ZF gearbox inspection in SA?

JordanB

///Member
Hey everyone, hope it’s a great Saturday so far. I wanted to ask, a Fanatic on the forum mentioned a while back when I got my car that you can take your car to ZF for a full gearbox inspection. My memory is a little fuzzy and I want to get a bit more information on it because they made it sound as if it would be super low cost because it’s actually ZF who make the gearboxes? Nothing is wrong it it from what I can tell, but I’d like to find out more.
 

GravityLee

Well-known member
Where are you based? If JHB, ZF in Edenvale will do a free diagnostic on your box, and depending on the result advise way forward.
 

///M Individual

Well-known member
Hey everyone, hope it’s a great Saturday so far. I wanted to ask, a Fanatic on the forum mentioned a while back when I got my car that you can take your car to ZF for a full gearbox inspection. My memory is a little fuzzy and I want to get a bit more information on it because they made it sound as if it would be super low cost because it’s actually ZF who make the gearboxes? Nothing is wrong it it from what I can tell, but I’d like to find out more.
Yes ZF is the gearbox manufacturer. What mileage are you doing? Once ZF inspects they can advise if you can service the gearbox and if so highly recommend you do.

As above there is a ZF workshop in Cape Town that you can visit.
 

JordanB

///Member
Yes ZF is the gearbox manufacturer. What mileage are you doing? Once ZF inspects they can advise if you can service the gearbox and if so highly recommend you do.

As above there is a ZF workshop in Cape Town that you can visit.
I’m on 110,000km, doing about 20,000 a year at the moment. Had the car since 90,000km
 

KevM

Member
I had mine serviced today. Car has 134k km, quite overdue so they were a bit concerned. Diagnosis also picked my faults and slow response on actuators. Luckily one of the guys noted a low voltage fault and indicated the poor performance was probably due to the old battery which was still the original one now almost 10 years old. They would not work on the car unless I changed battery. After installing the new battery, the gear changes were noticeably quicker. Oil was found to still be quite clean according to them so they then completed the service on gearbox and transfer case. Feels a bit strange at low speeds as the changes are more direct and not the typical lazy automatic that I got used to. Anyway... well worth it for those of us planning to keep our cars a bit longer. Also something to watch out for if you buy an older used vehicle.
 

JordanB

///Member
I had mine serviced today. Car has 134k km, quite overdue so they were a bit concerned. Diagnosis also picked my faults and slow response on actuators. Luckily one of the guys noted a low voltage fault and indicated the poor performance was probably due to the old battery which was still the original one now almost 10 years old. They would not work on the car unless I changed battery. After installing the new battery, the gear changes were noticeably quicker. Oil was found to still be quite clean according to them so they then completed the service on gearbox and transfer case. Feels a bit strange at low speeds as the changes are more direct and not the typical lazy automatic that I got used to. Anyway... well worth it for those of us planning to keep our cars a bit longer. Also something to watch out for if you buy an older used vehicle.
How much did it end up costing? In google reviews I saw a horror story where this guy took his land rover to have it inspected, they said it was a free inspection so they took a lot of it apart to diagnose it, then gave him a really high quote for the fixes, so he declined the repairs and they refused to put the car back together for him because the Inspection was free not the putting the car back together since he didnt accept the quote? Not saying this is necessarily true, just trying to fact check.
 

GravityLee

Well-known member
How much did it end up costing? In google reviews I saw a horror story where this guy took his land rover to have it inspected, they said it was a free inspection so they took a lot of it apart to diagnose it, then gave him a really high quote for the fixes, so he declined the repairs and they refused to put the car back together for him because the Inspection was free not the putting the car back together since he didnt accept the quote? Not saying this is necessarily true, just trying to fact check.

This sounds like a BS story not a horror story…

The diagnostic which ZF does (at least on the ZF8 boxes) is a non-invasive one, and based on the results they will advise whether to proceed with fluid change, or not, if the deterioration of the clutches is too advanced.
 

KevM

Member
How much did it end up costing? In google reviews I saw a horror story where this guy took his land rover to have it inspected, they said it was a free inspection so they took a lot of it apart to diagnose it, then gave him a really high quote for the fixes, so he declined the repairs and they refused to put the car back together for him because the Inspection was free not the putting the car back together since he didnt accept the quote? Not saying this is necessarily true, just trying to fact check.
Whoever wrote that review of the "horror story" is not sharing the full story. Diagnosis is done by plugging in a "computer" to note the response time on box and any faults that may have been logged.
Cost was R7500.
 

sash

///Member
Do yo
I had mine serviced today. Car has 134k km, quite overdue so they were a bit concerned. Diagnosis also picked my faults and slow response on actuators. Luckily one of the guys noted a low voltage fault and indicated the poor performance was probably due to the old battery which was still the original one now almost 10 years old. They would not work on the car unless I changed battery. After installing the new battery, the gear changes were noticeably quicker. Oil was found to still be quite clean according to them so they then completed the service on gearbox and transfer case. Feels a bit strange at low speeds as the changes are more direct and not the typical lazy automatic that I got used to. Anyway... well worth it for those of us planning to keep our cars a bit longer. Also something to watch out for if you buy an older used vehicle.
Do you perhaps have the quick charge times with the old battery and the new. I would have thought the voltage would affect quick charge times
 

arshad

New member
Hey everyone, hope it’s a great Saturday so far. I wanted to ask, a Fanatic on the forum mentioned a while back when I got my car that you can take your car to ZF for a full gearbox inspection. My memory is a little fuzzy and I want to get a bit more information on it because they made it sound as if it would be super low cost because it’s actually ZF who make the gearboxes? Nothing is wrong it it from what I can tell, but I’d like to find out more.
I took it to them. In edenvale. Such clowns. Did a diagnostic, found an error with a pressure on clutch C being way out of whack. Couldn’t tell me why. Said it’s probably the battery but that was new. Made me sign a disclaimer that if my gearbox pops when they change the oil it’s my problem. I made them change it anyway. Took longer for them to find the oil pan than do the change. If there is an issue with my gearbox I shudder to think how good the repair would be. Anyway driving fine so far….
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
I took it to them. In edenvale. Such clowns. Did a diagnostic, found an error with a pressure on clutch C being way out of whack. Couldn’t tell me why. Said it’s probably the battery but that was new. Made me sign a disclaimer that if my gearbox pops when they change the oil it’s my problem. I made them change it anyway. Took longer for them to find the oil pan than do the change. If there is an issue with my gearbox I shudder to think how good the repair would be. Anyway driving fine so far….
Hi

What car is it?
 
Top