Dumbest Oil Leak Ever Fixed on our Land Rover 

Hello Christian and Vera. I have got to say, Christian, that I have been watching your channel for some time now and I have come to the conclusion that Landrover should be paying you for these videos. Your approach to repairing Landrovers is superb. You seem to know more about Landrovers than Landrover. Thankyou for great videos👍

Words of wisdom that we should all live by - " I will never ever enter a Land Rover Dealership with one of my vehicles." Well done Christian and Vera

If I take a vehicle into a specialised dealership with a fault, I would expect when I got it back that the problem would have been sorted if not they haven't done their job to a satisfactory standard and either they don't charge or keep it until it's fixed. I am with Vera on this one.

I have worked for various car dealerships throughout the world and 3 have been Land Rover Dealers in 3 different countries. I have to say the issues you have raised whilst relating to the leak does not fix the overall problem the Dealer has. That problem is I believe experience. The experience of the mechanics on individual models of cars is priceless. What You and Vera are doing is gaining that experience and knowledge of your Land Rover cars and that experience and knowledge is priceless and your videos are passing that knowledge and experience onto others which is greatly appreciated. Thanks

That must have been stressfully exhausting. I'm glad you're still laughing about it all. I'm also feeling sorry for the Landrover owners who rely on a dealer.

sir i went to a land rover garage for a full service, when i picked the range rover up i paid in full (cash) they gave me the paperwork with 60 things they did, the next morning i checked the oil level all was well then i notice the diesel filter was not new then i checked gear box sump that was not new then i checked the air filter that was not new, so long story short, they did the service again with me under the ramp making sure the job was done, i learnt a big lesson, not to use land rover and trust no one, do it myself, but at 61 year old i dont bend as good as i did, but it just takes me longer to do the job,

Typical business denies all responsibility for doing a bad job. Well done for finding the fault, great videos, thank you.

There is another technical bulletin issued in the US showing this fault but in the casting cavity horizontally left from the problem you found. The response you had from your dealer in Germany is not different from what I would expect in the UK. At least their management training is consistent.

Not surprised at all - Land Rover Official Dealers' customer service is awful. I'd go as far as to say they are scammers based on the experience I had in London. You guys are amazing, by the way!

I bought a Skoda Fabia with a crack in the engine sump: ‘temporarily’ repaired with JB Weld. 152,000 miles and 12 years later the repair still holds.

Well done Christian! Looks to me like ZF clearly had a porosity issue with their aluminium casting, and anyone that thinks that such leakage paths change with time has not the slightest bit of engineering intuition. But you have that intuition, and you were clearly 100% correct. I thought it was only in the UK that we had such f***wits in customer service making supposed learned pronouncements on such matters. I hate the arrogance of main dealer Servicing Managers: it's just not in their DNA to admit that they could in any way be wrong. Instead the Customer must be a dumbass and pay-up. Screw the lot of them: I feel your anger. The last time I went to main dealer was 28 years back with a new motorcaravan. So bad was my experience over the first year that I sent an engineering report to the big boss of the group concerned in London. Next day the phone rang and it was the manager of the garage concerned: he said he'd had the biggest bollocking of his life from the top man. He went on to say "We train them like aircraft technicians, and then there's not a single good one on the tools" (in my view, those on the tools weren't the main problem but the Service Manager, who was clearly totally incompetent, was setting the tone for the whole department). Then the manager invited me back to the garage to address his workforce. I considered it but ultimately I refused saying that I'd told them in the report that my shadow would never cross the threshold of his awful dealership ever again, and that's the way it would be. I was so angry anyway that it wouldn't have done anything for me or them. Since then I've done every last iota of maintenance and servicing myself, whatever the problem. I fell so sorry for the last owner, but relieved that you found the issue. Well done Christian: I hope the boss of the dealer concerned watches your video. In fact, why not send him a link?

