Front and rear diffs - oil full of metal flake

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Originally Posted by DazzaTD5

*Not really any proof there, your pudding sample is 1.
*The average Land Rover mech prolly has a sample of at least 100 D3 / D4, most are like the OP found.
*And nothing to say the diff/s hadnt had a warranty change.
*As hypoid oils separate out quite readily from crud, when checking levels it always looks clean, drain the fluid, I bet its not clear.

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My diff had the same on the plug. So? Every diff I’ve ever changed has? There is a reason they put a magnet on them! My diffs are going fine.
Yes of course Mechanics see failures. That’s the nature of the job. For the 100 they’ve seen, that’s a percentage of how many built?

I guess my point is there seems to be an unfounded view that oil changes need to follow the change intervals of the crude mineral oil days, yet the oil quality is far improved. At least the commercial fleet has seen the light and also run extended intervals. Saves them a fortune. And yes, when their mining diesels fail it’s a huge expense, so they’re making these decisions to run extended based on empirical data.

Unquestionably it won’t hurt to change every oil every 10000km, but required??????? There’s a lot of indi scaremongering going on to drum up consistent work IMHO. After all, it’s not like unnecessary oil changes will result in a failure - quite the opposite, however I’m not convinced some of the km intervals mentioned are in the customer’s best back pocket interests.

I finally should add, if you’re not doing school runs and instead beating up the bush or towing then you should follow the arduous service schedule unquestionably!

Definitely do it after 60k.
Dazza's distances sound good.
Oil changes are good insurance for a long life, I reckon.

Well I got part way into it. Took over an hour just to get the heat shield off. Lost too much time to that and had to head inside to be dad again. Drained the oil and it's worse than anything I've ever seen. Noting that I was employed to test autos to destruction, often by cooking them and overloading. Resembled very overdue diesel engine oil rather than ATF. Hideous. Made me cringe.

Can anyone help with best method to get to the front sump bolts? The rears will be fiddly but we'll get there, but the front had me scratching my head. I'm thinking a T40 1/4" bit and a ring spanner, but even then it'll be a pain...

Now I'm not keen on dumping a fresh shot of LG6 into the trans in that current state. Thinking of dropping in some Nulon ATF, running briefly to mix and circulate and then draining that at least once before dropping the pan and replacing sump (steel) and filter. The Nulon is $12/ltr and available anywhere where the LG6 is more like $40/ltr and not so easy for a country dweller to find. I know this is heresy but I only have 7 ltrs of LG6 and little time to spare redoing the job.

LG6 watered down a bit with high quality Nulon low visc synth ATF would habe to be better than that crud...

But on a positive note, the front diff spins over smoothly by hand with no noises. Might not be too bad after all...

I’d be doing what ZF says and do a double flush. Use what you have now and circulate it with the existing, order some more and redo it in a couple of weeks. At least that way you’ll have the same brand in there across the board.

I wouldn't mix lg6 with anything for any reason...

Jc

And because we all love pictures....

Attachment 140541

Sounds like I need to try and find some more LG6 pronto.

Looks like that car was a "Manufacturer Executive Vehicle" Ie had done a dozen press tests or the Paris =Dakar.
Regards Philip A

I had my auto serviced after 40k (It had 200k on the clock when I bought it) of ownership at Whyatts and Shane showed me a sample of the oil taken from the box and it was horrendous,
Your oil looks to be far far worse.
The good news is that my auto is still working just fine so there is hope for yours and your diffs as well after you have flushed and changed the oils.
Have you checked your TC yet?

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Originally Posted by trout1105

I had my auto serviced after 40k (It had 200k on the clock when I bought it) of ownership at Whyatts and Shane showed me a sample of the oil taken from the box and it was horrendous,
Your oil looks to be far far worse.
The good news is that my auto is still working just fine so there is hope for yours and your diffs as well after you have flushed and changed the oils.
Have you checked your TC yet?

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Yep, transfer case was really good, thankfully. Oil was a bit aged but still OK. Drained and refilled when doing diffs. No worries there :)

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

Looks like that car was a "Manufacturer Executive Vehicle" Ie had done a dozen press tests or the Paris =Dakar.
Regards Philip A

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One middle-aged lady owner. City-dweller in affluent area. No arduous use. No towing, no off-road. I doubt it's even been driven through a puddle. Full dealer service history and all maintenance/repair done by dealer to schedule using factory parts. I have the full history of this vehicle and some serious coin has been spent by the original owner. What most would call 'fastidiously maintained' and 'gentle use'. Vehicle is very well presented and looks really neat and tidy. Came from a 'Land Rover family' and hubby works for them in a senior white-collar role.

What lurks underneath that shiny exterior however.... I fully expected the oils to be tired after this extended period but I'm quite shocked by how degraded the diff and auto fluids are though. Hopefully caught in time. Auto engages and shifts beautifully and faultlessly so goes to show how good the adaptations are in masking the oil degradation. Transfer case is the only fluid so far that's looked halfway decent. Engine was serviced a few thousand kms ago and was pretty manky, so it'll get a follow-up service again probably before the big trip.

I've just ordered a 20ltr drum of LG6 and a metal/rubber gasket. Bit the bullet as I just don't have the time to do these jobs thrice.... Will refill, run, drain, assess, repeat if required. Then I'll swap the sump pan and filter once. From there I should be able to just do oil changes for a while as the filter should be good for a bit but I'll assess that based on what comes out. Blocked filters aren't a great idea.