Just wanted to say Hi as a new owner

+1 for the silver wheels.

As Datatek says, the GM Valve block was made from very soft materials....the constant modulation of the Valves inside there bores wears the bores away depositing the 'crap' into the box, this then acts like a cutting paste expediting the wear exponentially.

The Main culprit is the Torque Converter Lock Up Clutch modulation valve...as this wears, the hydraulic pressure to the LUC drops, so the system tries to compensate and modulates the valve more which in turn not only wears the valve bore more but also the LUC is put into action more than it was designed for causing premature wear to the LUC friction material...which gets dumped into the gearbox oil...again acting like a cutting paste wearing out the LUC material..the valves and the valve bores...and the cycle starts again....

Regular Oil and Filter changes can help prolong the life of the box, but it will eventually fail and oftentimes without warning too...!!!

Ok thanks for the heads up,

It had a major gearbox rebuild last year at a cost of over 2k so hopefully with regular oil changes I can prolong it's life a bit.

dpbayly said:

Ok thanks for the heads up,

It had a major gearbox rebuild last year at a cost of over 2k so hopefully with regular oil changes I can prolong it's life a bit.

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Others seem to have suceeded in prolonging the life of the box with regular changes at 24/30K miles.

Great news,

I'll get some oil and a filter ordered up as its done 9k since the rebuild so I'll change it now and I will know where I stand.

Im guessing It's not the same box as in the X5 then like the engine?

odyssey said:

+1 for the silver wheels.

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+2 like mine :welcome2:

It really is a nice colour on your Range. The only details I don't like are the silver parts on the car.

PPCHR said:

It really is a nice colour on your Range. The only details I don't like are the silver parts on the car.

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Im a fan of the silver parts nice contrast, that's how it left the factory according to the original sale invoice

dpbayly said:

Great news,

I'll get some oil and a filter ordered up as its done 9k since the rebuild so I'll change it now and I will know where I stand.

Im guessing It's not the same box as in the X5 then like the engine?

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I thought the engine and box was the same as at least the early X5

Datatek said:

I thought the engine and box was the same as at least the early X5

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Engine and gearbox are the same as long as I know

Just the x5 engine is the M57N version which has a higher output than the standard M57 in the L322's

2.0_hippo said:

Engine and gearbox are the same as long as I know

Just the x5 engine is the M57N version which has a higher output than the standard M57 in the L322's

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That's what I thought.

L322s are too new for me to know much about but didn't I read somewhere that the front diffs on pre '06 cars fail after only 40k miles and cost about four grand to fix or something daft??

blackstrat said:

L322s are too new for me to know much about but didn't I read somewhere that the front diffs on pre '06 cars fail after only 40k miles and cost about four grand to fix or something daft??

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Mine must on diff No 6 by now then.

The problem there was the alignment of the Front Prop and the Diff, they used a solid sleeve type arrangement....during fitment, they could never get them properly aligned and this caused premature wear of the splines on the Diff input collar....

There was a recall done and the unit was changed to a UJ type joint....as per the following linky... Front Differential Recall (Range Rover Mk III)

Saint.V8 said:

The problem there was the alignment of the Front Prop and the Diff, they used a solid sleeve type arrangement....during fitment, they could never get them properly aligned and this caused premature wear of the splines on the Diff input collar....

There was a recall done and the unit was changed to a UJ type joint....as per the following linky... Front Differential Recall (Range Rover Mk III)

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Ah yes that's it I remember the prop alignment bit now, well done that man!

blackstrat said:

L322s are too new for me to know much about but didn't I read somewhere that the front diffs on pre '06 cars fail after only 40k miles and cost about four grand to fix or something daft??

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This issue had a lot of owners in the US trading in their L322s for MLs and explorers, especially after it failed a second time. Initially LR did not identify this as a problem and replaced failed parts with the same kind that failed again after extended use.
I would assume they would all have been retrofitted with the improved prop shaft under warranty by now and it would be safe to buy one now without having to worry about that.

Took a look at mine on the ramp last night and it has the newer style shaft fitted.

So I'm all good there thankfully.