I finally got round to changing the gearbox oil in our 124k miles ZF6HP26 equipped 3.6 TDV8 2 days ago (delayed due to me being a wimp & not wanting get underneath while the weather's been foul).

As expected based on my forum search, it's not a very difficult job, but it was seriously worrying part way through when I thought I'd knackered the gearbox - lol. (Not the case. But read-on....).

This write-up is a bit over long, but probably worth reading for those contemplating an auto gearbox oil change themselves.

Preparation :
First, decide whether you're going to pay the premium price for the ZF Lifeguard gearbox oil (rather than Ravenol or similar) & whether you're going to change the sump pan / filter & if so whether with a replacement plastic sump with integrated filter & rubber gasket OR metal pan with separate, cheap to replace filter & paper gasket.

Also make sure you’ve checked if the mechatronic sealing sleeve in the gearbox is leaking / weeping as it’s an easy / cheap change at the same time as changing the gearbox oil !
If leaking, you obviously need to buy the relevant extra sleeve. Our was good.

On the basis that I can't see myself changing the oil again for a long time, I decided I wasn't to going to risk anything & bought 7 litres of ZF Lifeguard 6 oil & a Meyle replacement plastic sump / filter via our friendly Advanced Factors site sponsor. I also bought a couple of spare sump retaining bolts (just in case... ). Make sure you’ve got a way of getting the new oil into the gearbox too (my brand new oil “syringe” turned out later to be useless & fortunately I had an old gearbox oil container with flexible tubular spout I could use)
BTW beware there are different sump bolts on different ages of plastic sump & the metal sumps require different bolts altogether (probably a lot shorter, but I'm not sure).

NOT relevant for FF Range Rover, but important if working on the same gearbox on a RRSport / Disco is that a new plastic sump pan can't be re-fitted without removing the gearbox cross-member etc etc For this reason , there are lots of kits about with a metal sump & separate filter - which can be fitted without removing the gearbox X-Member. They can also be used on the FFRR if you want to reduce costs slightly.

Secondly, make sure you've checked underneath for the size of the drain plug & fill plug removal tools - on ours they were 8mm & 10mm hex . Also the Torx bit size for the sump pan retaining bolts . They appear to be different on later gearboxes apparently. Most importantly - make sure your replacement sump has the O ring on the suction neck or that it’s with the sump or you may need to re-use the old one (not advised).

Make sure you've got a nice & large oil collector (large in surface area & volume (> 10 litres) to make sure you can collect everything that comes out & avoid spillage when moving it !
When hot, the gearbox oil is very thin & appears to blow around very easily while draining out - hence large area collector.
I also equipped myself with a very large plastic sheet to go under the car & a bit of cardboard to attach to the X-Member with duck tape almost under the drain plug (Based on the very bad experience with oil going everywhere when doing the engine oil change !)

Changing the oil :
I chose a nice warm day when it was easy to get the gearbox upto temperature & Ok for rolling about underneath !
I've got a Gap IID tool, so took the car for a few mile drive & via the Live Display option checked the oil was warm (>70C) & then drove onto the ramps. I’d actually already bought a Infra –red thermometer for £15 when I discovered it was a function in the IID (grrrr).
As our drive isn’t level, I’d already checked what wood I’d need under the rear wheels to get the car level (important for oil level checking later).

You might have enough access underneath with the car raised upto Off-Road height – but it would be unnecessarily tight, when the ramps make it so much easier (especially with Off-Road height)

As mentioned in the Wiki, I loosened the filler plug first to make sure it the g.box could be re-filled ! As mentioned elsewhere, as this is often the first oil change since vehicle build, the filler plug can be very tight (a 2 foot breaker bar was needed !).
The oil collector was then put under the drain plug, the cardboard deflector added to the gearbox X-Member & the drain plug removed (remembering to keep your hand out of the way of the very hot oil stream !) The oil came out pretty quickly, but with a few secondary splurges which bounced off the deflector & made me glad I’d put the plastic sheet down too. I then left it to drain for an hour or so, before sealing up the drain plug & loosening all the sump retaining bolts.

