I wasn't trying to make you paranoid

sorry about that

If I were in your position I would just use the 75W90 for a year and change it if the shifting is difficult in the cold or just change it in a year.

I don't think that you will notice the difference between the two gear oils.

When its very cold if you warm up you LR2 before driving off then the gears will be moving and the oil circulating and warming up, the only thing that won't be spinning is the output shaft (because in neutral none of the gears are engaging the output shaft)

Note: the power transfer unit and the rear differential will not warm up at idle (nothing is moving inside either of these if your LR2 is stopped)

Foaming of the differential fluid is normal

For the Mobil Video above I think that they connected an electric motor with a fixed amount of torque and they measured how long it took the fluid to warm up

Here is a room temperature video showing the foaming of the gear oil

Quote:

p_gill wrote:

I wasn't trying to make you paranoid

sorry about that

If I were in your position I would just use the 75W90 for a year and change it if the shifting is difficult in the cold or just change it in a year.

I don't think that you will notice the difference between the two gear oils.

When its very cold if you warm up you LR2 before driving off then the gears will be moving and the oil circulating and warming up, the only thing that won't be spinning is the output shaft (because in neutral none of the gears are engaging the output shaft)

Note: the power transfer unit and the rear differential will not warm up at idle (nothing is moving inside either of these if your LR2 is stopped)

Him Paul.
Thank you for your reply i am not paranoid about it it's just i like things to be correct so any right information can only be good, the 75w/90 i have left can be use in the Transfer box TRX SYNTH 75W/90 0.75ltrs

Rear Differential TRX SYNTH 75W/90 0.75ltrs

Hopefully it will arrive in the morning and i can crack on cheers Arctic.

The new 75w/80 gear oil arrived this morning, i only ordered it last night about 01.30am in the morning so super fast delivery,
1

2

I am quite surprised in the difference inn colour and thickness from the 75w/90 here below Fig 3
3

75w/80 gear oil.
4

The two oils side by side for comparison
5

6

I am presuming the 75w/80 will cover the gears quicker than the 75w/90 would, the weekend will see me doing the job once again.

That new Gear oil looks fine

It meets the Mercedes specification for

235.10 Gear oils (Manual transmission)

And Mercedes has a lot of different gear oil specifications

231.0 - General information on gear oils
231.1 - Specified gear oils (cars, cross-country vehicles) - overview
231.2 - Specified gear oils (commercial vehicles) - overview
231.3 - Specified gear oils (UNIMOG, MB-tractors) - overview
235.0 0 Gear oils (Hypoid gear)
235.1 0 Gear oils (Steering / manual transmission)
235.13H 0 Gear oils (Manual transmission) - historical
235.3 0 Gear oils (FE-gear oils)
235.4 0 Gear Oils (Gear)
235.5 0 Gear Oils (Transfer box)
235.6 0 Gear Oils (Hypoid gear)
235.7 0 Gear Oils (Rear axle gear)
235.8 0 Gear Oils (Hypoid gear)
235.10 0 Gear oils (Manual transmission)
235.11 0 Gear oils (Transfer case)
235.12 0 Gear oils (Specification 235.12)
235.15 0 Gear oils (Hypoid gear)
235.16 0 Gear oils (Gear)
235.20 0 Gear oils (CV, mineral oil)
235.27 0 Gear oils (Retarder)
235.28 0 Gear oils (Retarder)
235.29 0 Gear oils (Retarder)
235.31 0 Gear Oils (CV, Hypoid gear)
235.41 0 Gear Oils (Shift/transfer box)
235.61 0 Gear Oils (Hypoid gear)
235.62 0 Gear Oils (Rear axle gear)
235.63 0 Gear Oils (Rear axle gear)
235.64 0 Gear Oils (Rear axle gear)
235.71 0 Gear Oils (Automatic shift gear)
235.72 0 Gear Oils (Automatic shift gear)
235.73 0 Gear Oils (DCT-gear)
235.74 0 Gear Oils (Front axle)

p_gill wrote:

Just a follow up

I am at 107,000 miles and my front and rear differential are doing fine.

I decided to drill a hole in the front differential (transfer box) so that the fluid would drain out easily.

It was just too difficult to get the tubing in to remove the old fluid.

To create the drain I removed a bolt on the transfer box and I drilled out the back of the hole until I got to the oil.

the drill I used was 1/8" (about 3 mm)

See the picture for more information.


Happy Motoring

Paul

I thought I would put this out there in case someone with superior knowledge could provide "clearer" guidance. My bro with the hoist really wants to drill and tap the sump indentation below and to the right of the bolt hole that p_gill drilled successfully. His reasoning is that the indentation is there because the case was made originally for a drain plug. Now I believe that Bell's Austen has not installed a drain plug on his recon PTU to my current knowledge, he must have a reason IMO. Anyone that can put this "potential" location to rest???

Hi MotionInc.
If you check out post that Merlinj79 put up on 27 Aug 2019 you will see he added a drain plug where your bro wants to add his.

