Sort of Specialist in South Wales

Hi

Just booked my '96 Manual 2.5 DSE in for a service and the owner used to have his own P38 Manual Diesel and did all sorts of jobs like replacing the clutch, air bags on his. He does not have the full diagnostic kit but has access to a man who does. He also services friends of mine's Disco's as well.

Full service with just topping up all the oils was good value but to replace all the oils would cost an extra £90 + VAT is this normal?

This will be the first proper service it has had in a good few years (not in my ownership) so I figured get everything done right and then move on from there.

Have read the oil bible and wondered if I should ask for synthetic olis or leave them do their job?

Cheers

Adam

A full service involves replacing the oils, not just topping them up!

For a '96 model I wouldn't bother replacing any oils other than engine oil, just keep gearbox, transfer box, diffs topped up. Change oil and air filters at the same time, and fuel every other service. That lot with labour should be £120-ish I would think. The engine requires nearly 10 litres of oil, so that is £30 worth.

Synthetic is not required, it just has to meet ACEA B3 and 10W40. Asda had a good deal on Castrol GTX Diesel before Xmas, but the engine seems to drink that quicker than the Carlube brand oil I had in it before.

lanmjdun said:

For a '96 model I wouldn't bother replacing any oils other than engine oil, just keep gearbox, transfer box, diffs topped up.

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I disagree entirely .. He's got a car that to him is an unknown quantity .. the first thing I'd do (did) with my 2nd hand Landrover was change all the oils. It can give you a good indication of whether the seller was truthful when he said "Nah mate, 'snever been off-road" ...

Diff oils especially can get mushed up if they've had an ingress of water, and of course gearbox and tranny box can too, and the only way to know how god the oil is, is to take it out and replace it.

As to whether I'd let the garage do it is another matter entirely ...

Lanmjdun

thanks for the replies, first off. Only owned the car for a short while (well six months or so) and bought with non specialist service history, so no pollen filter change, or any other oil than engine oil change.

Previous owner had it from 1998, and only had LR service up to 2000. Post that all local garage with no diagnostics, and was instructed to only change engine oil, filter etc. After running at motorway speeds for a while with the engine up to speed, the transmission whines in a very high pitch over the first part of the depression of the accelerator. As the clutch was replaced I guessed that the oil was thinning too much at high temperature?

So I am looking to get this done once and then not again for another couple of years.

Thanks for the advice on the oils and yeah, you are right, the engine oil takes over 9 litres, which seems plenty.

Full LR service from the manual with all oil replacement is £345 + VAT. I rang around a couple of specialist places nearby (NOT LR) and were quoting £360+VAT at least.

Replacing the engine oil and filter, and topping up would be £250 + VAT for the "full LR" service. I am guessing that on your list of the service steps the cost will be a lot less, I will go by that from after this and re-establish a service record.

With your info I am guessing the extra time taken to drain all the oils contributes to the £90. The dealer has diags to a point but not the full set.

Am I being charged too much for the "full LR" service, do you think?

Have dealt with the garage over 5 years and friends use them for their discoveries, been honest with me so far....

Thanks again

Adam

Paul D

thanks for that I understand you point about garages but I thought for the one and only time (and the fact it has not been done in 8 plus years!) I would get them to do it. I think from now on though I will do it myself and save myself a few quid.

Thanks again

No worries and quite understandable with a new (to you) vehicle, especially something as potentially complex as a P38 ...

Have fun ...

Gotta say the electrics look like a whole load of fun, but if it ain't challenging there is no fun in it anyway.



When the weather clears up a bit I will have to get around to fixing the offside window but that is for another day. As is the dreaded book symbol!

Cheers

Adam

OK

Service done and runs a fair bit better, they mentioned an ever so slight lean in the drivers side rear corner but EAS is not losing any air so probably sensor driven.

Kindly replaced some bulbs FOC and fitted the plenum filter i took along to them as well. Changed oils in axles, diffs, transfer etc, didn't flush the Intercooler but checked it and said quite clear.

Exhaust has just started to blow from the rear part, so will need replacing and tyres have got 5-6000 left on them brakes the same.

Currently has Avon Rangers on it, worth sticking with them?

All in all pleased with everything and it was worth getting it all done.

Cheers

Adam