new defender 300 tdi owner ?

[gsr341]

hi

i have been reading this forum for nearly a month , and have decided to finally register ,

so HELLO EVERY ONE

ive just recently bought a 300tdi swb , having rebuit and sold my series 3 in the summer,

i plan on changing my 300tdi (currently a van top) in to a whinch challange vehicle over the coming months and hope fully start playing/competing around may next year ..

so the first thing on my list is to change all the fluids on her ,

i know what goies in the axels and swivels , but not entirely sure what the gearbox and transfer box like to drink , and assume you all just use a good quality engine oil for the motor ?

any help/advice on this matter would be gratefully recived , hope to meet a few of you out in the mud next year

bye for now

Dafydd

[nicksmelly]

The transfer box takes EP90 and the gearbox (R380) uses MTF94 available to buy from Land Rover. If you can not find MTF94, ATF is similar and was used in land rover gearboxes until 1994.

I use Valvoline Durablend in my TDi and change it twice a year. Millers XFE is good too, but a bit more expensive.

Nick... the smelly one

[LR90]

Dafydd, firstly welcome to the forum and congrats on your new truck, sounds just the job. You'll have to post up some pics of your new defender in the members forum and share the development with us. Challenges are fun and are a great wasy to find things to fix/modify on your truck.

As to oils as I long term series owner I've found I now seem to need lots of oils I'd never used before. ATF for the power steering, and a different sort of ATF (ATF-G IIRC) for the gearbox while the transfer box is still on good old ep90. Might be worth a quick search of the forum for gearbox oils as some do seem to have generated better feedback than others. There is even a debate over wether to use grease in your swivels or ep90.

As to engine my policy is just go granville bronze turbo deisel oil and change it frequently.

[muddyplugger]

With regards to Gearbox oil I use 'EVOLUTION 1 Fully Synthetic Gear Oil' (supplied by Difflock) in the R380 box on the Disco. For me, it certainly is a lot better than LR's MTF94 (mind you more expensive too!!). I find it gives smoother gear changes when cold on those frosty winter mornings.

I used to change the 300Tdi's engine oil every 3000 miles. Sold it now though.

[robhybrid]

welcome to the forum.

Any chance you can fill in a bit of information about yourself.

You might be lucky and find that there is a challenge vehicle owning forum member not living too far away from you.

[gsr341]

hi Rob , i think i have seen your truck maybe even been a pasanger in it ?

around a year ago in a winch challange jsust out side Wrexham , organised by nigel and steve ?

bit more about me , im 26 live in wrexham , work as a maintainace fitter , drive a 300bhp + evo 6 as my every day car although thats seams to have stayed in the garage since i bought the 300tdi

really fancy a different kind of fun to the car so bought a series 3 , loved that , so rebuilt her , then decided that that not strong enougth to challange sop sold it and spent 3 months looking for a defender and her i am ..

[headhunter]

For the gearbox I use Redline MTL SAE 70W80

For the transfer box " GEAR OIL SAE 75W90

For both Diffs " HEAVY SHOCKPROOF GEAR OIL SAE 75W250

All are fully synthetic and can operate at very high and low temperatures. They have prolonged in use

durability and do not (shear) breakdown in the way other oils with additives do at high temperatures.

Some users of Redline gear oils do not change before 100000 miles and some HGV users have vehicles running with over 1000000 miles on the clock without any transmission repair thanks to Redline.

This comes at a price circa £12-14 per us quart (0.946litre) so using roughly 10 litres for a defender transmission is not cheap. It's up the the individual how often they change oil.

I will have a look at 12000 miles to see how the oil is holding up.

As far as engine oil is concerned a conventional 15w40 mineral oil will be fine for 200/300tdi engines.

I note that many owners change mineral oil every 3000 or so miles. It's cheap so it's a sensible precaution even though the recommended engine oil service is 6000 miles.

I am running in a new 2.8tgv (it's a 300tdi development made in Brazil) diesel engine in my defender, using standard mineral oil for the first 3000 miles. There after I will use Miller SAE5W40 semi-synthetic diesel engine oil.

This is because the semi and fully synthetic oils are too slippery when running in an engine design as old as the 200/300tdi range. The running in process requires a certain amount of metal to metal contact all be it minerally oil lubricated in order for the moving parts to bed in and especially cylinder compression to "settle" down. Synthetic oils are just too good for the early stages of running in.

On newer design engines this is not an issue as design and build tolerances are much tighter.

I may at a later stage go fully synthetic but for now I will reserve judgement.

Modern synthetic oils are expensive and although they will outlast mineral oils several times over it's probably best and cheapest due to the 200/300 tdi design, to keep the lubrication as simple as possible and change it fairly often.

