Thread: Disco 3/4 Automatic Transmission FAQ - 6 Speed

Originally Posted by crawal

Are all the ZF6 sums suitable for the Disco 3's ie BMW , ford or should i just stick to one suitable for Landrover ?
We sell the Range of Total oils at work and they do a product that meets the spec well under $15 litre .

crawal - no, they're not all the same. Most of the Ford ones don't have a drain hole. The BMW/Land Rover ones do have a drain hole - which obviously makes service a lot easier.

I just purchased a steel pan & 20l of lifeguard6 from motorspecs at a cost $26 per litre. When I asked at my local LR dealer they wanted $103 per litre!!
Will try fitting the pan on the weekend and see how I go.

So I've replaced the tray & had a full service
Now as a follow up, how often should the tranny be serviced? Wait another 50,000kms or annually approx 20000kms?
Any consensus?

50,000 for me. I suppose if you tow a heavy van a lot then annual may be to way to go.

I've been going with 50-60,000k's as well. Oil looks reasonably clean after that.
When I dropped it first time at 180,000 it looked like used diesel engine oil.

How many liters of oil would one need for a drain and refill? Mines already had the steel sump conversion done.

The general opinion is about 6 litres.

Just got off the phone with TRS in Lonsdale. They priced a new genuine converter at $1100 or installed at $2300. They both seem like acceptable prices to me.


The guy who I spoke to knew exactly what the issue was and also commented on how failure to install the three crossover pipe brackets will lead to eventual failure of the crossover pipe, which they see often enough when people who don't know this model replace the TC. I did already know about that, but it gives me confidence in TRS that they understand the vehicle. His exact words were "we wouldn't even be having this conversation if the previous owner of your car had serviced the trans."


This is opposed to the service manager at Solitaire, who hadn't even heard of the TC being a common issue on TDV6s, and hadn't heard of the oil pump issue either!