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

[QUOTE=casta66;2735854]Thanks guys, yep it's a D3, i still have the D2 but switching over. Wow I didn't think it would take so may kms to improve. Might have to put the rebuild

I was told my tranny was stuffed and rebuild was required. Mine did have full fluid change plus additive. There is still a slight hydraulic noise in the tc and reverse is a little slow to engage. I have done about 5000 km since change. I agree with discovered 1 2 that the transmission is incredibly resilient. It is worth finding someone who knows how to service the transmission properly.

Originally Posted by Geoffd2

Hi, Just thought I would share my ZF horror story, It may help some people. I have a D3 2009 with 120.000 klms. It was slipping on take off after a short drive, so I thought I would have it serviced. I paid $1000 for the service. It was done by a Land rover specialist in Brisbane. When I got it back it was still slipping. The new steel pan was fitted but it was leaking bad. I rang them and they told me to take to a Transmission guy. I thought im not even going to deal with these people again and got on the internet and find a ZF guru and get it done properly. On this site the only recommendations where in Melbourne. So after some research I found Direct drive in Seventeen mile rocks. He suggested a rebuild. Quoted $4500.00. I rang two other land rover specialist and they said they would call me back with a price, but never did. So I took it to Direct Drive and he pulled it out and first found one of the bolt from the pan had broke and the person who done the first service glued the head of the bolt in. In the transmission there are apparently 8 plastic bushes and four where completely gone. He replaces them heavy duty nylon bushes which he says will last forever. He over hauled the converter , put a solenoid set in and a accumulator set. Now it drives better than new. Comes with a 2 year warranty. So if anyone in Brisbane needs a ZF guru, Give Allen a call at Direct drive 33760011. Regards Geoff

What suburb was the mob that charged $1000?

G'day everyone,
I've just bought a 2006, 2.7lt, 223k km D3. I have reports the ZF was replaced in 2015, and has about 60k km on it. I've not seen any receipts. I'd believe some work has been done on it at some stage as I have the BMW pan with drain plug. After having a service in Melbourne last week, I drove to the Sunny Coast, and thought I'd tinker with the auto trans.

I jumped on our friend google, and looked for Auto Trans specialists close to Maroochydore. After speaking with the two of the shops about price, fluid, and services provided, I made the decision to drop the fluid myself. Bear in mind, I work away from where I am staying, and I have no resources other than a shifter so I had to buy everything.

This is what I needed;
Bunnings purchases:
1.5kg Bag of Rags $8.09
9pce Metric Kinchrome Allen Keys $33.89
Supercheap Auto Purchases:
Oil Drain Container 8L SCA $16.97
AutoBarn Purchases:
Oil Suction Gun $29.99
Nulon 4L SYNATF (x2 @ $59.99ea) $119.98
Total
$209.82 (1/4 of quote prices. Details can be PM'd if required)

This was the (my) process:
Yesterday I removed the factory trans protection plate.
Today 0600 - kids wake me up, turn on ABCkids. Go to carpark, check I can undo fill plug - SUCCESS! This was pretty tight, so I used the wheel nut socket from the LR tool kit as an allen key extension. This 'popped' the plug loose. Put oil container under drain hole, and removed plug. Then went back unto house.
0645 - Go to carpark. Replace drain plug (no copper washer, the BMW plug has a moulded sealing ring built into it). Remove Fill plug. Fill tranny until oil leaks out of fill hole. Place plug in fill hole. Then do this:

1. Start car, and select the following gears;
   
   1. R, count 1,2,3,4,
   2. N, count as above,
   3. D, count,
   4. Command shift, count,
   5. Select 2nd gear, count,
   6. Select 3rd gear, count,
   7. D, count,
   8. N, count,
   9. R, count,
   10. Put tranny in P.
   
   
2. Remove fill plug and continue filling until oil leaks out of fill hole. (FYI it is weird opening the tranny fill with the engine running!)
3. Replace plug.
4. Repeat step 1.1 thru 1.10 above. (confidence check)
5. Repeat step 2.
6. Repeat step 3.
7. Tighten plug.
8. Turn engine off, and clean up.

0745 - test drive.
0800 - all finished.

A few points:

• I did this as the car 'snatches' occasionally when slowing down, and then accelerating again.
  
  • Most obvious at less than 15km/h when slowing down for stop lights or turning a corner.
  • Also obvious between 60-80km/h when following other traffic.
  
  
• The D3 also 'clunks' into 1st gear occasionally.
• I did this as I had two previous experiences with auto's in 4wd's (in particular)
  
  • Discovery 1 with 300tdi and auto. I used to change 500ml of auto tranny fluid at every 5,000km engine service.
  • Nissan R51 Pathfinder with 2.5L and auto. This tranny was also 'sealed' for life. I had the vehicle unto 145k km, and the tranny was never serviced as the leasing vehicle would not allow it; neither would Nissan.
  
  
• I do not believe Automatic transmissions are a 'sealed for life' item.
• Nulon SYNATF is quite cheap at $15/lt, and it states on the label that it is a direct replacement for LG6 (among others)

Further Info:

• This drain and fill replaced about 5L of fluid.
• The fluid which came out was dark brown, and didn't smell fresh.
• I will be doing this again in 2wks. At the moment I have about 33% Nulon, and 66% existing fluid in the tranny. After the second drain and fill, I should have about 50/50 Nulon/existing. I will continue to do the drain and fill every 2nd service as I did on my previous D1.
• I will be adding Dr tranny in a fortnight.
• I will be doing the resets in a fortnight (ZF 6HP26, 6HP28 Transmission Fluid Service Procedure)

Was it worth it?
Yes. The D3 no longer 'clunks' into 1st gear at all in about of 60km of city driving this morning. The car 'snatching' which occasionally occurs when slowing down, and then accelerating again has been reduced significantly.