John

[JST]

Hi there and welcome.

stick a post up for challenge vehicles and what would you do to make the ultimate one or something.

Oils are covered

my point being before you go and cut up your hardtop or buy a truck cab roof spk to SiWhite and consider the double cab option, he and Will Warne are looking to do +12" truck cab roofs etc.

I am running a std truck cab and the ltd internal storage space can cause probs.

[will_warne]

Hello and welcome. A 300tdi is an excellant choice for a base vehicle but you'll soon find plenty you'll want to change Oils wise, there's nothing to add. All I'll say is get used to changing oils regularly. I normally do axle (and swivel) oil and now gearbox (auto) after every event and then engine and tranfer box + all the filters every 2-3 months. If you've just got the vehicle, have you changed the cam belt or have you got any record of when it was last done? 300tdis are notorious for breaking belts so its worth doing (and checking the timing case modification has been done). As a guide, I think a vehicle used regularly off road really should have a cam belt change every 18 - 24 months.

Challenging is great, you'll love it. All I'll say is don't rush the vehicle preparation. Take it slowely so you can learn the vehicle and decide waht you want to change. I've had my 90 for about 4 years now and I'm still no where near finished with it. James mentioned bodystyles. I've run a hardtop for quite a while. Its OK bit its a little more work to get it arround tight sections but, more importantly, its less easy to store things conveniently (particularly waffles). I believe the king cab (basicly an extended truck cab) is the best all rounder as its compact but gives some useful extra storage behind the seats. I'll be going this way some time soon.

[rick]

<snip>This is because the semi and fully synthetic oils are too slippery when running in an engine design as old as the 200/300tdi range. The running in process requires a certain amount of metal to metal contact all be it minerally oil lubricated in order for the moving parts to bed in and especially cylinder compression to "settle" down. Synthetic oils are just too good for the early stages of running in.

<snip>John

not strictly true.

Many high performance engines these days come new with synthetic fluids. (MB, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari, etc) They have no problems 'running in'.

Also, most top of the line mineral based oils such as Delo 400 are loaded with friction modifiers like soluble moly, making them very 'slippery'. The reason I wouldn't use a synthetic oil running in a diesel is that it will be dumped between 1500 and 5000km, so you aren't getting your dollars worth.

I've been running Mobil Delvac 1 for the last four years, but run extended drains to make it worthwhile. I'm guessing a top grade oil such as Texaco Delo 400, Mobil Delvac MX or Delvac MX Extra would give similar results.

FWIW, I feel Castrol Syntrans gives better synchro performance overall than Redline MTL in the R380, although I feel MTL would be better in the UK winters. I'm currently running an MTL/MT90 'brew'.

[gelf]

Dafyyd....

when you get around to fitting some protection like jackable sills..... go and see Richard at Mill Services, at Bettisfield nr Whitchurch..... not to far away for you.

[gsr341]

thanks for your reply , jeff, allready ordered sum sill off him , he even phoned me me back like he said he would

if these are a good fit , which they should be , will use him for other bits

mr warne ?

do you have an pics of these new ''king cab'' i like the sound of that , how do you go about moving the centre bulk head back a bit , any idea of the cost ?

i did see sum pics of a white defender sum where but cant remember where ?

cheers for allthe replys as well guys

[gelf]

that white defender did not move the bulk head... he just made onther one further back and than he had the basics of a storage box inside..

i want to go this way as well..........looks like big demand for these roofs

[gelf]

the sills fitted really well on mine.

[will_warne]

Haha, no piccys as yet, the roofs are still being developed. You got a choice with bulkheads, its whatever you want to do really. The simplest solution (one I don't like, though) is to leave the original bulkhead and then make a parcel shelf to go between the bulkhead and the back of the cab. The second option is to unstick the bulkhead and move it back. Si's done that with his. Its not terribly difficult but its just a bit fiddly to make it look good and seal (that's tricky). The third option is the one gelf suggested but I think you'd end up with boxes that were too deep and difficult to use. Plus you can't gain any legroom. The final option is the one I'm going to do. Use a hi-cap bulkhead and bits of old tub to make an entirely new tub. That's deffinatly the way to go if your traybacking IMHO.

The most likely thing is that we'll provide instructions on moving the bulkhead with the kits although we may look at providing bulkheads or converting tubs oursleves if there's demand.

[gsr341]

sills look good Gelf (sorry for mis spelling before , never read things properly )

and i love the reg

[gsr341]

Gelf any one ?

do you know where i could find the pics of that white 90 again with the king cab ? cheers

Dafydd

[gelf]

+18"

+12"