Trainer's Corner 3.2010

After a short period of use – often just less than six months, maximum nine to twelve months – the extra costs for ZF Ecofluid M paid off.

By using a high-quality, fully synthetic transmission fluid, the efficiency of commercial vehicle transmissions can be increased even more. The protection against wear achieved using this oil reduces maintenance costs and will extend the service life of the transmission.

Modern commercial truck transmissions are complicated vehicle components with the highest requirements for reli-ability, gear shift comfort, and service life. The transmission fluid plays a de-cisive role in this because it influences most components in the transmission. For this reason, a few years ago, ZF developed the high-performance, fully synthetic oil called ZF Ecofluid M that is already being used to fill two-thirds of truck transmissions rolling off the line, ranging from small vans to 40 ton trucks. ZF Ecofluid M should also be the first choice when changing oil.

The lower-quality lubricant (according to TE-ML 02D) was unable to properly protect this highly loaded bearing from wear after only two years of use and with an odometer reading of about 90,000 km. With ZF Ecofluid M, the owner would have achieved a considerably higher service life.

Roland Stauber, Senior Manager Tech-nical Support in Customer Service Truck Driveline Technology within the ZF Services business unit, sees very well conflict of interest for the automobile service industry. "Each time oil is changed, it creates a new opportunity for additional service business." That is why, outside Europe especially, it is standard to perform the first oil change after a brief period of operation, in support of the long obsolete opinion that transmissions have to be freed from production residues and friction caused by run-in wear. If you use the heavily tested and temper-ature-resistant ZF Ecofluid M instead of a standard mineral oil, the oil change in-tervals can be considerably extended, to three years (instead of one year for mineral transmission fluid). "The somewhat higher costs for a fully synthetic oil pay off quickly," promises Stauber who explains the plus points. Longer oil change intervals and a lower need for repairs reduce vehicle downtimes. In addition, the transmission's efficiency is increased compared to miner-al and partly synthetic transmission fluids so that up to one percent fuel savings can be achieved. This can mean cost savings in the triple-digit Euro range per year. Ultimately, the oil combines high temperature resistance with outstanding protection of gear toothing, bearings, and synchroni-zations. And it ensures optimal shifting comfort even at low temperatures. At the request of vehicle manufacturers, trans-missions right off the assembly line are filled with ZF Ecofluid M, which can also be ordered worldwide from ZF Customer Service for service oil changes.