Joseph Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on flushing my transmission. I have a 97 Disco 4.0L V8 and an automatic transmission. The problem is that since i bought the car, about 50,000 miles ago, the transmission fluid has not been changed. This is partially due to buying it as a young teenager for safety and also because i had almost no idea about car maintinance till about 1 year ago. I also dont know if it was ever changed before this. I have no reason to believe the tranny is going bad right now, but i would like to keep it going as long as possible, so if i dont try to change it, it will fail earlier than if i successfully change it. The fluid in there does not really look all that bad, its not too dark, but the truck has about 108K miles on it and im afraid that if i change the fluid the transmission will fail. Ive heard that the resin in the seals may wear away causing leakage and the gears themselves may fail due to the lack of friction that existed in my dirty fluid. This information was general, and not specific to land rovers. My though was to do a partial change and just drain the pan rather than hooking it up to a machine for a full change. Any land rover specific advice for my problem? Are these trannys prone to failure? Thanks, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 You can't drain all the oil out of an auto box anyway - the torque converter has quite a bit in it, so an oil change will always be partial. As auto oil ages it gets darker. If it hasn't been done for a loing time, then replace as much as you can and then do it again after a few months. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 OK, but you dont think i severly risk breaking my transmission by doing an oil change now? I know its hard to say, but i though maybe Land Rover transmissions were tougher than normal and would be less likely to break with a change on extremly old oil... Thanks, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iomlt Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 get it changed and might be worth buying a filter for the auto box too. Easy to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Attryde Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Lifted from the Ashcroft Transmissions website "I have a 4 speed ZF Auto and it sticks in first gear in the morning or when cold and is reluctant to change up from 1st gear. Once the gearbox has warmed up it shifts normally. We have noticed many customers reporting this fault starting a few days after an oil and filter change and after researching this using our experience and the expertise of others in the trade we have come to the conclusion that as ATF oil is a detergent type oil, when the oil is changed this will dislodge and stir up settled debris in the autobox which in turn jams the governor valve. In light of this although it sounds controversial it is debateable if changing the oil and filter is a good idea, some say if the box it going to fail it will fail if the oil is good or bad and their advice is leave it alone. I am still undecided but the truth is I get a lot of calls from customers thinking they are looking after the autobox by servicing it and a few days later this fault occurs." However I changed the very brown oil in mine not long after I got it and have to say that the box got a lot smoother after the oil change. HTH Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 Yeah, thats what im worried about... but im going to byte the bullet and change it anyways, i suppose. Thanks for the advice, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teabag Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 If U R thinking of changing the filter then the 'Y' part of the exhaust must be dropped down to remove the gearbox sump on a 3.9 along with the cross member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 and don't forget to buy a sump gasket at the same time, and if possible the o-ring from the filter to the gearbox. The filter does not come with one, as it should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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