The fact that there is a service bulletin and the vin is within the range, LR should have at least inspected the casting which I Don't believe they did. Well done LR Time and thank you for bringing this to our attention

A porous casting! I’d never have thought of that especially on a ZF product. Well done you two, you must have the patience of the saints to keep taking the transfer case out. Hats off guys.👍

Message for Vera only: Could you please leave the letter from the dealer on Christian's workbench so we can catch a glimpse of which dealer was so unprofessional. I am a Land Rover and Range Rover user and have had very bad experiences with dealers in the UK and in Spain. Thank you for a great series.

Brilliant as always! The Landrover dealership should definitely compensate the original owner. Well done again guys..❤

I have found that over the last 20 years it's hard to find a car maintenance shop that you can trust with your car & many of the small family owned dealers that have become in house dealer franchises, are no more than glorious rip off merchants. Glad to see you've solved the oil leak👍

A fantastic analysis of the oil leak. It's very disappointing that a main dealer failed to fix the leak first time, and probably didn't check their own service bulletins. On return of the vehicle to the dealership, they should have covered part of the labour cost, out of good will. It wasn't the customers fault the leak wasn't fixed first time, yet they foot the full cost!

Hey guys. The dealer should have at least run the VIN and done the service bulletin job for free as that is paid for by Land Rover to the dealer.

Another great video! A few thoughts about Land Rover, I am old enough to remember when series IIA trucks were available here in the US. Around 1974 or so the last dealership in Colorado closed. I was always in love with the aesthetic of the old series trucks. Fast forward to the early 90's and LR again came to the US, this time with luxury Range Rovers, Disco 1's and some defenders. Only this time they were very expensive, and there were almost none that were utility trucks they were almost all luxury cars. People who buy luxury cars don't fix them themselves, they also don't usually keep them for very long. So gone are the days of buying a vehicle that was intended to be repaired long into the future. The dealers became a rip off, expensive parts and poor service. Land Rover has trafficked on it's loyal customer base, all the while providing horrible service after the sale. So what should Land Rover do with this particular problem? 1) acknowledge that they screwed it up. 2) Offer the previous owner some type of compensation because they screwed it up. 3) treat LR enthusiasts with some level of respect, it's because of us that those old Rovers are still on the road making them look good. Shuss from central Colorado!

That was a bit of a ball breaker of a job, You guys are so thorough in your approach to these jobs I just love watching your videos 👍👍👍

They are not called stealership,s for no reason ,I would have done the same as the previous owner and got rid of the vehicle and bought a Toyota,,porous cases in this time are totally unacceptable it should have had a recall,, that was a great video with very good information on how to fix the problem

I don't know why the car manufacturers using this gearbox are not forcing Z F to pay for this repair.

Christian, Vera, this is my favourite channel on RU-vid. As an old-timer electrical engineer it is heartwarming to see your quality and humorous approach to LR maintenance. I've never owned a LR due to unreliability fear! Keep going pls.

Here in Aus car makers seldom identify and rectify faults whereas in the USA they always do..because of US laws and litigation fears. Eg. A fuel filler grommet defect is being rectified on D4s in the USA but even tho my D4 is within the affected Vin range LR Aus has no instruction to address it here. Same car, same filler defect, same potential to burn down but no action in Aus!! Weak consumer laws are to blame.

As usual, you are totally CORRECT! The LR dealer should at least get in touch with the customer and hand him a 50% discount for future repairs and some freebies, such as LR mug with dealership name (free advertisement) a hat and LR windbreaker! Just for that, the customer will go back to this same dealer for future repairs. "You trap more flies with honey than with vinegar" You and Vera are the Land Rover heroes!

Great work on the fix esp the fact you didnt buy the repair kit from Land Rover and made it yourself

As LR know there is at least a potential problem with the casting they should post a recall or give the parts free and a donation to the labour cost

Gotta love JB Weld. I broke part of the engine block on my Land Rover's 5.0L where a water pump bolt went. So I used JB Weld, oiled up the bolt and bolted it into the JB Weld repair and let it set up over night. Next day took out the bolt and cleaned it up, put it back in and it worked great. So if JB Weld can survive the engine block temp, I'm pretty sure it'll survive the transmission bell house temp. But my experience with Land Rover dealerships is they stand thinking they are superior, until they get called out on it. Kind of like doing this video. My nearby dealership seemed to remember me after I called them out and they always seemed to work with me as an equal afterwards. But after they screwed up and they had to come back and fix their error, they should fix it for free.

