td6 gearbox filter change

i have searched the forum looking for the answer but couldnt find out, my td6 takes about 5 seconds to go farward in a morning but is fine when you put it in reverse so i was wondering if anyone had changed the oil and filter and noticed an improvement in gear changes

as far as i can remember that unit is sealed for life,and no maintenace can be done on the unit,i would recomend you get it on test book and see what comes up.

I understand that's a bit of a fallacy - sealed for life means really only 50-60,000 miles "life" - you can and should do a change of gearbox oil and filter after this. Gives peace of mind at the very least and can save expensive bills for new gearboxes later. fullfatrr.com have a number of excellent posts on it. Suggest you go on and do a search there. ;>)

freelander22 said:

as far as i can remember that unit is sealed for life,and no maintenace can be done on the unit,i would recomend you get it on test book and see what comes up.

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This is incorrect, although the gearboxes read 'sealed for life', this does mean between 50-60,000 miles, just out of interest though on the BMW's that have either the GM or ZF boxes installed they dont say 'sealed for life' only on the Range Rovers does it read this!

Hi mate, sorry to hear your having a bit of trouble with your box, the GM units are known to be a bit difficult at times. If you go over to the forum on Range Rovers and find a member called RRPhil - he is an absoulte expert on both the ZF and GM gearboxes, he even will rebuild it for you for free if you ever need your box refurbing!

Hope you get it sorted

Matt

cheers matt, i ordered my bits from bmw this morning £50 for the kit , mine being the td6 has the gm box and it does say on the bottom sealed for life lol, i will let you know on sat if i get any improvement

cossiedave said:

cheers matt, i ordered my bits from bmw this morning £50 for the kit , mine being the td6 has the gm box and it does say on the bottom sealed for life lol, i will let you know on sat if i get any improvement

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Does the £50 include the transmission fluid or is that just for the filter etc....?

thats just the filter matt, the fluid will be another 50 lol

Matt,
We need some "special" transmission fluid for the ZF box. Best price i found was £120 delevered for 12L. Obviously we dont need 12L. I was going to put the remaining on e-bay but have a taker for it already.

delisle said:

Matt,
We need some "special" transmission fluid for the ZF box. Best price i found was £120 delevered for 12L. Obviously we dont need 12L. I was going to put the remaining on e-bay but have a taker for it already.

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where did you get the 12L from?

Matt

Matt,
Mobil ATF LT 71141 :: Automotive Oils :: Oil-Store they were the cheapist i could find. Quick delevery as well.

delisle said:

Matt,
Mobil ATF LT 71141 :: Automotive Oils :: Oil-Store they were the cheapist i could find. Quick delevery as well.

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Cheers mate!!

Matt

Hi Cossiedave,
I have the same problem, reverse is fine but when put into drive, nothing happens for a few seconds then it slurrs into life. It only seems to be a problem after the motor has been left overnight. I changed the gearbox oil (vast expense) and whilst the changes are much better the morning drive problem is still the same. I will be interested to see how yours responds to the new filter. I didn't change mine as the garage said it was fine. Keep us posted. Cheers Ian

i will keep you posted ian, got my oil today and my gasket kit should come tomorrow so i plan to do the job saturday afternoon,
mine seems worse if i dont use the thing for a few days and might take 10 seconds to set off farward and some morning it set of in a couple so seems like a sticking valve and i hope the filter change will do the trick, i changed just the oil a about a month ago and it seemed better for a couple off days or so

hi matt,i worked at a landrover dealers in durham for 3 years,and cant remember anything about filter changes on the gm boxes.nothing from lr when i was there anyway,we did change a couple of boxes, and they came from factory pre filled.once installed it was a matter of running the unit up to temp and removing a over spill plug from the side of the box,when the trickle of fluid stopped the unit was full and the plug was replaced.if my reply to the question seemed misleading, it was unintentional,and i stand corrected,paul.

filter and oil changed today and it took just under 2 hours to do, i have noticed that the gears change is a lot smoother and it doest hold the gears anymore and gets into to gear quicker, i will let you know if it has sorted the taking up drive thing in a morning , well chuffed

jumped in rangy today put it in drive and it set off straight away so looks like oil and filter change did the job, going to run it a week then change oil again as there was a lot off ****e stuck on the bottom of the pan and it will only improve it

I did some internet searching on the problem with delayed start in Drive, which my 2003 L322 does when cold. Apparently, this is a common issue with the BMWs also where this GM transmission was fitted.

The conclusion is that it can be improved / fixed by new transmission (no surprise!), software update to the transmission ECU or sometimes by new fluid / filter. The cause is lack of pressure in the clutch with cold fluid and the BMW workaround is to engage drive and let the pressure kick in before reversing out of your drive. It appears to NOT indicate any malfunction in the gearbox, if you gear changes are normal once you start off.

Anyway, with 86000 miles on mine I will get the fluid and filter replaced anyway and it will be interesting to see if there is any improvement. I wonder if a new filter helps more than the fluid because it will improve the flow, especially critical when cold.