For info, having measured the old oil into a few containers for disposal, 6.5 litres came out - so don’t order too little based on the statements about only 4.5 litres coming out of the 5speed gearbox on the TD6 !
It was good looking at the old oil to see it retained a small amount of reddish colour & didn’t smell burnt or have any visible debris in it or on the magnets in the sump pan.

I removed all the sump bolts except 2 opposing ones & then removed them while holding the sump pan against the casing to reduce the likelihood of any remaining oil pouring on me / the floor due to being tilted. You can then lower it vertically down so that the suction tube comes out of it’s locating feature.

The task then was to clean up the mating gasket face on the gearbox housing & clean up the threads on 2 of the retaining bolts which for some reason appeared slightly tight / damaged. Ensure the O ring is fitted to the suction tube on the new sump pan & then offer it up & start a couple of the retaining bolts. The remainder were then fitted loosely & the recommended tightening sequence & tightening torque followed (8Nm).

Oil filling :
With the engine still off, I poured oil into the gearbox filler hole until it started to drip out. For me this was a surprise, as only 2.5 litres went in (compared to the 6.5 litres that had come out). I then started the engine, operated the gear lever as indicated a few times through all the gears & poured another 2.75 litres in before it started to drip out (gearbox temperature still below 40C).

Those of you with GSCEs may realise that was still 1.25 litre less than had come out – which was rather odd !
As the oil definitely appeared to be at the recommended correct level I got the car off the ramps & took it for a gentle run (temperature was just creeping above 40C).

The gearbox was quite clunky while selecting the different gears with the lever & also going through the gears in Drive while driving. It also appeared to be slipping unusually under relatively light throttle openings & then went into limp home mode / Restricted Gears on the dash warning display ! Re-starting the engine removed the Restricted Gears message, but after a bit more of a drive & a slight hill, the same happened again
I was now beginning to wonder whether I should have started the oil change…….

Final oil level fill / checking :
However, after a panic read of some www.rangerovers.net forum posts & not forgetting the 1.25 litre of “missing” oil I decided to re-check my car ramps / blocks of wood set up & decided that it wasn’t quite as horizontal as I’d thought & that the car had been slightly nose high. Some fine tuning later & the car back on the ramps & with the engine running, I opened the filler plug, no oil came out & the “missing” 1.25 litre went back in before the temperature increased above 40C & it started coming out slowly!

Operating the gear lever now felt OK. So I again took the car for a drive. This time it felt normal, changed gears as originally & didn’t generate any warning messages.

Via a few forum posts it was clear that people believe that the ZF box is quite sensitive to oil level & my "symptoms" were very typical of low oil level (wish I'd read that before starting the job - lol)

Today, 1 day & a few more miles later, the gear changes are really smooth - way better than when I bought the car a few months ago - & more like the “seamless changes” I was told to expect for the 6 speed auto.
Despite the scares, it well worth the effort & cost of changing the oil. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Last edited by Pawl on 23rd Apr 2018 5:33pm. Edited 1 time in total

Excellent write up and pointers on what to expect.

Keep thinking about doing mine but my drive is a slope so have put it off for the refilling reasons you mentioned. Rear wheels on ramps may well even it out to get it level so might be worth doing. Current 2007 TDV8 Vogue Buckingham Blue

Excellent write up of a job near the top of my list - I have the plastic sump from AF in the garage along with 7l of oil.

How do your check the mechatronic sleeve? I wasn't aware of the issue but don't want to miss the opportunity to check / fix with the sump off! 2016 Skoda Octavia VRS Estate
<gone>2009 FF Vogue TDV8 Buckingham Blue</gone>
<gone>2015 BMW 520D SE (not my favourite car)</gone>
<gone>2009 D3 HSE Galway Green</gone>

If you have the sump off and the oil dropped, it’s worth changing the sleeve, after all if it starts leaking a month after swapping out the expensive oil you will be most peeved!!

There’s a how to on here re the sleeve.

Phil's tear down shows how to remove it here...

