LR4 Transmission oil change... mixed feelings.

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Pfunk951

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Hmmm.. I'm glad you got it on record that he said that, so you have a history if something bad happens in the future..

Let me drag out my soapbox here..

Ahem..

I'm starting to wonder what dealerships are paid for factory warranty work- like if they are paid a discounted labor rate or something.. I have had multiple repairs on my aftermarket warranty with zero hesitation from the dealership, to the tune of about $10k combined. I have a buddy that has gone in with some similar issues on his factory warranty, and has been told "that's normal".

I say this out of concern for those of us who have factory warranties, because these techs who say "that's normal" won't be called to the carpet when the breakdowns and failures occur. We paid a lot of coin for these warranties, and it seems that dealers want to kick the can past the warranty line, and then the tune changes to "that's major, and it needs to be fixed".

Frustrating..

Off soapbox,

Mike
 

Huy Tran

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We might have pieced together a possible failure mode on these transmissions..

On another thread, Huy Tran said this:



I've seen a bunch of posts with people complaining of rough shifts- perhaps this is a sign that these seals are beginning to fail, and causing excessive pressure on the bearings/clutches. Apparently (at least in Huy's experience), this led to failure..

Spawnywhippet, I'm starting to think that either an 1. Addition to the the transmission fluid/ pan swap thread, or 2. A new thread addressing the solenoids and seals is in order.. And we need to continue gathering info on failures and fixes..

Mike
Thanks Mike.
I think a dedicated thread would be great.
For me, information was hard to come by when I was having my issues and I was beginning to think that it was an isolated case. But then I found the same transmission with known issues in other makes (mostly BMWs and Ford's). There are good information and videos in other forums and youtube that gave me enough confidence to tackle the repair. Alas my transmission was too far gone at that point and I did not have the time and equipment (lift, transmission jack...) to do a full rebuild.
 

Azoo

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Pfunk951 - We all know Stealerships are full of BS, years ago I had a Mercedes that had factory extended warranty and i took the car in to have them change the rear shock absorbers. I expected they would change both rear left and right shocks because obviously shock absorbers are changed in pairs, to my surprise they changed only the left rear saying that was the only bad one and the right side was still good. Meanwhile a buddy of mine with the same type of car went to the same dealership with the same problem and they insisted he had to change both shocks since he was paying out of pocket. So for me the best way to deal with stealerships is to go in with facts, do your research, try to pinpoint the problem, print out documents showing other people with the same problem, insist you want the problem resolved, call head office etc.
 

Davidb612

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No transmission removal or messing with rings and seals required. Most of the work is just dropping the pan, which I did by cutting the neck off the old one and converting to the metal pan. Once the pan is dropped, the mechatronic unit is immediately visible and is the next part that drops out from the transmission when you undo about 10 bolts and disconnect the wiring harness. Pull the mecha unit out, pop out the old solenoids and pop the new ones in. I also replaced the harness seal collar at the same time, while I had good access. If there is sufficient interest, I could write it up as a DIY.
Is it true that if i replace the solenoids i have to reprogram/update the software?
 

ryanjl

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A transmission fluid change is probably the next major item on my LR4 "to do" list. I'm at just shy of 80k miles, and don't have any real transmission issues right now. That said, I'm wondering if I shouldn't do more than just a fluid change.

The beauty of our transmissions is that they (or close siblings) are used in multiple makes of vehicles. This video is pretty good about explaining what issue in the transmission causes what problem:


Seems like at the very least it might be worth it to also remove the mechatronix unit and replace the seal adapter and the sealing sleeves. That would only add about 10 bolts and $40.. This guy recommends doing that along with a fluid change every 60-80k miles. He advises only replacing the solenoids if they start going bad, which normally throws an error code.
 

ryanjl

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Here's one of that guy's videos where he performs the job on a BMW 335i. Not sure if it's the exact same transmission as ours, but the seal adapter and sealing sleeves are the same.

 

PeterA

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Yeah, that's ridiculous.

The price is also ridiculous. But it is a PITA, so I am not terribly surprised.

I'm at 68,000 miles and for preventive maintenance purchased the differential/transmission fluid kit from AB for $170. An independent shop up here in VT charged me 1 hour labor ($60) for the job. For $100 he also sprayed an undercoating to protect from all the salt they used up here to keep the roads safe.
 

Quijote

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I'm at 68,000 miles and for preventive maintenance purchased the differential/transmission fluid kit from AB for $170. An independent shop up here in VT charged me 1 hour labor ($60) for the job. For $100 he also sprayed an undercoating to protect from all the salt they used up here to keep the roads safe.

I assume this is for the easier to install kit, right?

My comment was for the dealer price to install a factory pan by the book.
 

Quijote

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A transmission fluid change is probably the next major item on my LR4 "to do" list. I'm at just shy of 80k miles, and don't have any real transmission issues right now. That said, I'm wondering if I shouldn't do more than just a fluid change.

The beauty of our transmissions is that they (or close siblings) are used in multiple makes of vehicles. This video is pretty good about explaining what issue in the transmission causes what problem:


Seems like at the very least it might be worth it to also remove the mechatronix unit and replace the seal adapter and the sealing sleeves. That would only add about 10 bolts and $40.. This guy recommends doing that along with a fluid change every 60-80k miles. He advises only replacing the solenoids if they start going bad, which normally throws an error code.

This a great find. I agree 100%. It seems easy enough to replace the sleeves at the time of the fluid/pan change.

I'm only at 5 years/32k miles, but I might change the transmission fluid next fall at 6 years and (maybe) 40k miles just based on years.

Part of me is tempted to just flush the fluid given the low miles and do a full pan replacement at 60k miles. We'll see.

EDIT: I'll probably change the other drivetrain fluids at that time as well (differential, etc).
 
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