ZF 8 issues/my driving style issues?

[Wills2]

REALIST123 said:

I agree. After close to, if not more than 1m miles over the years with just about every kind of gearbox there is, I would certainly say they all have upsides and down.

But I don’t think the ZF8 deserves the castigation that some give it. It’s better than most.

I've now got the "M" version of the ZF8 having recently had the gen2 box in my 7 series, I'd say the gen2 in the 7 is the best so far the M version tries to be a DCT and that gets caught out a lot.

[ooGQoo]

Wills2 said:

ZF8 is a nice gearbox but there are still plenty of ghosts in the machine to annoy, lots of fanboys think it's amazing but it's got too many gears and shuffles about a bit and can find itself in no mans land if you coast up to a roundabout and then try and nip out, slow uphill left hand turns still fooled it as they do every auto box I've ever driven.

I've done about 80,000 miles in ZF8 cars from 184hp to 313hp and the traits were always the same. (I imagine someone will have already blamed your engine)

How you’ve described the not knowing what gear to be in when coasting up to a round has hit the mail on the head for me. I drive a 2011 520d F11 Msport and to say the gearbox is lazy is an understatement!! From first pull away (esp if a slight incline) the engine revs and the car slowly drags its arse off the sofa until it comes on boost that the thing tries to snap everyone’s neck off in the car so they all look at you as if your the issue 🙄. I’ve replaced the gearbox oil 4 times now and have reset adaptions but the sluggishness remains. My neighbour has a 318d Msport and as soon as you touch the throttle the car wants to go so A LOT more responsive then mine. I’ve had the engine mapped to give better torque which proved to be will worth the money it’s still not solved the lazy gearbox. Currently looking into remapping the gearbox software.

[MikeM6]

Not sure of the coasting issue is a zf8 problem, as the S Max I had as a rental yesterday was the same, gearbox was ponderous and just did not know what to do with itself. Also felt like it was really struggling to pull away from a standstill, a bit like it was always pulling away in second.

[mmm-five]

Mine in my 2015 320D is now fine, after coding the car for the Sport Automatic option.

Before that it would engage and change gears very slowly, which meant I'd put more throttle input, which then meant a jerky transitions or starts from a stop.

The Sport Auto option has made it much nicer - and the comfort mode is now somewhere between the old Comfort and Sport settings, whereas Eco is like the old Comfort mode.

[Pica-Pica]

Absolutely no issues (‘66 plate 335d). I lift off as I approach a roundabout and it changes down if not in a suitable torque band.

[Alex_6n2]

Several ways to improve a ZF8 gearbox, especially if yours has done many miles

1) Get it serviced

Buy the servicing kit from somewhere like AutoDoc https://www.autodoc.co.uk/zf-getriebe/8824048 .The price varies a lot on there, I paid £170
Take your car to someone registered as a ZF technician such as Rob Waller ltd near Oxford (https://www.robwallerltd.co.uk/)
The servicing requires the oil to be at a certain temp and you need the proper diagnostic tool etc

2) Get an XHP calibration installed

All you need is the smartphone app and a WifI OBDII dongle https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/bms-bmw-m...
Buy a flashing license and a map pack
Drive for ~50 miles gently to let the new calibration sort itself out
Job done
https://www.xhpflashtool.com/

[stevesingo]

I found that after some work was done which required the dealer to update the integration level. This is a factory reset of all modules to the latest version. The gearbox was much better afterwards.