Servicing recommendations?

[mattmason1]

I've recently purchased a 2003 Defender 90 and at some point soon will be doing a complete service on the vehicle.

For anyone reading, I have a couple of questions.

What fluids, greases, oils etc do people use on their own TD5s? Any preference over mineral or synthetic oils? Which brake fluid is best, coolant, etc?

Any help/recommendations would be much appreciated and hopefully help others, too.

[CraigE]

Your hand book should have a section on recommended lubricants.
I am assuming it is a TD5.
Oil every 5000kms I do mine.
Oil and filters (inc air) every 10,000kms I do mine.
Fuel filter every 40,000kms ( I do mine every 20,000kms).
I also do my gearbox, tranny and diffs every 20,000kms or more often if water crossings involved or possible contamination.
Brake and clutch fluid every 12 months.
Manual gives longer service intervals but is cheap insurance.
Coolant will need to be OAT - Nulon red is widely available and should be diluted 30-50% with demin water.
Oil I use Penrite, but any good synthetic or semi synthetic will do 5W.
Penrite MT oil or ATF fluid (have used Valvaoline and Castrol).
Redline fluids are good but expensive.
Castrol brake fluid is ok, but remember it is hydrophobic, so once opened it should be used reasonably quickly. If I am flushing the system, I first flush with open new fluid and then open a new one and flush again. Flushes out any crap.

[crump]

Penrite HPR Deisel 5 in the engine.
Penrite Sin gear 75 in the diffs and transfer.
Castrol VMX80 in the gearbox.
Prixmax MeG 95 for coolant.

[mattmason1]

Thanks guys,

Mine is a 2003 90 Extreme and its only got 40K on the clock and its in excellent condition for its age, so as you can understand, I don't want to ruin it by putting any old crap into it - hence the question regarding other owner's experiences/recommendations etc.

It looks like I'll try the Penrite & Redline products.

Have you tried K&N filters and if so, do they fit the standard air box?

As for oil filters, is it best to use the Landrover branded items, or are there better products out there.

My other cars are a 69 Cooper S (which is still awaiting its restoration for the last 5 years) and a 97 Toyota Starlet, which I take to Ultra-tune, so I'm a bit rusty on the whole self servicing thing. I'm a fitter by trade, so mechanics isn't a problem, more so its a new-ish car I'm not 100% familiar with the ins and outs of TD5 ownership.

[Aaron]

Ill leave everything else aside from the air filter to others more in the know. Basically K&n is a deff no no the LR original is the best. Run a search on k&n filters and you will see some good threads on why not to use them.

[Ken]

I have to agree on the K&N filters they are way to open as far as the folds in the filter are concerned hold one up to the light and you can see how much fine particles will get through into the engine

[mattmason1]

Noted - K&N will NOT be adorning my 90! Everywhere you look though; people, magazines and tuners seem to rave about them - its good to get honest advice from people who actually care about their vehicles.

Will check out the other threads.

[CraigE]

Do not put a K&N air filter on.
I use Coopers which is an aftermarket replacement. There has been some issue with some air filters not fitting correctly. This possibly has more to do with distortion of the air box plastic.
With centrifuge filters stay with LR or Mann-Hummel, both of these work fine. Some of the other brands get chewed out as they are not quite right.
Oil filters Coopers, Mann-Hummel and various other brands are OK, not really much that can go wrong with these.
Fuel filters I use LR, Coopers etc and have had no real problems.

If you decide to use redline lubricants, be aware they are damn expensive. Can cost over $100 to do a gearbox. Not in my budget but good oils.
Penrite also make a MT fluid suitable for the R380, I have some on order, but can not think of its exact name at present. Do not confuse it with the earlier gearbox MT oil as it is heavier.

[mattmason1]

Thanks guys for all of your input - it makes the whole process of owning and maintaining a LR so much easier, this whole site is brilliant.

A few people (non LR owners) have mentioned that the TD5 can be problematic - is this true? Or is it just an urban myth? I work out bush and my boss who also lives out near Laverton has a 10 year old Disco and he swears by them, and he seems to think its a bit of BS.

[Aaron]

Anything with moving parts will screw up if not treated and looked after properly. Every car/engine has its issues, but once you know their weakness's you can keep an eye on them or fix it before it happens. Most people hate anything LR.. and I love that they do.