Thread: Grubby oil in the D3 gearbox......

Hi CaverD3,
My explanation will be in the mix with other things as well I suspect, the additives will also play a big part in "things that could go wrong", oil and lubrication is a very complex subject, there are many books written on this subject.
When oil is refined it's "oil", oil has a basic structure, the same from any company out of a refinery. Once upstream oil companies blending "departments" and "specialised" oil companies get their "grubby" little mitts on "it", being oil and start adding things, then it's anybodies guess what you will be getting, thats when it comes down to advertising, reputation, cost and experience, and that's when the general public get involved............ comes down to choice..............the end.

Originally Posted by CaverD3

Would explain why Norto's failed........ he went from high speed high temp to low speed low temp to Mitsubishi to depression . A sad
tale that we can all learn from.........

Having just picked up an '05 D3 with 97k on the clock I guess I will wait and see? By the sounds of it, the tranny oil was probably not checked by the dealer prior to delivery to me, but you never know.

However, I was one of the first to purchase the Allianz extended extended warranty's which will take my 5 yo D3 through to its 8th birthday or 200k, whichever comes first. Hopefully, if something does happen, it will happen before then.

I have no idea of its previous use, it looks reasonably looked after and the name on the service book is a company so I assume it was a reps car. That was until I found the Anderson plug next to the trailer plug so who really knows? Interestingly, there is no second battery fitted so I guess they were taking power directly from the starting battery..?


Cheers for the tip Nomad,


Norm

Hi Norm,
Glad you got something out of the post Norm. With the warranty, I'm not sure if you got the vehicle from a LR dealer or another one stop shop dealer. Because you talk about extended warranty I'll assume this is a LR dealer your talking about. I've had dealings with a few warranty claims, one such instance was a Volvo dealer who sold a non Volvo vehicle with a warranty, the oil cooler broke, one of the connections fractured, despite the warranty being described as bumper to bumper, when it came to the oil cooler this was "below the bumper" and didn't count.
Your warranty will more than likely be fine, but if you have evidence of towing, the anderson plug would be a clue, what does the tow hitch look like, well used or freshly painted? Might well be worth asking for an oil change, tales of $7k to fix the gearbox I'm not sure how much the warranty covers, sometimes the repair cost has a ceiling. Hope everything is fine I'm sure it will be.

Yeah, got it from Southern at Cannington so although I am not impressed when you compare them to other make Dealers, they are all I have known from LR. I guess I could ask them for an oil change but I'm not sure how they would record the fact that I asked, if at all. Pessimism tells me that I will have to wait for the transmission to fail (hopefully within the next 3 years or not at all) and then get them to fix it with a smug facial expression.

The tow hitch does not look overworn, as I said, its in pretty good nick for a 5yo but there are a few minor things but you would expect that.

I'm off to Shark Bay this weekend with a camper trailer hooked up so that will be its first test. I will let the forum know how it went but I'm hoping for big things. I really want to test this air suspension on the corrugations out to Steep Point.


Cheers,


Norm

Hi (again) Norm,
The limited service I've had from Southerns has been exceptional, very impressed, customer service seemed to be quite high on their list of things to do right.
When you go to Shark Bay are you going straight in or are you camping at Denham and driving in? You will find the corrugations a breeze, if you haven't been before watch the ranger he's very strict on tyre pressures, and I think you will find the D3 to be arse heavy, make sure your pressures are well down. Make sure the DSC is off. Have a nice weekend hope you catch some fish....