I have marked my PTU with an X on the bolt which Paul G drilled when he did his oil change, when i recently changed the oil on my PTU i also put an X in a circle with an all mark pen so when i revisit the oil change again in the spring 2021, i intend to add a drain plug in the same place, it really does look like where a drain plug should be.

1

Merlij79 photo below
2

I used a suction pump to remove the oil out of my PTU.

3

It still took me about 20/25 minutes to remove
4

I managed to get 570ml out.
5

Pumped 680 ml back in until it dripped out, then removed 120ml
6

I am using this oil change as a flushing solution come spring i will do another fresh change.

Thank you Arctic! I had forgotten about merlinj79 mod and pics.

austen_fl2 wrote:

Hi

I can't find a suitable place to fit a haldex bung that is easily accessible while the a diff is fitted to the car, so sucking out the old fluid is only option for a straight fluid changed. To service the haldex properly it has to be removed anyway

The front diff hasnt such an obvious place to fit a drain, and the sump is very thin so still trying to work out a good place to add one.

Update to drilling & tapping my PTU:

I used a M10x1.25 drill, tap and motorcycle magnetic bolt. In retrospect, an M8 would have been better since the drilling was centre but slightly off level, downward slope, minimal but enough to have to grind the case. Used Matco hyper-step drill bits in ascending sizes; punched the location once we marked the centre of the sump cast (see pics). Also used an angle drill with excellent trigger range speed control.

Click image to enlarge

Motion,

That’s awesome.

Thanks for sharing.

Happy New Year


I may have to modify mine with a second hole now that you’ve showed us where to drill.


Take care

Paul

merlinj79 wrote:

California being a long ways from Bell Engineering, I did my own transfer box oil.

I drilled and tapped a drain plug, following a suggested technique from another forum. *Should* have been easy, but ended up harder than it needed to be... I came very close to needing some welding or a new transfer case.

There's what appears to be a boss for a drain at the bottom of my case.

Jacked up all corners, to keep it level. My kid was helping. I had a drain pan in place and had already measured and drilled a small pilot hole. Due to the cramped space around the drain pan I relied on my kid to watch the drill from a better angle and warn me if it slipped off center. Well, it did, and she didn't. Sigh. In the pic you can see the black magic marker for what *should* have been the bottom center of the hole.

By the time I realized it, it was too late, hole was already too deep. The drill hit the side of boss which pushed it away at an angle early in the process so the hole was just barely accessible for the tap and drain plug thanks to the slight angle offset. If I had to do it again, I'd drill several successively larger pilot holes instead of just one little one. You do need a 90* drill.

I used 1/8 NPT (PLENTY big enough). NPT because the boss was rough and probably wouldn't seal with a washer. I chose a brass square head plug so I could drill the head for lockwire, and it worked out because there was no way a hex head plug would have fit after I drilled the wrong place (too close to the side of the boss).

I tapped carefully, a little at a time especially since I knew my plug could not go in too deep due to clearance. Tested the plug each step of the way until I got the depth I needed. Plenty of meat in the case there. Chase the threads with the tap a few times to get as much metal out as possible. I had two liters of fluid so I did a good flush with one of them after the tap. Jacked the driver side up a bit to help it flow out (put it back to level before filling though).

Tap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797JWQ...&psc=1


I used yellow teflon tape on the plug, and added a half-arse lockwire.

I bought a syringe with a small tube: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DNR7N...&psc=1

The small tube made it VERY hard to move the fluid, I used a larger hand pump to fill the case, but the syringe was the only way to extract the 100ML. The small hose can be worked around the gear(s) with some difficulty to extract 100ML... even that took some elbow grease and I'm big.

Anybody know how much to extract on a LR2? My bootleg LR manual says 120ML, the volvo dude in the video says 100ML. I did about 110ML counting what was in the tube.

I'll monitor for leaks. I think the plug barely bottomed out the threads in the hole, if it leaks I think I'll grind off some wiggle room on the side of the boss and tap it a little deeper.

Next up: Rear Diff and Haldex.

Click image to enlarge

Just wanted to add my words of wisdom in regards to rear diff oil replacement.
I have gone with Motul Gearbox 80w-90 as the properties are much higher than the recommend oil which is Castrol EPX 80w-90.
It is my view that the oil change for the rear diff is done infrequently that you may well use the best oils available, this is why I use Motul oil.
You pay a little more for this oil but you only need a ltr bottle.

Also I have listed the Motul Gear 300 LS 75w-90 oil for the front transfer box.

My Freelander 2
2.2 Diesel
SD4
Auto
2014
70,000Km

7 year fluid change:
Rear diff
Front transfer box
Haldex
Transmission
Cambelt, water pump and coolant









 1959 Ford Fairlane Galaxie V8 2 door Hardtop
2014 Freelander 2 SD4
2019 Volvo XC40 T5
2021 Ford Mustang Mach1

Hi P_Gill, followed ur steps, drilled with a 5 mm Drill Bit and the Swarfs came out flowing with the Chocolate Sauce inside. Thanks

Well done!!!

Click image to enlarge