Clueless

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Mr Freedom

Mr Freedom

Member
Posts
92
Location
France
Hello. Bought a 2010 Defender 110 SW last weekend. First vehicle I've ever owned, I'm 44. I want to look after it and keep it in good order, but don't know where to start.

This morning I checked the oil, that's about all I know how to do. Any advise would be reaaly appreciated along the lines of basic and important maintenance and upkeep. Unfortunately I did not get a manual.

Speaking of oil, I presume not all are the same, what should I put in a 2.4 TDCI? Also, I'm told not to use supermarket diesel, and, in fact, to use the more expensive stuff at the petrol station. What do you use?
 
Any old diesel will do so long as its white!
I would go on opie oils site or halfords enter your reg and see what they say for the oil, dont forget its not just the viscosity thats important these days its also the ACEA number, ie A1 C3 etc, google will help you or in my case confuse you even more.
As an example my D3 needs 5/30 A1 no cat or dpf , but my wifes Audi needs 5/30 C3 it has a dpf not sure if its also has a cat, C means cat/dpf, as Im your typical mech I run both cars on the C3 spec oil.
As you are in france I would scour ebay for same year spec car as yours and use their reg number.

Haynes probably do a manual, best info you can get is to just read every post that appears on here and after a few weeks you will be amazed what you will have picked up
 
You will get the 'purists' who say feed her with the most expensive doozil you can find, and those of us who put in the cheapest shyte around, including chip fat!
For the gear and transfer boxes use the recommended stuff and, if you are changing it and the filters regularly, any old **** in the sump. Once again it doesn't matter what brand as long as it's around a 10/40.
As with everything, as long as the lubes are to standard you should be OK.
A zillion years ago I only changed the filters as there were so many leaks together the oil was changed around every thousand miles just by topping up! :D:D
 
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Thanks lynall, I didn't understand most of what you wrote, but I got some suggestions from opie oil :)

Thanks Oldseadog, sorry for my ignorance, but there is also gear oil and transfer box oil, and I can/should check and top these up myself? I don't know what filters are, but maybe that's a question for another day!
 
Mr Freedom said:
Hello. Bought a 2010 Defender 110 SW last weekend. First vehicle I've ever owned, I'm 44. I want to look after it and keep it in good order, but don't know where to start.

This morning I checked the oil, that's about all I know how to do. Any advise would be reaaly appreciated along the lines of basic and important maintenance and upkeep. Unfortunately I did not get a manual.

Speaking of oil, I presume not all are the same, what should I put in a 2.4 TDCI? Also, I'm told not to use supermarket diesel, and, in fact, to use the more expensive stuff at the petrol station. What do you use?
Click to expand...
There's nothing wrong with being clueless, we've all got to start somewhere. Your question is very broad though, there is a lot to the 'important maintenance and upkeep' of a vehicle. For someone to answer that it would be like writing a fair bit of the LR manual, so take lynall's advice and buy a Haynes or other manual that covers your vehicle. If you are not sure what filters there are you have a fair bit of reading to do. IIRC Haynes manuals have itemised service schedules in them, so that would be a great place to start. Then, if you need specific things clarifying from the manual, there will be plenty of help on here. Hope this helps.
 
Your engine is basically a ford transit engine. Engine oil needs to be 5/30 fully synthetic to ford spec; Halfords do exactly that spec of oil and I have used it for years without any issues. Usually retails under £30 for 5 litres, you will need 7 litres. DO NOT MISS AN OIL CHANGE or you WILL regret it, and need a new turbo amongst other things. Change at 12.5k Miles or annually whichever comes first. Halfords and Eurocar Parts do the oil filters, but there are two types - a spin on canister type or a paper type which fits inside a plastic housing, a visual inspection will identify which type you have. Only buy quality branded filters (I always use Mann). For transmission oils I use Castrol Syntrax Plus (not to be confused with Syntrans) it is fully synthetic and meets both GL4 and GL5 spec. It can be used in all transmission parts (gear box, transfer box, differentials) and means you only need to keep one type of oil on the shelf. I get mine from Opie like wot Lynall suggests but it is pricy at about £18 a litre (gets cheaper the more you buy). The gear box is "filled for life" but not more than 120k miles (if my memory is working right) but there is no way I would leave it that long, be your own judge on that. Haynes have just published a manual, buy one read it and start getting yer fingers trapped n oily.
 
