What did they do!!!

jaguardoc504 said:

Has more to do with the size of the particulate. Yes you are correct all fluid is passed through the filter. But eventually over time the filter's effectiveness to remove larger particulates is diminished, and fluid will be routed through the filter bypass. There is a point in every "sealed for life" transmission where none of the fluid will pass through the filter, as it is too clogged to do it's job effectively. Transmission filters are also not typically a cloth filter type, but rather a very fine mesh. This allows even larger particulates to pass through.

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This is where I don't know enough about the ZF transmission to speculate. However, at least on Mercedes auto trans filters, there is no bypass. All fluid is forced through the filter. On the older non-electronic trans (through 722.5, mid-1990's), the filter has 2 sections, one with pleated paper and a second area with a fine mesh wire screen as you described. On the electronic trans (1996-up), it's a single large-area filter with a couple of different layers, but still no bypass. I always cut open the MB filters when I remove them during a trans service, to see how much clutch material & other particulate is trapped inside. Dunno if that is possible with the ZF all-in-one pan+filter setup.

It was interesting that ZF tech support said the filter was capable of holding pretty much all debris for the life of the trans, which makes me wonder if the filter change could be skipped most of the time...

jaguardoc504 said:

Aside from using the wrong fluid (which they did), and maybe an incorrect drain/fill procedure. There is not much fault that can be blamed on the shop who did the service. The reality is, parts wear out, fluid changes on higher mileage drive-line components can exacerbate the problem.
While you may be able to blame the shop, it may not be their problem and it would not hold up in court on a 100K mile vehicle.

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I was with you until you got to this point.

I am an attorney. Although I do not do them anymore, at a former law firm I defended bad car and bad repair cases. Meaning, I represented the car dealers and mechanic shops who were alleged to have sold bad cars or messed up cars at service.

It doesn't matter how many miles are on the vehicle. All that matters is that it ran well before, and it runs poorly after, and that the mechanic was more likely than not the cause of the issue. The fact that this shop used improper fluid is by itself enough to support a claim of negligence. If the shop improperly reset the adaptations, that's just the cherry on top. All it takes is any expert in ZF transmissions to state what the proper procedure is; OP's mechanic has already supplied evidence of his own negligence by way of an invoice listing improper fluid and in a questionable amount.

In terms of whether it makes sense financially to file a lawsuit, many states have consumer laws that allow for attorney's fees provisions in cases like this. OP could additionally tack on other measures of damages, such as loss of use, maybe punitive (especially if the shop owner continues being a ****), etc.

What would likely happen is that the case would settle; hardly any cases go to trial anymore. What I would suggest to OP is that he or she at least find an attorney who deals in bad car cases and speak to the attorney about this, if the shop owner isn't able to fix the issue. OP had a good car and now they had a bad car, and I think it's pretty clear to most here that it has something to do with what this shop did.

Forgot to mention this previously, but since the amount of fluid on the invoice is greater than the amount needed, fluid quantity wouldn't be an issue. The ZF fill procedure is to basically overfill, and allow additional fluid to drain. The mechanic would state 8 quarts is fine, as the extra fluid overflows from the fill port as the temp comes up to spec, and he would be correct. (I agree he didn't need to use 8 quarts, but for legal purposes I don't think this argument will fly.)

Now, if the claimed fluid amount was LOWER than normally needed, that could be a smoking gun. But not in this particular case.

I have no clue how things would pan out in court with the use of aftermarket fluid of correct spec, which is what occurred here. I mentioned this back in post #23 (link). They didn't put in Type F or power steering fluid.

After reading this thread and having a mild hard shift between 1 and 2 when rolling (as mentioned in a previous thread, the LR Tech at the dealer said this was 'normal" and not to worry about it), I called Arminco Transmission shop near me - as my normal mechanic won't touch transmissions. I have heard good things and they specialize in rebuilding ZF trannys. https://www.yelp.com/biz/arminco-transmission-north-hollywood . I spoke to them about the thought of changing the fluid and pan or basically anything in the ZF and FWIW he said with only 60k and no real issues, i just need to drive it more. He doesn't crack them for maintenance until 140k. Unless it is leaking, or somehow failing, which he said was pretty rare at low miles, don't mess with it. Which is interesting, given that he makes money rebuilding them all the time.

The Land Rover recommended service interval for the LR4 transmission is 150K miles or 10 years, on the LR3 it is 120K miles or 10 years.
The LR3 ones says fluid and filter, But the LR4 only says fluid....

That is for normal LR4 service (no towing, minimal city driving, no offroad, etc). See post #16 earlier in this thread for the severe-service info from the FSM.

The LR3 has a completely different transmission.

gsxr said:

That is for normal LR4 service (no towing, minimal city driving, no offroad, etc). See post #16 earlier in this thread for the severe-service info from the FSM.

The LR3 has a completely different transmission.

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The transmissions may not be a swappable due to bell housing and programming it is still a 6HP26 so has basically the same internals, uses the same pan/filter and fluid.
So not quite a completely different transmission

rally3 said:

The transmissions may not be a swappable due to bell housing and programming it is still a 6HP26 so has basically the same internals, uses the same pan/filter and fluid.
So not quite a completely different transmission

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Ooops! My bad... I had thought the LR3 used an older trans, not the 6HP26. Apologies for the miss.

gsxr said:

Ooops! My bad... I had thought the LR3 used an older trans, not the 6HP26. Apologies for the miss.

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No Worries,
The 03-05 Range Rover used the older 5HP, everything before (Except the Freelander) that used the 4HP

So after a long journey I have an update. The shop owner was agreeable to take a look at the truck and see what could be done. However right before I took it in a spoke to a “friend of a friend” who had their daughter’s tranny rebuilt by the company. It was a 2002 VW Passat. Within a little over a year, the transmission blew up 3 separate times. The guy fixed it each time except for the last one saying that it was beyond the original one year warranty. This made me very leery of his abilities and of what the final outcome was going to be (ie me sitting on the side of the road in a blizzard without forward gear). Anywho, as I mentioned in a previous post that I probably would be in the market for a new one. Ironicallly enough I found one at a Porsche dealer nearby. Exact year 2010 and color combo but with a few of the upgraded features (ie cooler console/upgraded sound/etc.... no Lux though which has me confused). They were willing to take the old truck with its “problem” and give me the new one for 6k out of pocket. The thing is the new one has 41,000 miles and mine has 99,000. I decided Christmas Commeth early and I went with it ‍. The story doesn’t end here though. The in the new truck of course on my way home I noticed a whine in the driveline that I am trying to figure out. The dealer I bought it from said it has no warranty which in their defense it has AS IS written in the largest letters I’ve seen on the sales invoice. Regardless, If I can get it worked out for a reasonable amount I will have a diamond in the rough I think ... I mean 41,000 on a 2010 is unheard of. I’m going to start a new post about the whine when I get a minute to record the sound. Thanks to all for the help. My Landrover saga continues.