Fields Carlisle
Well-Known Member
Took my '14 LR4 HSE Lux in to dealer for repairs and diff and transfer case service. I told them it had rear locking differential, and they should know that since it's on their computer screen and visible when looking at the rear diff. Picked it up on Wednesday and everything seemed fine. Drove it Thursday and all was good. Yesterday I noticed some sort of weird binding when I was off road. I thought it was something dragging underneath so I got out and looked at the belly and didn't see anything. I even checked the transfer case, and two diffs to make sure drain plugs had been put back in. The rear diff's plug I guess doesn't screw in all the way which at first worried me, but I checked online and watched a couple YouTube videos and saw they all looked the same. I brushed it off as me just being paranoid. Couple hours later I'm off road again. I noticed the binding in the rear. Turned on 4x4i screen and noticed that whenever the rear diff began to lock I noticed the shaking sensation. I started feeling sick to my stomach. I pulled out my paperwork and there I discovered they had put the same fluid in the front and rear diffs. I called the dealership and told them I was concerned the rear locker was messed up due to their error. I drove it in and they said they would flush the wrong fluid today and fill with correct spec fluid, drain that and refill again. I'm just extremely concerned that the 300 miles I drove with the wrong fluid and the 5 or so miles off road with heavy use of the rear locker has caused permanent damage. They said they don't think it would have damaged it because the fluids are "so close" to being the same. Obviously they're not that close if it was causing the locker to bind up. Any one have suggestions what to do? Get JLR involved? Demand new locker installed? Live with it and hope for the best? I'm out of warranty, barely, and don't want to be SOL if next year my locker eats itself due to damage sustained from this mistake. I hate it because this dealership just opened within the last couple weeks, but still...it's my car and I paid them to do something and they did it wrong.