Whilst my 2010 3.6 is cold the revs fluctuate, when warm it is better but still get a bit until I get into top gear. Whilst in the Peak District on holiday I got judder climbing a steep hill in low gears. Here in Hertfordshire we don't do hills, no judder since.

145k on the vehicle, 3k last year so not a lot of use. I also get a bit of shunt going into second gear, it should be smooth I suppose but there is a thud!

I had seen comments about the gearbox oil being low as a cause, so followed the oil check procedure and got about a cupful of oil flow out of the box which was a surprise. The oil was quite black.

I am worried I have a crack in the oil cooler and some glycol is contaminating the gearbox oil. I suppose the only way to test is to check again in a few weeks to see if the level is raised again.

Or it could be the torque converter £1200 fix with a mega flush.

Alternatively I could diy oil change which "may" fix it for a while.

Any other smart ideas, the fatty is great apart from this. 2009 TDV8 3.6

If the fluid is black, you're going to need to change it and the filter - especially if it's never been done at 145k.

If you drop the fluid and filter, you'll need to do several changes to get most of the old stuff out. A mega flush will of course do that in one go. I would hesitate to do so, though. I think you might want to budget for a replacement/rebuilt 'box..

Thanks I am being told the e-clutch and some bushes have gone and it is a rebuild. 2009 TDV8 3.6

Try changing the oil & filter and add a couple of doses of Doctor tranny, (instant shudder fix). If you have wear it wont fix it but will give you more time if the damage isn’t terminal. It’s not expensive and you just add it to your new oil when changing. I did mine at 100K after it started to shudder on hills while towing. I could have just been lucky as it went on to do 165K afterwards with just transmission oil changes every 30K ish.
If you have water in the oil it will go coffee coloured, also when checking the level it must be done engine running with oil temp between 30 and 50 degrees C, a good indicator if you don’t have a code reader is warm to the touch on the gearbox casing.
Worth a try for the cost.

Thanks Dave, I will try that. I have checked the oil with an infra red thermometer. Dr Tranny, right off to ebay. We only do a low mileage in the car so if I get another 10k out of it that is a win. 2009 TDV8 3.6

whats the cause of this shunting between 1st and 2nd ? any ideas

It is just a bit clunky not awful, a light shunt I thought these things were smooth. 2009 TDV8 3.6

lostinespace wrote:

Thanks I am being told the e-clutch and some bushes have gone and it is a rebuild.

The E-clutch is used only in 4th, 5th & 6th gears. The well-known “E-clutch issue” with the 6HP26 is caused by wear of the rear stator bush which doubles as a seal for the clutch hydraulic circuit. When it wears (because ZF experimented, unsuccessfully, with lead-free bushes for a while) the pressure escapes and the clutch slips. The symptoms are usually a refusal of the transmission to select any higher gears once it gets to the 3-4 upshift. That doesn’t sound like the symptoms that you were describing?

Click image to enlarge

Phil

No Phil drives quite nicely apart from the wavy tacho needle up hills sometimes, all gears work fine. The oil didn't look great for £120 for the Dr Tranny and an "oil change" it is worth a go. 2009 TDV8 3.6

I don’t suppose anybody had any hints as to getting the dr tranny into the gearbox do they?! Without losing lots of oil…..

If changing the oil you can just mix it in, if not, jack up the drivers side, (UK) and put safety stands in place. With the car on a good angle and engine running in park, gearbox cool, you can remove the filler plug and inject the Dr tranny straight in, not the best method as you should really change the oil as well but it would work.

Don’t just do an oil change, do a flush,you are only getting approximately half the old oil out, even changing the oil a couple of times means you are mixing old contaminated (with friction material) broken down/burnt oil.

A flush will change the oil in the Mechatronics unit, torque converter, oil galleries, pump and cooling circuit. Either do it yourself (it’s quiet simple and straight forward) or pay someone to do the flush for you.

My experience is that doing multiple changes of oil and filter made little difference, then did a flush and the gearbox functions like new, and in others words like butter. No judder, no rev fluctuations, just smooth, prompt changes.