Thread: Opinions please guys, transfer case oil leak

Seems a little drastic selling your car because of an oil leak..

Why dont you get a second opinion from another good landrover mechanic.

$2000.00 to fix an oil leak seems a little over quoted me thinks, unless your local bloke is fitting a replacement transfer case to remedy the leak.

Transfer case hasn't been overfilled has it? Was it leaking before the service work?

Good luck with it.

Mine has the same leak, very slight from transfer case,

My major work gets done at Graham Coopers in Sydney who really know their stuff and their view is it's not a problem, normal and should not get worse and they just let me loose in the td5 thru the centre (8000k) after a pre trip inspection.

They attended to lots of stuff prior to the trip but were not concerned about the small leak at the transfer case.

My leak is such it doesn't warrant a fluid level check with any regularity I just monitor the garage floor.

Strewth!! $1100 for a service, I'd buy a RAVE and do it myself.
I didn't realise that it costs so much, I must have saved mega $$$ doing my own services

Originally Posted by It'sNotWorthComplaining!

Strewth!! $1100 for a service, I'd buy a RAVE and do it myself.
I didn't realise that it costs so much, I must have saved mega $$$ doing my own services

X2
It's not that hard.

Hello Mikey3334

Seals don't cost much, they're rather cheap(about $30each or so at the most). A reasonable price for transfer case seals and labour should be around the $700mark(+tax) ,the gear box can be done at the same time, from a mechanic with all the right equipment to do the job.
$2k sounds very expensive.

The cost of all fluids and filters to purchase(non trade) should be around $450-500 so you can work out the profit of your mechanic there, and he would be getting trade discount on everything.

Cheers,

Jason

Come on guys, Don't be too quick to jump on the $$ figure. I have a 2008 Puma 130 in at present with a bad TF case leak, it gets worked hard but has only 100K on the clock. The leak was from the intermediate shaft Orings, common enough in LT230 transfer cases but this one was quite bad. Pulled the case to discover the intermediate shaft had flogged the casing, the centre diff thrust washers were GONE ( the pieces of bronze were spread all throughout the box, in the bearings etc, and the side gears had eaten into the centre diff casing. THIS one was uneconomical to repair when I can get a low km (40K) complete Puma transfer case for $1500. Straight bolt in and they are away.

IF they are quoting with a set of centre diff thrusts, all seals and labour to remove and refit case, dissassemble and replace all those compenents and even intermediate shaft bearings etc then $2k isn't all that far away from reality.

If just front and rear output seals, and intermediate Orings and input seal with no other hard parts required then maybe a little too much but it does depend entirely on what they want to do when it is out. Why not get a full itemised estimate first, so you know what they are going to do exactly for the $2K?

I have had people say 'their mate had this job or that job done for this much, so why won't you do it for that?' only to discover that the scope of work undertaken on their mates job was about half of what was actually needed on theirs, and if I had done it for that price I would've lost about 50% of the job in profit, not even breaking even on parts!!!


So, don't be too quick to judge until you have an itemised estimate in your hot little hand, then you can see what is actually going to be done.

JC

Ok, the cost of the service was for all fluids in all components such as transmission axles brake etc. Changed all filters inc diesel and air,etc. I think this was ok for a major service which also included inspecting brakes etc, rotating the wheels.
Now the transfer case leak he said could cost $2000 depending on what was found if anything. Might cost as little as $600. I wanted to know if you thought it should be done or just live with it bearing in mind we are off on our trip after xmas for about 3 months.
Mike

Originally Posted by Mikey3334

Ok, the cost of the service was for all fluids in all components such as transmission axles brake etc. Changed all filters inc diesel and air,etc. I think this was ok for a major service which also included inspecting brakes etc, rotating the wheels.
Now the transfer case leak he said could cost $2000 depending on what was found if anything. Might cost as little as $600. I wanted to know if you thought it should be done or just live with it bearing in mind we are off on our trip after xmas for about 3 months.
Mike

Here we are, this is what i was talking about, he is making sure you don't get any nasty surprises as he has possibly encountered varying levels of work required to repair these cases properly, to stop them leaking. D2 without a CDL WILL hammer the centre diff washers a LOT, not to mention the intermediate shaft I would be satisfied that he wouldn't want to be doing the job twice, and YES I'd get it done before the trip, they leak a heck of a lot more on high speed driving. I have seen one virtually empty itself

JC