Coffeemonster
Member
- Posts
- 27
- Location
- Brighton
I love my TD4 Freelander dearly but I'm no techie; I have it serviced regularly and it gives me great reliability in return. As I don't do techie I don't mess - I keep my involvement under the bonnet to checking fluid levels every two weeks.
For the first time since I got it, I find the oil needs topping up. Thats fine, that's within the sphere of even my competence - or is it? The first problem is that I can't get the oil cap off; its not just tight, it feels as though there is something stopping it from being removed. Being plastic I really don't want to use a wrench to turn it; does it lift up, or should it be pressed down before being turned? Or do I just need to show it the wrench and give it some welly? Its the square yellow one, if that helps.
The other question I wanted to ask is which oil should I use? I don't understand the difference in oil grades, and the handbook gives me a choice of grades ranging from 0W/30 to 10W/60; looking at this list I assume that for the temperature range we're likely to find in good old Brighton I should look for something like a 10W/30, but in the local Halfords there seems to be only a dozen different brands of 15W/40, each of which is said to conform to ACEA A2, whatever that means. The handbook states the oil should meet specification ACEA A3 or B3...
I realise that my Landy is a 2004 model and the handbook reflects specifications that will have changed in the intervening years, but what's good for this engine? Is 15W/40 OK, and should it be mineral oil or synthetic? Sorry to be asking such basic questions but with 107,000 miles on the clock the engine runs so sweetly that I don't want to do anything that might screw it up!
For the first time since I got it, I find the oil needs topping up. Thats fine, that's within the sphere of even my competence - or is it? The first problem is that I can't get the oil cap off; its not just tight, it feels as though there is something stopping it from being removed. Being plastic I really don't want to use a wrench to turn it; does it lift up, or should it be pressed down before being turned? Or do I just need to show it the wrench and give it some welly? Its the square yellow one, if that helps.
The other question I wanted to ask is which oil should I use? I don't understand the difference in oil grades, and the handbook gives me a choice of grades ranging from 0W/30 to 10W/60; looking at this list I assume that for the temperature range we're likely to find in good old Brighton I should look for something like a 10W/30, but in the local Halfords there seems to be only a dozen different brands of 15W/40, each of which is said to conform to ACEA A2, whatever that means. The handbook states the oil should meet specification ACEA A3 or B3...
I realise that my Landy is a 2004 model and the handbook reflects specifications that will have changed in the intervening years, but what's good for this engine? Is 15W/40 OK, and should it be mineral oil or synthetic? Sorry to be asking such basic questions but with 107,000 miles on the clock the engine runs so sweetly that I don't want to do anything that might screw it up!
