Zf5 fluid color

[Christopher Cline]

The Transmission was supposedly rebuilt within 5000 miles, the fill plug is totally stripped out. So in a attempt to make sure there was any fluid in it after my swap I cracked the bottom drain plug and let some fluid dribble out. it came out grey which struck me as odd. Idk if it was just the magnet getting washed by the fluid and there is clean atf on top of it or if it is all that color and shot. Any ideas?

 

[Philip1]

The zf5 uses atf so the oil should be red
If there is grey, that would be metal and the oil should be drained and replaced if possible

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[Christopher Cline]

Yes I know it should be red, I’m just wondering what would cause it to be grey

 

[Christopher Cline]

Maybe water?

 

[chillman88]

Yes I know it should be red, I’m just wondering what would cause it to be grey

Metal shavings or synchro material depending on what these synchro's are made from.

Pull the shift tower off the top, drain the fluid, then refill with one gallon of clean synthetic ATF through the top. If it's not 1 gallon I'm sure someone will chime in but I think that's the capacity going by memory.

If you're really worried about it you can send some of the old oil off to get tested.

 

[chillman88]

Maybe water?

Typically water makes milky brown with motor oil, I would imagine it would be milky brown or reddish with ATF if it was water.

 

[Christopher Cline]

Turns out the tranny was empty. Not sure how long the PO ran it empty if at all but needless to say it’s full now hopefully she will still last a while but I’m sure that shaved some life off of it