blimey, £5 for a single O ring?!
Plus shipping of course....
Not that £5 is much in the grand scheme of things but it does sound a bit much.

Anyway, thanks for the pointers. I have found the original method posted by Gibbons in this thread:
https://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showthread....er-goodies!

The volvo method says to remove the top hose. You are saying for the FL2 it is the bottom hose from the transmission end?
So....
- warm up gearbox
- remove filler plug from top of gearbox.
- Make sure I can remove remove the level plug.
- disconnect bottom hose from cooler to gearbox
- Do I need to add some tubing to drain as per the Gibbons method? Or is the disconnected hose the outlet so i can just catch the fluid from that?
- Start the engine and wait until bubbles come through
- Stop the engine, refill gearbox with the same amount of fluid that came. (3 litres?)
- repeat the last two steps until clean fluid comes out (4 times?)
- Replace hoses etc (with new o ring) and check level with gearbox at 60degC.

Have I missed anything?
I vaguely remember some comment about replacing the cooler hose between fills. Is that necessary? There is no mention of it in the original post.

Ta,
Toby FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

Sorry, another question!

I have just been looking at the workshop manual. It looks like the bottom hose is the flow out from the transmission and the top is the the flow back in.
So removing the bottom hose means no fluid is pumped through the cooler. Does this not mean that old fluid is not flushed from the cooler. Or does this not matter anyway?

If I removed the top hose at the transmission end would I not then have a hose I can direct into a container to catch the fluid?

I guess all that is a long winded way of asking what is the reason for using the bottom hose rather than the top as per the original gibbons method? FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

Its generally believed the workshop manual has the flow direction wrong.
Several threads relate to this. Jules

Ah, makes sense. Thanks. FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

No need for tubing, the lower pipe is the outlet tube. Hence it's modified from the original ( In one of the Youtube movies a pipe sold by Volvo is used but there is no need for it, just be sure to hold the pipe to cut down on any mess ). The connector at the fluid cooler is a pig to undo anyway you may end up twisting the pipework

It's defiantly the lower pipe on the auto box.

Also there is no need to remove the larger bottom plug at all

Just the small center level plug when it's time check the level with the standard procedure followed to the letter

I am considering changing my user name to I Like Gibbons

Thanks, I think I understand it all now.
If I can find a helper (and a replacement o-ring) I think I will try that method as it does sound a much better way of getting the fluid clean. FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

IIRC The O ring is a green "Viton" type, not the usual black rubber Jules

Yes, shame it is viton as otherwise I have a box of o-rings that would suit.
Another order placed. Costs are starting to mount up so it better be worth it!  FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

My understanding is the older FL2 (including 2007) needs to use a MINERAL OIL that meets JWS3309 spec...

Why do you say that?

I have done a quick check and most JWS3309 oils don't even mention whether they are mineral or synthetic (or semi) and I wasn't aware of anything that says it matters.

The ravenol T-IV that is generally sold by specialists against the landrover part number is semi-synth.
Some T-IV I have found quote fully synth. Plus the jws3309 sold by Smith and Allan that people seem to like appears to be synthetic.

I am happy to be convinced otherwise though! FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32297.html

Thanks,
So it is the mention by alex_p that the original jws3309 was a mineral oil? Unless I have missed something that doesn't mean more modern synthetic oils are bad, as long as they are JWS3309 spec.
That is just how I interpret it though.

Or put another way, this is a 160k mile old landrover. Anything is better than the oil that is in it now and if there was a real problem with synth versions I would expect the web to be full of it given how many cars uses this tranmission....

All this might be a bit of a moot point anyway. The oil I ordered has not turned up so it looks like I will not be doing this this weekend anyway.
Looks like I might have to cancel that order and go to Smith and Allan as they appear to be very good with their shipping - the engine oil I ordered from them turned up in 24 hours. FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

Smith & Allan have always delivered promptly for me also  2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

I use S&A for all my lubes except haldex.
Established 1925 in Darlington. Jules