Mr Freedom said:

Thanks Lynall, it was serviced 12k miles ago, so probably an oil change is in order ... Your idea of expert help in exchange for a free holiday is a good one

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I'd take it up, Im down there late Nov for a holiday anyway .

Joking aside, as others have said 5/30 ACEA B3 oil for the 2.4tdci. These have a really small oil filter too - you MUST always swap it every time, otherwise it'll lunch the timing chain and that's expensive and tragic. I presume it's a LHD car and its going to be marked in km... service at 10,000km intervals for rough service town driving. 15000km if you are mainly autoroute driving.

You will at the least want to swap also the gearbox, transfer case and diff oils, and at least check that the swivels are full...

Go onto Amazon and search for HAYNES MANUAL 6398 LAND ROVER DEFENDER DIESEL

They will deliver to France, and it'll have a decent list of tools inside that you can start buying.

Mr S1 said:

No way I'd leave an oil change for 10k miles or anywhere near - on anything. My bike oils get changed every 2k miles, MPV every 5/6k and Defender once a year but does nominal mileage.

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30000 mile intervals on my BMW and it's happy as anything....

Each to their own fella !

chris-the-gerbil said:

30000 mile intervals on my BMW and it's happy as anything....

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Chris what engine is that as 30k is amazing?

I did see something a while back and that was bmw where to do an oil change they replaced the oil and filter in one container under the bonnet a bit like a cassette

lynall said:

chain wrap is very poor and it wont take much wear for that to go tits up

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Yes it is, I agree that where there is a weakness in the design short oil change intervals might help. As it happens I do very little mileage now (only about 2k between MOT's this year) since I stopped doing millions of miles a week between kent n lunnen and kent n devon. (Retired now). But as for manufacturers service intervals, I bought a new Peugeot (petrol) which had 20k / 2year intervals provided full synthetic was used. I did just that and at 80k I gave it a major service, when I had the spark plugs out I shone a light into the plug holes - I was amazed to see the piston crowns were clean, light golden colour and all numbers stamped on them were readable as if they had just come out of the parts shop. Think theres a lot to be said in favour of modern oils and engine management systems (when they work).

lynall said:

Chris what engine is that as 30k is amazing?

I did see something a while back and that was bmw where to do an oil change they replaced the oil and filter in one container under the bonnet a bit like a cassette

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N47 diesels. They have condition based servicing so it measures the oil acidity I presume. Town driving I used to get a service request from it at about 12-14k, but now almost pure motorways it's up to 30k - long runs, not much stop start and it's happy as anything. Needs a proper LL04 oil for it though.

chris-the-gerbil said:

30000 mile intervals on my BMW and it's happy as anything....

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You might think its happy, its not. Not because its not smoking (as yet) and not missing a beat, they are well built..the older ones mostly but running oil for 30K miles is hurting the engine.
It does not check acidity, the OBC calculates the mileage driven and fuel consumption to establish an oil service interval.
I had owned a BMW Performance and service shop until recently and the BMW Dealer service techs who are friends of mine agreed that this is inaccurate. The OBC does not factor in ambient temperature (which we thought it would) engine loading, altitude etc. I went to the dealer for parts and there was a fairly new BMW with a blown engine in the lot. I inquired and found out, the owner used the OBC service interval which notified him to change the oil. He was en route to the City and had a 4 hr drive left and thats when the engine blew up..he was towing a trailer with a boat on it, he sued BMW and lost the case.
I am a technologist and love the BMW technology, they were way ahead in the game since the early 1980ies...but some of it should not be followed.
Go change your oil and filter mate