Well done guys another fantastic video keep up the good work 🇬🇧🙂👍

Hey Guys. Well I would never have guessed that the casting was cracked/faulty. Especially from manufacture! My LR4 doesn't seem to have this problem, so it must have come off the production line before this error occurred. I was lucky, but I must say I'm very disappointed in Land Rover. It's obvious to me they messed up and I also feel very sorry for the previous owner. I live in a different world. I never buy "new" vehicles, and I do all the work myself. I EXPECT to fix them as I go along, but not everyone is in my position and if you pay £50,000 for a new vehicle you don't deserve to be treated like crap by Land Rover. As you said, they lost a customer from this... but reputation is difficult to maintain and by further damaging theirs they will lose many more. I'm going to do you guys a video later. My turbo story has grown much bigger and I've found some really interesting stuff out. Keep the video's rolling, they keep me going! ❤

I think my favorite part of this video was when you went to put the piece that you made into the cavity. Talk about making something correct. You actually made it to perfect. As always I enjoyed the video. I'm looking forward to watching more from you.

Great job finding that leak, I have used J B weld for many years on different vehicle projects and have always had great luck with it.

All car dealers are to some extent dishonest, everybody in the whole world knows that and when faced with a difficult repair like your LR especially when the customer is a woman they refer to their default position which is to lie and cheat. This is normal for all car dealers not just LR so get used to it, you will never change these people. In future all you people out there should avoid main dealers if you have any sense, look for a little mechanic or firm who is good at what he/they does/do and has many recommendations from previous customers, someone like yourself Christian and they will save themselves a lot of money and heartache. I've spent my working like repairing and modifying cars and I have hundreds of examples in my memory database of all the ways dealers cheat their customers so wise up folks, find people like Christian and Vera to diagnose and repair that difficult to fix technical issue you are having with your car. Thank you LR Time for another excellent video 🛠

Great episode, you have set the standards high, I agree with some of the other commenters Land Rover should be shoving parts at you left and right as you are true acolytes to the brand. Stay safe and as always looking forward to the next episode.

another great video, you guys crack me up with your antics. I love that you are prepared to take LR to task of shitty work. Well done.

Land Rover have admitted product failure by issuing the technical bulletin, there dealership should have rectified the fault without charge to the vehicle owner. Excellent video.

This sounds like a familiar story with dealership repairs. I owned a 2012 Mercedes GL350 with the OM642 diesel engine. I bought it new and for 7 years it was serviced by the dealer. Once the warranty expired I found a German gentleman who repaired most German cars as an independent. My first service with the independent garage suggested I replace some of the driveline fluids, I then produced the dealer receipt showing the work had been done, he assured me that none of the driveline fluids had been changed from the factory. The dealer service was $2300 Canadian. I no longer own the car due to oil cooler leaks, stretched timing chains, failed injectors and adblue pump failures. Fantastic car with a very poor engine, my first Mercedes and probably my last. Love your show, very informative and the humour is very good. Happy motoring.

As it was a manufacturing defect surely Land-Rover or ZF should make at least a substantial contribution to the cost of repair.

Top quality content, very useful video. Thanks.

Here in the states, we call dealerships, Stealerships !! I think if Landrover admitted to do anything wrong, they would be swarmed with people. They would have to take account for shady ethics. You Guys Are Amazing! I feel like im learning so much about this vehicle, yet ill never be able to afford one! lol

LR should take ownership of the problem and fix it for free, as this is a hidden manufacturing fault, not something that the client is responsible for.

Your attention to detail, and desire to understand a problem is fantastic.

I am with Christian here. My family owned an auto repair shop for decades and agree the minimum they should do is the proper inspection and the money off the part is not a big deal.

Vera is right. Landrover shouldn't be charging for a manufacturing fault. This was confirmed by the service bulletin.

