Paulindre
Active Member
SORRY I MADE AN ERROR IT IS A 2003 TD4 1 BMW DIESEL NOT 2013
Being new to this site I hope that I am posting in the right place. In my introduction I posted that I had been gifted a Freelander TD4 1 2003 manual BMW diesel with no service history and a list of annoying problems but my first concern, after replacing the tailgate window mech was “when were the fluids and filters last changed?” so I had a scan through these excellent forums and found advice addressing pretty much all of my worries. The previous owner had the engine oil changed 3,000 miles ago but had no idea even of the existence of other oil sumps. So as the gearbox did not feel quite right I attacked that first, as usual lack of maintenance or an over zealous mechanic wielding an air hammer had tightened the 2 plugs to a point where they had almost welded themselves to the gearbox, they would not budge.
Taking a tip from your forum I worked on the refill plug first, the only way to move it was to make up a 8mm allan by cutting off a bit from an normal 8mm key and stick it in an 8mm socket. With the car up on stands and the wheel off I managed to make up a long extension that reached from near the disc to the filler plug, putting the ratchet horizontal with the ground I could get a jack underneath it and put max pressure on the end of the ratchet until the td4 started to lift a fraction. It still would not budge so leaving the pressure on the ratchet I went underneath with a hammer and cold chisel and tapped the sump plug anti clockwise, not too hard as I did not relish the idea of cracking the gearbox and suddenly the pressure came off of the ratchet handle, the jack fell over and the plug was free. Had to use a similar tactic with the drain plug but with more difficulty as the plug is shrouded, got there in the end and this very dark almost black oil came out looking as though it had never been changed, maybe topped up until the inspection plug became a problem. Again taking a tip from the forums I refilled it with ATF and drove around using the gears as often as poss for about 130 miles. Today was the great reveal, I had put in a light red ATF and emptied out a dark red/black substance, it must have done its clean up job as during the 130 mile drive around over the course of a week the box felt smoother and lighter. The nearest replacement oil I could find was Castol Syntrans 75w-90 API GL 4 fully synthetic, I saw that some members said it was OK if you trust Castrol so here’s hoping.With the new oil in it feels like a new box so a big thanks to you all for the valuable tips. The next post is the rear diff.
Being new to this site I hope that I am posting in the right place. In my introduction I posted that I had been gifted a Freelander TD4 1 2003 manual BMW diesel with no service history and a list of annoying problems but my first concern, after replacing the tailgate window mech was “when were the fluids and filters last changed?” so I had a scan through these excellent forums and found advice addressing pretty much all of my worries. The previous owner had the engine oil changed 3,000 miles ago but had no idea even of the existence of other oil sumps. So as the gearbox did not feel quite right I attacked that first, as usual lack of maintenance or an over zealous mechanic wielding an air hammer had tightened the 2 plugs to a point where they had almost welded themselves to the gearbox, they would not budge.
Taking a tip from your forum I worked on the refill plug first, the only way to move it was to make up a 8mm allan by cutting off a bit from an normal 8mm key and stick it in an 8mm socket. With the car up on stands and the wheel off I managed to make up a long extension that reached from near the disc to the filler plug, putting the ratchet horizontal with the ground I could get a jack underneath it and put max pressure on the end of the ratchet until the td4 started to lift a fraction. It still would not budge so leaving the pressure on the ratchet I went underneath with a hammer and cold chisel and tapped the sump plug anti clockwise, not too hard as I did not relish the idea of cracking the gearbox and suddenly the pressure came off of the ratchet handle, the jack fell over and the plug was free. Had to use a similar tactic with the drain plug but with more difficulty as the plug is shrouded, got there in the end and this very dark almost black oil came out looking as though it had never been changed, maybe topped up until the inspection plug became a problem. Again taking a tip from the forums I refilled it with ATF and drove around using the gears as often as poss for about 130 miles. Today was the great reveal, I had put in a light red ATF and emptied out a dark red/black substance, it must have done its clean up job as during the 130 mile drive around over the course of a week the box felt smoother and lighter. The nearest replacement oil I could find was Castol Syntrans 75w-90 API GL 4 fully synthetic, I saw that some members said it was OK if you trust Castrol so here’s hoping.With the new oil in it feels like a new box so a big thanks to you all for the valuable tips. The next post is the rear diff.
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