Jatco Gearbox Fluid. What Are The Alternatives

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Int the dextron ii stuff the black stuff they used in the FL1 v6 jatco for merkins? Was said to be the cause of early FL1 auto failure and put merkins oft buying them. There was a lot about this some years ago but the websites seem to have gone. There was a good strip down on you tube but can't find it now. Merkins didn't like one of the many chemicals in LRN402 which is why they used different stuff as merkins banned that chemical being imported. Suppliers will confirm they have a replacement oil by email, but never add it to the list of cars supported on their website, when asking them to. Puzzles me this.

MHM's comment about being careful with the oil change comes from many years of us seeing peeps (mainly garages) feking up the auto's after an oil change. It may be simple to do, but costly if done wrong. Mine leaked and low oil feked the torque convertor. Didn't know it was leaking until garage said. Stooopid sump guard hides it. Refilling incorrectly (fek it it's feked anyway) feked more seals and they blow'd ****ing oil out of the 3 main seals. I still remember the large jolt after driving out of bnq when it shunted into the next gear...
 
Hippo said:
Int the dextron ii stuff the black stuff they used in the FL1 v6 jatco for merkins? Was said to be the cause of early FL1 auto failure and put merkins oft buying them. There was a lot about this some years ago but the websites seem to have gone. There was a good strip down on you tube but can't find it now. Merkins didn't like one of the many chemicals in LRN402 which is why they used different stuff as merkins banned that chemical being imported. Suppliers will confirm they have a replacement oil by email, but never add it to the list of cars supported on their website, when asking them to. Puzzles me this.

MHM's comment about being careful with the oil change comes from many years of us seeing peeps (mainly garages) feking up the auto's after an oil change. It may be simple to do, but costly if done wrong. Mine leaked and low oil feked the torque convertor. Didn't know it was leaking until garage said. Stooopid sump guard hides it. Refilling incorrectly (fek it it's feked anyway) feked more seals and they blow'd ****ing oil out of the 3 main seals. I still remember the large jolt after driving out of bnq when it shunted into the next gear...
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D II is'nt really good enough for the Jatco if it's filled for life, but should be ok if changed regularly, running it with old fluid will be worse than running with new lower spec fluid though! Iirc lots of Jatco boxes are over filled which will make the seals fail!! Sadly it needs to be at 40°C +or-5°C to get the level rite. This means if it's filled to the correct level when cold, it will be over filled!! This is the main reason for failure. The fluid that is available now far exceeds the spec Land Rover fluid!!
 
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Mine was filled by main dealer when the engine was replaced. Auto leak was down to bad luck. They tried to reseal the side panel but it failed. I'd already part destroyed the torque convertor before finding out about the leak, so it needed changed anyway. I replace the oil myself now. Noticed the leak at 8k miles. Also about 8k after engine change. :(
 
im off the opinion after speaking to other rebuilders that there was a physical poor splitting piston that does burn clutches and dirty oil does effect solenoid and valve operation apart from that a good box
 
From looking at parts lists they made many minor changes to the jatco over the years. Strengthened it in 2004 I think. 2004 seems to have an increase in parts changing. Hopefully it made them betterer.
 
jamesmartin said:
im off the opinion after speaking to other rebuilders that there was a physical poor splitting piston that does burn clutches and dirty oil does effect solenoid and valve operation apart from that a good box
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It appears that most damage can be sorted without removing the trany which is good!!
 
On the auto side of the box lowering the box access is possible withit still in the car FMHE , the outer "basket" can then be removed and a helpful autoshop will rebuiold that with new parts , using their special tool , but if you have to go further in then you need to make a small press special tool to enable the retainer circlip to be refitted , as the jatco one is used from the diff side of the box . HTSH
 
tacr2man said:
On the auto side of the box lowering the box access is possible withit still in the car FMHE , the outer "basket" can then be removed and a helpful autoshop will rebuiold that with new parts , using their special tool , but if you have to go further in then you need to make a small press special tool to enable the retainer circlip to be refitted , as the jatco one is used from the diff side of the box . HTSH
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is that the carlube atf-u that u used in your td4 mate ? ive been looking at this stuff on ebay but no mention of it being n402
 
The spec on the bottle says its ok and I contacted Carlube and they confirmed it , and I am happy enough with it ,in use HTSH
 
tacr2man said:
The spec on the bottle says its ok and I contacted Carlube and they confirmed it , and I am happy enough with it ,in use HTSH
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nice one mate am just not convinced that a autobox thats nearly 20 years old need this landrover stuff at nearly £15 a liter theres far better oils out there these days
 
Carlube (or tetrosyl on their emails) confirmed to me their product is suitable for our Jatco by email. However, when asked to add the Freelander Jatco to their web site listing, they don't. Why not? Surely it would increase sales. There's a number of cars missing. Paragraph 1 in the disclaimer of their datasheet posted above is quite good I think. I think they should come out and admit they likes Freelanders (if they really does).
 
Hippo said:
Carlube (or tetrosyl on their emails) confirmed to me their product is suitable for our Jatco by email. However, when asked to add the Freelander Jatco to their web site listing, they don't. Why not? Surely it would increase sales. There's a number of cars missing. Paragraph 1 in the disclaimer of their datasheet posted above is quite good I think. I think they should come out and admit they likes Freelanders (if they really does).
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i know what your saying hippo theres lots of autos out there that apparently can only be use on dealer approved atf that only they sell which imo is to get sales and scare the crap out of us not to use anything else

am going to use this atf-u and change it using the gibbons method so i can be sure that most of the old fluid is drained
 
Wouldn't it possible to empty the box with a kind of vacuumpump as you now have for engine oil to be sucked out ?? That way all the oil (or almost all) could be replaced.
 
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