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic14798....nic+sleeve There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Last edited by northernmonkeyjones on 23rd Apr 2018 9:19pm. Edited 1 time in total

You've convinced me. Add it to the list...  2016 Skoda Octavia VRS Estate
<gone>2009 FF Vogue TDV8 Buckingham Blue</gone>
<gone>2015 BMW 520D SE (not my favourite car)</gone>
<gone>2009 D3 HSE Galway Green</gone>

hi pawl did you get any quotes by a garage on how much a gear box oil change would cost, mine needs changing but im not confident to tackle it my self, ive been quoted £450, is that competitive LANDROVER HISTORY 2000 DISCOVERY 2 E. 2003 DISCOVERY 2 ES. 2005 DISCOVERY 3 HSE, 2009 RANGEROVER WESTMINSTER

When I did my 2007 I bought the stuff from Dan and then got the M.D. to do it, the labour charge was about £100 but that was a few years back. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Last edited by northernmonkeyjones on 29th Oct 2018 7:02am. Edited 1 time in total

disco 3.5 wrote:

hi pawl did you get any quotes by a garage on how much a gear box oil change would cost, mine needs changing but im not confident to tackle it my self, ive been quoted £450, is that competitive

I didn't get a quote for an oil change, because I'd seen so many comments initially suggesting a "simple" oil change didn't change a high % of the transmission oil.
It was only later I realised that these were related to the GM 5 speed gearbox & that the few who'd changed the oil on the 6 speed had all changed the major part of the oil. Via a couple of on-line videos, I then realised it was well within my DIY skills & left me in full control of what was done / not done (I have fully developed paranoia about the reliability / cost of garages )
The quotes for the mega flush did highlight that many garages will only use the transmission oil they get a good deal on OR charge very significantly more to use the very strongly recommended ZF Lifeguard 6 fluid.

The recommended oil & sump pan / filter cost me about £220 from memory, labour obviously free.
That suggests the £450 is a bit high (at least to me), as a garage ought to be able to buy the fluid & sump cheaper & should have facilities which make the job faster than my very leisurely total of maybe 4 hours ( excluding waiting time for everything to drain while I was doing other things / drinking tea .
I think the key questions are what fluid are they proposing to use, what will it cost for ZF Lifeguard 6 & are they including changing the mechatronic sleeve mentioned via a few of the posters above.
Hopefully you'll get some more feedback on garage costs here soon.
Good luck. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Great write up Paul.
Need to do my 8-speed when I get time. Very reassuring to read through your experience in detail.
.
. Cheers, Greg
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

thankyou pawl for your reply, very usefull information for me to take to the garage, ive got a number of questions to ask them thanks to your excellent write up don't fancy changing my oil do you lol LANDROVER HISTORY 2000 DISCOVERY 2 E. 2003 DISCOVERY 2 ES. 2005 DISCOVERY 3 HSE, 2009 RANGEROVER WESTMINSTER

disco 3.5 thanks for the kind offer of work !
Unfortunately, I'm trying to only to these jobs once
I still need to make progress with the long list of other issues the car still has
I'm sure you'll find some good recommendations. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

Thanks Pawl anyway Im more educated for speeking to you, will search for some mechanic who will use the right parts and who is recommended to do a top job  LANDROVER HISTORY 2000 DISCOVERY 2 E. 2003 DISCOVERY 2 ES. 2005 DISCOVERY 3 HSE, 2009 RANGEROVER WESTMINSTER

My local specialist quoted £300 for a mega flush oil change on our ‘07 TDV8.......only on 89K presently and running sweet, but will get it done this year. David

Please let me know if my comments upset you, I may wish to upset you again.

what garage quoted you that price bowbrownie LANDROVER HISTORY 2000 DISCOVERY 2 E. 2003 DISCOVERY 2 ES. 2005 DISCOVERY 3 HSE, 2009 RANGEROVER WESTMINSTER

Does anyone know if LR does the gearbox oil change as part of a regular Service?

I have just bought one with 123,000mls and full LR service history and was wondering
if they would have done it.

Max