The Haynes manual states that this job should be carried out by a specialist every 24000 miles. I was quoted £170 by the local independent garage. However I found a good guide on the internet which gave step by step instructions.
Credit where credit is due this guide on difflock.com was perfect.
One key thing is that doing this job is much easier with a set of ramps. I shan't go into much detail as it is all in the guide. One thing I will reiterate is just how tight the filler tube was. This took a spanner with an extension bar and a large-ish REME mechanic (no offence Dexter
) hanging off it to get it undone.
However I can confirm that the whole job is straightforward, as the guide suggests.
The filter kit (RTC 4653kit) is available from most of the mail order outlets and should cost more than £13-14.
We only managed to drain 4.6 litres oil from the gearbox, so as the guide says, I shall redrain it and add another top up in a few hundred miles.
There is some discussion on many of the forums that this job can cause problems. Having driven back from Nuneaton and now driven to work each day (50 mile round trip) I can report no problems.
I did notice that the change from 1st to 2nd seemed to be a bit higher up the rev range when the box is cold but this has settled down after a couple of days and eveything is as it was before. I used Comma ATF (Dexron 3) which I got from Halfords (£23).
I know that this hadn't been done for nearly 30 000 miles so I was very keen to do this before the Tunisia trip.
This is a straightforward job and well within the limits of a DIY owner.
