Well done Austral motors

[Scallops]

Hello Folks,

Some of you might be aware that Grover had developed a funny "Grooing" noise heard when driving below 60km/h. Well - the short story is that MR determined it was a rear prop shaft harmonic - and that I should get it looked at by Land Rover.

So I took it into Austral - the mechanic there came for a drive with me and could also hear the noise - so it went it to be fixed.

Well, I've got it back now - complete with the 2009 edition "nippleless" prop shaft. Bloody hell - I don't know what else they did, but the thing drives like a Bentley now! Very quiet - no drivetrain slop - it's totally transformed the vehicle - and the Grooing noise is gone - very happy.

And as the dealers often get a bad wrap - maybe because noone bothers to post when they do a good job, I thought I would - So well done Austral - I appreciate your work to fix my truck and turn it into the world's first Defender/Bentley morph.

[DiscoTDI]

I have bought my last 2 discoveries from them (Southside/Austral, same company) and know the sales manager quite well, to the point I used to drive from Moranbah to Brisbane to have my vehicle serviced there.

When I buy my next one, it will be from there and I will probably drive there to get it serviced as well.

[dullbird]

can you ask them about what they did

It really annoys me that we have been telling our dealer.....we can not get our gearbox to go into 3rd without a clunk..its really hard without being super super gentle on the clutch. To me that is not right as it does behave like that in any other gear.
BUT according to the dealer its fine and there is nothing wrong with it. It has done it from new.

Also the dreaded engine rattle is back......and the surging is geting worse
its has been over a year (18mths) they have been chasing this rattle..we only have just over a year left in warranty

However I'm not unhappy with the dealership in some respects they have been very good and very helpful. I'm just unhappy with the fact they can't find my problem and we have to hire a bloody courtessy car when ever we take our car in for warranty work.warranty work that they cant fix

[Scallops]

can you ask them about what they did

It really annoys me that we have been telling our dealer.....we can not get our gearbox to go into 3rd without a clunk..its really hard without being super super gentle on the clutch. To me that is not right as it does behave like that in any other gear.
BUT according to the dealer its fine and there is nothing wrong with it. It has done it from new.

Also the dreaded engine rattle is back......and the surging is geting worse
its has been over a year (18mths) they have been chasing this rattle..we only have just over a year left in warranty

However I'm not unhappy with the dealership in some respects they have been very good and very helpful. I'm just unhappy with the fact they can't find my problem and we have to hire a bloody courtessy car when ever we take our car in for warranty work.warranty work that they cant fix

Sorry to hear that, dullbird - it seems to me that Defender ownership is such a blend of frustration and exhilaration - I hope you can get everything ironed out soon.

As to what Austral did....

1) Replaced rear prop shaft with the new type shaft.
2) Loctited the splines (in rear diff?) to eliminate a click noise, heard when reversing up an incline.
3) Removed clutch pedal assembly and lubricated all moving points to fix clutch squeak.

When the propshaft is replaced, I guess you're also getting new Uni joints and having the shaft bolts tightened. At any rate - the vehicle has been transformed - seriously, it didn't drive this smoothly even when it was brand new.

But to get yours fixed, and as the dealer hasn't been able to resolve your issues - I'd take it to a Land Rover Specialist - like Graeme Cooper. Get them to write a full mechanical report on these issues. Then take that report to the dealer and ask them to fix them as per the report. This is what I had to do. Initially, Southside Land Rover dismissed my concerns about the grooing sound as being - "normal". When you own a vehicle and drive it every day, you know when something has changed. I knew my truck had developed this strange noise. So I didn't take no for an answer - I took it to MR. Sure, I had to pay for this - but I got a real diagnosis which Austral could then fix. And to Austral's credit - they did a great job.

Best of luck - I feel your pain - it's the ultimate in frustration when you own a vehicle that's still under warranty - only to be told by the dealer that there is nothing wrong - you know there is. Graeme Cooper might be able to help.

[VladTepes]

This is a red letter day.
I reckon this must be the first PRO Austral thread on AULRO !

[scarry]

This is a red letter day.
I reckon this must be the first PRO Austral thread on AULRO !

Good to see they have improved,but i wonder how Scallops would have gone if someone else had not diagnosed the problem.......

Junior scarrys Defender sat there for eight days in some sort of mixup last week & nothing much was done,but i will admit they were extremely helpful once they realised there was a mixup.



Don't want to put a dampener on the thread,but i havent been to them for 3yrs,after putting up with nonsense for the previous 6 yrs.I wish i had known about MR years ago.

[DiscoTDI]

They have improved because they shutdown Southside Land Rover and moved all the good people over from there

[scarry]

They have improved because they shutdown Southside Land Rover and moved all the good people over from there

Dunno,over that 6 yrs i used Southside as well,well no better.

Umm,by the way juniors MY09 Puma,is Nippled,on all the uni's,not the slide joints.

[lro11]

They have improved because they shutdown Southside Land Rover and moved all the good people over from there

70000KM service, cam seal needed replacement
80000KM service, cam seal needed replacement again & left the filler plug out of the transfer case and lost it, I drove for two weeks before I found the problem. Then it had to go back a third time because the oil filter seal was not put on so it leaked more oil.
now coming up to 90000KM and you guessed it cam seal leaks again
I feel sorry for those people who have spent a bomb buying a RR and get that sort of service.
And I won't even mention how they fixed the hand brake rattle (the word starts with F)
very sloppy work
They need to go across the road and get a clue from BMW

[Scallops]

Dunno,over that 6 yrs i used Southside as well,well no better.

Umm,by the way juniors MY09 Puma,is Nippled,on all the uni's,not the slide joints.

I understand fully what you are saying - I too I have been underwhelmed in the past in my dealings with both Southside and Austral, to put it mildly! - but I felt credit where credit due - this time they did a good job.

As to whether or not they would have been able to sort this without MR's diagnosis - well, that's academic - we'll never know. I'm just happy it's fixed. But I guess it would be true to say that I'll be taking Grover to MR though for all work bar warranty issues.

I'll leave it there - cos if I go any further I might as well not have posted the thread in the first place!!!

PS - It's just the rear prop shaft that was replaced - I couldn't see any nipples on it - might be wrong. I'd expect the Uni's to be nippled - didn't check.