New Defender gearbox crunch?

Have just got new defender. On starting off first thing in the morning I have great difficulty changing from first to second gear. This seems to get better as the journey proceeds. I have had the vehicle for six weeks now but the problem still persists. Is this a gearbox problem or do I need some minor adjustment to the clutch. regards Rich.

Reply to
Richard Smith
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Assuming you mean new new, then take it back and get it sorted out - somethings not right and it won't mend itself....

Richard

Reply to
beamendsltd

Hi,

My Discovery started doing that two weeks before the warranty ran out. LOcal Zimbabwe dealer fixed it under warranty - I think it was a synchromesh problem.

I second Richard - if it's under warranty, get it back in quick!

Cheers! Graham

Reply to
Graham Carter

hi richard. you say NEW DEFENDER , do you mean brand new or new to you, ie secondhand used but a few years old .

put it this way , i know a lot of people seem to say run synthetic gearbox oil , but unfortunately i dont see it this way , not after myself and 3 other people i know who see the same problem, crunchy gear shifts on cold mornings .

i have driven and worked on landrovers and rangerovers for over

24years and everytime i see a gearbox "crunch " problem , if it isnt a problem with the gears it is allways the oil , its simply to thick in viscosity.

i have never had a gearbox run better on anything other than DEXRON 11 OR 111 [2 or 3] automatic transmission fluid , this is by far the best oil for the lt77 and r380 gearboxes . it is vegetable oil and in afraid of all the synthetic oils i have had they are simply a little too thick .

the crunch you may see could be just simply due to the gearbox oil being too thick .

my mate has just had the synthetic oil taken out of his discovery box and dexron put in and he says it drives lovely now .

with the old oil it was very noisey .

if you want to see if a thinner oil in the box will make it change gear better you can add a pint or so of diesel to the oil already in the box . if the gearchanges improve then you know you need thinner oil in it .

then you can just renew the oil with [red] dexron [ GM general motors ]or ATF [ATF is fords version ].

whatever oil you put in the landy MAIN gearbox , it needs to be like piss , pardon my french .

i know other people will tell you different but believe me , DEXRON 2 or 3 is what you need in there . if it still crunches after a few days after you put this oil in then it may be another problem .

mind you most landies can crunch between 1st and 2nd gear if you try changing gear fast and at full speed in 1st gear , if you hold the clutch and count to 2 and then change gear it may go in ok everytime .

if its a NEW defender and wont change from 1st to 2nd then its also a case of oil too thick in gearbox, i had this with a brand new gearbox i had changed and they put some other type of oil in than dexron auto trans fluid .

change the fluid , its not going to cost a lot , then go from there .

if it works youve nothing else to worry about .

cheers ian

Richard Smith wrote:

Reply to
m0bcg

When I asked this question in here about 6 months ago the responses were "that's normal for the R380 box"...

The box that came with the vehicle (2001 DII) died on the M6, that was a little fussy about 1st to 2nd. The replacement box is also fussy. I've simply learnt to double declutch the first few 1st to 2nd gear changes. B-) Once it's been driven a few miles it's fine. This would sort of support the "thick oil" when cold theory.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

On or around Mon, 09 Jan 2006 21:54:43 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

I've used SAE75 fully synthetic and it makes for a slow shift the first couple of times on cold mornings. However, I tend to think that the dexron II gets a bit thin when hot. Dunno, really; it probably depends on your climate. In cold areas you'd do better with the thinner dexron II, since your cold mornings outweigh your hot days. In hotter areas, I'd tend to think you might do better with something a bit higher spec. and thicker.

The problem with SAE 75 only shows at less than about 5 degrees and witht he vehicle stone cold.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

SNIP a load of piss poor information on Dexron.

Dexron has been superseded as the recommended oil for both R380 and earlier LT77 boxes by specific MT type oil available from Land Rover, Texaco and many others. It provides superior synchro and wear properties for a longer service period than ATF [Dexron] while being completely compatible with it.

I have used Ford MT 95 oil, which is similar to the current factory recommendation, in my LT77 box for around 15 years now and the synchro performance has been superb while it would deteriorate at anything over 6000 miles service when using Dexron.

Huw

Reply to
Huw

On or around Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:57:29 -0000, "Huw" enlightened us thusly:

MT75 is what I've had in both 77s and 380s here. The only thing I've ever noticed is a slightly balky change when very cold. I think MT75 is slightly heavier than Dexron, from looking at it.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

I don't think it is myself. Certainly my similar Ford specification oil is no heavier, similar to a 10w/30 engine oil or a 75w transmission oil I would say. Do you reckon that the MT75 oil is perhaps more like 15w/40 or SAE 80?

The first to second change is always a bit slow when cold and the previous poster was correct in that it should not be hurried. When very hot it can also lose effectiveness and also with ATF [Dexron] that has seen some use.......I found it deteriorated at anything over 6000 miles hard use and had to change it at around that interval. MT oil seems to perform acceptably for much longer and I'm almost ashamed to say that the latest fill has been in my 110 for around 45000 miles. [I've been expecting either the box or the whole vehicle to die for the last 30,000 miles but it just keeps on chugging along].

The MT oil I use was introduced specifically to cure a reliability problem with their Transit vans where the box had an unacceptably short service life. This was due to extreme loads and shear stresses breaking down the oil an leading to component failure. The oil did the job. Liquid engineering you could say. An MT type oil has the same benefits in the LR gearbox but it took over 10 years more than it should have for LR to recognise the fact and specify it in preference to inferior Dexron ATF.

Huw

Reply to
Huw

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