

2.5 litres of Carplan ATF-U (£26.00) and 24Fl OZ(!) of Lucas transmission improver (£19.00) later, and the 406 is silky smooth again.

The black water like solution that I drained from the AL4, confirmed to me that I may just have saved it's life!

[myglaren]

Have a read through Jim's adventures with his autobox, may be some enlightenment there for you.

[dieselnutjob]

I thought you could only put Esso LT 71141 in these like 4HP20, though I'm not 100% sure.

[ex-vaux]

Carplan ATF-U meets the same spec, LT71141, at a lot less cost!

[dieselnutjob]

Lots of oils say that they are equivalent to LT71141 but the fact is that ZF only recommend the original Esso oil and not anything else. I don't know about Seimens so you need to check that yourself.

Personally I only put the real oil, as specified by ZF in my 4HP20. I won't risk saving £40 on oil to put a gearbox that would effectively right off the car if it fails.

I don't think that LT71141 is a spec, it's a product name, so when another oil manufacturer says that their product is equivalent I take that as being virtually meaningless.

I could be wrong though, but if I am wrong all it's cost me is £40.

[toh]

i put Valvoline Maxlife into my 4HP20

[Dippy]

Lots of oils say that they are equivalent to LT71141 but the fact is that ZF only recommend the original Esso oil and not anything else. I don't know about Seimens so you need to check that yourself.

Personally I only put the real oil, as specified by ZF in my 4HP20. I won't risk saving £40 on oil to put a gearbox that would effectively right off the car if it fails.

I don't think that LT71141 is a spec, it's a product name, so when another oil manufacturer says that their product is equivalent I take that as being virtually meaningless.

I could be wrong though, but if I am wrong all it's cost me is £40.

Assuming we are talking about vehicles that are out of warranty ? I too might have a punt at an equiv' (cheaper oil ) - or maybe not ?

Moons ago' I was partly involved with Volvo UK Warranty claims , one vehicle in particular that comes to mind is the Volvo 360 .
In a nutshell Volvo fitted a " modified " box - not long into it's production run , some dealers didn't receive the service bulletin update , some did but didn't read them , some read them incorrectly , some misunderstood , some thought hollocks to this we will use the " normal stuff" .
To make matters worse the garage service sheets sometimes quoted the fluid spec for the " older " box , even when the particular vehicle had the modified box fitted , using an Americanism " a real cluster F.... ensued "
The modified boxes had differing material specs on some ( 2 x I think ) of the internal seals , which neccessitated a " modified " Fluid .
The claims came thick and fast , and to their credit , regardless of whom was at fault ? Volvo honoured them all and even recalled the earlier cars to have dealer fitted later spec' seals & fluid fitted - and re - written service sheets .

So maybe fluid spec IS indeed a black art ? for reasons not always made obvious to the consumer .

* please forgive the Senior moment - it was when the 360 changed from a 4 to a 5 speed box ( Not Auto I don't remember if they made one ?) there were gearbox seal failures due to incorrect fluid used.

Told yer I'd forgotten more than I ever learned.......