Thanks guys for your support, I guess the choice is down to me and take onboard the information given to help me decide, in the meantime I do have photos of the bell housing stickers which I’m going to try and include in this reply

2011

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

They certainly put lots of stickers on the transmission casing! Are you able to see the Land Rover part number sticker on the LH side of the bellhousing at all?



Phil

I’ll check this out and come back with the pictures over the weekend, the stickers I pictured were on the right hand side 1990 3.5 v8 defender
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Here we are with the left hand bell housing pictures as follows
2011

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

So your 2007 transmission has the earliest ZF firmware (p/n 1068 022 108) and your 2011 transmission has the latest (p/n 1068 022 166).

Click image to enlarge

Brilliant thank you Phil, please excuse my lack of knowledge but I can only assume that the gearbox ecu on the mechatronic is the black part you pictured earlier? Not had to much to do with auto box’s but not afraid of stripping anything down …. 1990 3.5 v8 defender
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Yes, just the black plastic part. It’s held onto the valve body assembly with 6 screws and positioned by a couple of dowel pins. Very straightforward to swap – you won’t have any issues.

Click image to enlarge

A pre-MY10 electronic module will definitely not work with a MY10+ vehicle due to the different canbus design.

Ok all sounds good I’ll get a seal kit ,sump/filter and new oil ready to tackle the job, any advice on the best place to obtain the required oil, seals etc from ? 1990 3.5 v8 defender
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You can buy a ZF kit, part number 1068 298 090, which includes all the seals.

Click image to enlarge

Cheers Phil very much appreciate your input on this and other members equally, being a 2011 yes a lot of parts on the car that are date stamped range from June - September so must of been sat around before being registered .
I’ll certainly steer clear of pattern aftermarket parts they usually aren’t much cheaper and genuine parts fit .
I guess being the gearbox will be out I can drain the torque converter completely so would probably need more oil ? Also to change any seals on the torque converter and input shaft ? Wouldn’t want to be revisiting it a few months further down the road as these gearboxes are a big heavy lump. 1990 3.5 v8 defender
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Although it’s pretty intuitive that a torque converter will retain a fair amount of fluid when the transmission is drained

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Ok I was kinda hoping that by holding the torque converter horizontally the fluid would drain out ,however I guess the majority of the fluid within the gearbox being changed would dilute the remaining in the torque converter and I assume the only other way apart from machining the converter open as you mentioned would be a total pumped flush in situ.

Yes I believe changing the 2007 torque converter with the gearbox would be the best option along with a new seal and carefully cleaning the pump drive tube as it has done far less mileage .
So going forward it’s removing 2 gearboxes and reinstalling 1 along with the service items , not a job I’m looking forward to but it has to be done. 1990 3.5 v8 defender
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When I changed the gearbox on my 2007 Supercharged, I hooked a 12v oil feed pump up to the gearbox oil cooler pipes where they were disconnected from the gearbox and flushed the oil cooler in both directions with Lifeguard 6. I also replaced the o-rings on those pipes where they are fitted into the gearbox before refitting as well.

I didn’t use genuine ZF oil, I bought a 20 litre drum from Smith and Allan oils in Darlington. I ran that in my 4.2 for about 12 months and did some very heavy towing with it and it’s also been in my 5.0 gearbox for 9 months now with no issues. Having the big tub was handy for flushing.

As I couldn’t drain my torque converter I did another oil change fairly quickly after swapping the gearbox. Probably didn’t need it but I felt better knowing it was done.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

It’s a shame ZF don’t supply the oil in 20 ltr drums as one would expect it to be cheaper than 1 ltr bottles but as far as I’m aware they don’t,
I think doing a flush through as you’ve done with a pump is a good thing as it’s clearing all the old oil out instead of diluting it with new with what stays in the torque converter.

I ended up doing a full flush on my 2004 (which I still have ) after Phil kindly ultrasonically cleaned and inspected my valve block a number of years ago ( maybe 10 years ago now 🤔) and found the gearbox was noticeably smoother but I do remember the oil being around £170 for a 20 litre drum at the time and quite hard to find the correct specification . 1990 3.5 v8 defender
2000 4.6 v8 30th anniversary prins lpg
2004 4.4 v8 vogue prins lpg
2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
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