To answer your question about diesel - my engine sometimes has a momentary stutter at low revs for a fraction of a second - like it missed one beat - and only seems to happen when I use supermarket diesel. Other than that no problems with supermarket diesel, but I only buy it in small quantities just to get me to a proper branded station and get a fill up with better fuel. I don't bother with super fuel, basic fuel is ok. Don't under any circumstances use cooking oil - older land rovers will use it ok but your engine is a bit more refined and will not tolerate it.
 
Get yourself on ebay and buy a drivers handbook for your specific model, if your new to landrovers there will be plenty of stuff to learn from it. Not better than the usual haynes manual, just different.
What part of France are you in by the way?
 
As you can tell by the answers on this one thread theres loads of views/answers and the best bit is none of them are wrong, but like everything in life theres many different views.
Dont do anything just yet, keep reading all the posts and you will learn loads and soon you will be as sad as the rest of us!
A goods tip is to half the oil change interval, I do all our oils at 5k, as my FIL told me many tears ago oil cheap (not these days!) engines expensive and so far its paid dividends.

Always remember there are no stupid questions, we will of course take the pee, but weve all asked them ourselves, though many will deny it!
 
Many many thanks for the replies, I shall get myself a manual. Please excuse one last question, on the subject of oil, several have spoken of an oil change - do you mean topping up the oil or literally changing it?

We've recently moved to rural southwest france. I abandoned my career, which wasn't going that well, and I'm now trying to grow raspberries and tomatoes for a living - no idea what I'm doing on that front either :)
 
Should we be suggesting the start of a tool selection ? ...

Christmas is coming so he should get a list scribbled up soonish ...

upload_2017-11-7_19-27-4.jpeg
 
Mr Freedom said:
Many many thanks for the replies, I shall get myself a manual. Please excuse one last question, on the subject of oil, several have spoken of an oil change - do you mean topping up the oil or literally changing it?
Click to expand...
Hmmm..................I'm trying to continue to think positively, but I'm smelling a leg pull here ;)
 
Mr Freedom said:
Many many thanks for the replies, I shall get myself a manual. Please excuse one last question, on the subject of oil, several have spoken of an oil change - do you mean topping up the oil or literally changing it?

We've recently moved to rural southwest france. I abandoned my career, which wasn't going that well, and I'm now trying to grow raspberries and tomatoes for a living - no idea what I'm doing on that front either :)
Click to expand...

You will have to be careful as the frenchies may take your words literally, oil change is an oil change, oil service is an oil change, some types of inspections are oil changes.

So literally once very 5k drain the oil out of the sump, change the filter and refill the sump with 6 litres ish, not forgetting to check it once a week every week, does NOT need to be on the max mark halfway between minimum and max is just fine.
What you should do is sort out some guest facilities and ask a LZ member to come over to help you service the car for free bed and grub, bet you wont be short of offers.
 
Thanks Lynall, it was serviced 12k miles ago, so probably an oil change is in order ... Your idea of expert help in exchange for a free holiday is a good one :)
 
lynall said:
once very 5k drain the oil out of the sump, change the filter and refill the sump with 6 litres ish
Click to expand...
Oil service interval for Tdci is 12.5k Miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Changing earlier is good for the engine, if most use is short journeys / stop start work, halving the interval is advised. Correct oil quantity is 7 litres. 5/30 fully synthetic ford spec oil.
 
I don't think you need to bother about doing your own maintenance, we all know French mechanics are the best in the world and their honesty and integrity is second to none.

Col
 
Wimblowdriver said:
Oil service interval for Tdci is 12.5k Miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Changing earlier is good for the engine, if most use is short journeys / stop start work, halving the interval is advised. Correct oil quantity is 7 litres. 5/30 fully synthetic ford spec oil.
Click to expand...


Yes I know but its to long like all car makers oil changes, big problem on the v6 audi diesels with wearing out the camchains due to 15k oil changes, its engine out and all the chains (x4) are on the arse end, basically scrap the car time.
I used to work at a truck dealer and the van boys used to have lots of transits in for servicing etc, they also used to have lots of them in bits due to slipped camchains, I only looked once and thought straight away that chain wrap is very poor and it wont take much wear for that to go tits up, then I went back to my nice big trucks!
Ive always done all our cars at 5k incl the audis and fingers crossed never ever had any serious issues in 30 years, I was told when I was a kid oil cheap and engines expensive, of course now the oil isnt cheap but the engines are way more expensive.
 
No way I'd leave an oil change for 10k miles or anywhere near - on anything. My bike oils get changed every 2k miles, MPV every 5/6k and Defender once a year but does nominal mileage.
 
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