I went to my local LR dealer here in Huntington NY for a routine transmission filter service being that my LR4 has 85k miles on it. The service advisor asked me to wait so that he can consult a technician about that service.
He comes back to me saying that the tech says it's a sealed unit and should never be changed. Even if they did they couldn't guarantee that the vehicle would run correctly after that.
I'm not sure that this information is correct. Atlantic British sells this part and even performs the service in a video.
Please advise.
Thanks.
I will give you my version of what was told to you.
We are scared of those foreign transmissions. We attempted to change the oil and filter (well the whole pan) on an LR3 a few years back and ended up towing the 3 to an Independent transmission shop (not one of the chains) and the guy really hammered us. Then the owner of the three would not pay the Independents charge plus our markup so we ended up out of pocket and lost face.
Now if an owner requesting an oil and filter change backs us into a corner and will not go away, we drive the vehicle over to that same Independent (owner and all his workers speak some EU language no one here understands) and then we mark his invoice up real good - but we do our best to make the owner go away first.
We also did one of those flush procedures where we disconnected some lines and pumped generic transmission fluid thru the tranny but we found out the generic fluid in time seems to make the tranny not shift but at least it drove out of the shop and we got paid. Needless to say, the filter did not get changed but not many owners even know about the filter.
We are a new vehicle sales dealer, hence our guys in the back only want to do flat rate warranty work; no one wants to learn how to do the hard stuff as there is no money in it, hence sending the owner off to an Independent works best, particularly if he looks like the type that will not eventually buy something new from us.
It is up to the reader to decide if the above is fiction or that there may be a grain of truth somewhere within.
I routinely have my Independent change the tranny oil and filter every 80,000 miles or so.
Below is a link to some files on the ZF LR3 transmission; the LR4 has something similar but more gears.
I see the how to change the oil and filter file has over five thousand views.
Most of the other files only have a thousand or so views.
https://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5059
Regarding the sealed for life story, the link below has a few thoughts on that. It is just business!
Dedicated to Discovery 3 and LR3, Discovery 4 and LR4 Owners and Enthusiasts. Totally free to join - message boards, galleries, off road events, social meetings.
www.disco3.co.uk