Verdict
This was money well spent and it's a pretty simple job. It's also a fairly clean job. I did this in my hotel carpark and it's easy not to make a mess. I look forward to doing it again in 2wks.

Cheers,
Adam

Originally Posted by kreecha

G'day everyone,
I've just bought a 2006, 2.7lt, 223k km D3. I have reports the ZF was replaced in 2015, and has about 60k km on it. I've not seen any receipts. I'd believe some work has been done on it at some stage as I have the BMW pan with drain plug. After having a service in Melbourne last week, I drove to the Sunny Coast, and thought I'd tinker with the auto trans.

I jumped on our friend google, and looked for Auto Trans specialists close to Maroochydore. After speaking with the two of the shops about price, fluid, and services provided, I made the decision to drop the fluid myself. Bear in mind, I work away from where I am staying, and I have no resources other than a shifter so I had to buy everything.

This is what I needed;
Bunnings purchases:
1.5kg Bag of Rags $8.09
9pce Metric Kinchrome Allen Keys $33.89
Supercheap Auto Purchases:
Oil Drain Container 8L SCA $16.97
AutoBarn Purchases:
Oil Suction Gun $29.99
Nulon 4L SYNATF (x2 @ $59.99ea) $119.98
Total
$209.82 (1/4 of quote prices. Details can be PM'd if required)

This was the (my) process:
Yesterday I removed the factory trans protection plate.
Today 0600 - kids wake me up, turn on ABCkids. Go to carpark, check I can undo fill plug - SUCCESS! This was pretty tight, so I used the wheel nut socket from the LR tool kit as an allen key extension. This 'popped' the plug loose. Put oil container under drain hole, and removed plug. Then went back unto house.
0645 - Go to carpark. Replace drain plug (no copper washer, the BMW plug has a moulded sealing ring built into it). Remove Fill plug. Fill tranny until oil leaks out of fill hole. Place plug in fill hole. Then do this:

1. Start car, and select the following gears;
   
   1. R, count 1,2,3,4,
   2. N, count as above,
   3. D, count,
   4. Command shift, count,
   5. Select 2nd gear, count,
   6. Select 3rd gear, count,
   7. D, count,
   8. N, count,
   9. R, count,
   10. Put tranny in P.
   
   
2. Remove fill plug and continue filling until oil leaks out of fill hole. (FYI it is weird opening the tranny fill with the engine running!)
3. Replace plug.
4. Repeat step 1.1 thru 1.10 above. (confidence check)
5. Repeat step 2.
6. Repeat step 3.
7. Tighten plug.
8. Turn engine off, and clean up.

0745 - test drive.
0800 - all finished.

A few points:

• I did this as the car 'snatches' occasionally when slowing down, and then accelerating again.
  
  • Most obvious at less than 15km/h when slowing down for stop lights or turning a corner.
  • Also obvious between 60-80km/h when following other traffic.
  
  
• The D3 also 'clunks' into 1st gear occasionally.
• I did this as I had two previous experiences with auto's in 4wd's (in particular)
  
  • Discovery 1 with 300tdi and auto. I used to change 500ml of auto tranny fluid at every 5,000km engine service.
  • Nissan R51 Pathfinder with 2.5L and auto. This tranny was also 'sealed' for life. I had the vehicle unto 145k km, and the tranny was never serviced as the leasing vehicle would not allow it; neither would Nissan.
  
  
• I do not believe Automatic transmissions are a 'sealed for life' item.
• Nulon SYNATF is quite cheap at $15/lt, and it states on the label that it is a direct replacement for LG6 (among others)

Further Info:

• This drain and fill replaced about 5L of fluid.
• The fluid which came out was dark brown, and didn't smell fresh.
• I will be doing this again in 2wks. At the moment I have about 33% Nulon, and 66% existing fluid in the tranny. After the second drain and fill, I should have about 50/50 Nulon/existing. I will continue to do the drain and fill every 2nd service as I did on my previous D1.
• I will be adding Dr tranny in a fortnight.
• I will be doing the resets in a fortnight (ZF 6HP26, 6HP28 Transmission Fluid Service Procedure)

Was it worth it?
Yes. The D3 no longer 'clunks' into 1st gear at all in about of 60km of city driving this morning. The car 'snatching' which occasionally occurs when slowing down, and then accelerating again has been reduced significantly.

Verdict
This was money well spent and it's a pretty simple job. It's also a fairly clean job. I did this in my hotel carpark and it's easy not to make a mess. I look forward to doing it again in 2wks.

Cheers,
Adam

I hope you didn’t use the product they call Synatf as that doesn’t seem to comply. This product of theirs supposedly does
Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle Automatic Transmission Fluid Low Viscosity - Nulon Products Australia

First you have used the wrong oil - while there is lots of discussion on oil to use on this forum and there are a couple of alternatives but I dont think Nulon 4L SYNATF is one of them. I looked at that oil a while back when Nulon claimed it was a match but I have noticed that claim has been removed. In my view you should only use the genuine LG 6 oil.

Second - you have only replaced about half the oil in the gearbox - certainly better than nothing but you now have different oils in the gearbox so not sure how that is going to work out.

Nulon Australia - NetLube


Lube guide says its suitable alternative

Originally Posted by northiam

Nulon Australia - NetLube


Lube guide says its suitable alternative

LVSYNATF is, SYNATF is not when looking at the compliance of each product in each specs. I believe the line guide is incorrect showing two oils.

There was an extensive discussion on this forum about 2 years ago on this. Not worth the risk. Repco has discounts on oils every few weeks and with Auto Association discount you can get the proper LG6 for only a few $$$ more than the Nulon stuff.

If buying in bulk it is cheap from ZF.