One of the most entertaining and informative channels on YT the interaction between you two is priceless love the content 👍

Guys. My opinion is that LR definitely did not diagnose the original fault, they did this twice both on the transmission leak and the fault shifting gears (They fitted a thousand euro drive shaft that was not needed). It should also be taken into account they did not by the sound of things not even look into the recall, that was it appears in the end to be the actual fault. LR should have admitted their error and completed the repair minus the amount the customer had already paid out. “Vera I agree with you”😀

Having worked for quite a few different main dealers including Land Rover, It is more of a time management issue. (I could explain but it would be an essay) I’m glad you now have it fixed and I am looking forward to the next episode 😊

Always impressed by your work.

As an ex-Land Rover employee, we were always disappointed that these dealerships are the face of Land Rover that the public see. If/when there is a problem, they have an opportunity to impress the customer or put him off for life. A mate of mine had his new Triumph motorcycle break down shortly before he left for the IoM TT. The dealership collected his bike & promised it would be ready in time OR he would have the next model UP demonstrator ready for him to go to the IoM. They had his ready, in the end. Suitably impressed, my mate got all his servicing done at this (not very local) dealership & bought his next machine from them. Many dealerships don't get this or their employees don't feel part of the outfit enough to care if people return or not.

Thanks to you my Mallcrawler is not leaking anymore. Vielen Dank, weiter so.

Good work and good for calling the company out on it. They’re just protecting their money. Good engineering, nice to watch . You’re both full of energy and nice to listen to .

PAID FOR AN OIL LEAK FIX. OIL LEAK NOT FIXED. Landrover should refund that poor woman!

Thank you guys I am looking to get an lr3 of 4 soon and with your videos At least I have some ideas and learning from you all about land rover discovery thank you

I love watching you two working on Land Rovers thanks for being so honest.

Absolutely facilitating, what a happy chatty double act. Very watchable thank you both.

I just found this channel and I love it. The chemistry between these two is great, plus I love watching the repairs and all the information

You guys are awesome And hilarious I have a leak on my Range Rover sport it was looking like it came from the transfer case but I bet you it's the casting on the ZF transmission just Saved me a lot of troubleshooting thank you much respect from California

I have seen your videos before, but this one alone made me a subscriber. Top notch investigation, common sense solution. All your tools must have been great help too. Greetings from New York.

The very best RU-vid channel, instructive, good humoured and well presented

Christian we would always put our trust in you you are so thorough and intelligent we do not doubt you in anyway they should use you to train them best wishes to you both

Good video, professional approach, very interesting, let's not forget that the casting molds are first filled with polystyrene foam in the shape of the part that requires to be molded so porosity I think transfer to the alloy casting. Very big thumbs up.

Given that there was an official LR Service Bulletin on this exact subject then it is disgraceful that the dealer didn’t find the problem. As much as I love your videos they do nothing to make me want to buy a Land Rover. The quality and cost of LR repairs leaves a lot to be desired. Still, keep making the videos 😊

Only watched your video as looking at buying a discovery 4 but now 3 videos in and loving your chanel content. You have yourself a new subscriber 😊😊

Christian and Vera just love watching your blog’s, Land Rover should have checked to see if there was a TSB on that years vehicle ,, again Christian smashed it 👊⚽️❤

Having worked for JLR in 2014... it really scared me of ownership! You guys have so much passion!!

Another awesome video! Great repair as always. A neighbor of mine had a similar issue with an Aston Martin timing chain cover. There were no cracks but the aluminum was porous enough for oil to find it's way out & make it look like a gasket leak. An old time race mechanic suggested using talcum powder to find the source of the leak. At least Aston Martin provided a new cover at no charge. :)

Always amusing, always educational. Brilliant !

Great video's. If there a manufacturing defect/fault of any vehicle , the manufacturer should pay for the full cost of the modification or repair it is not the customer fault what so ever

They never own up to anything, you are correct Christian, totaly correct.

Great job, you two! I stumbled across your channel one night and can’t stop watching. Even as a Toyota owner 😅

We once watched original top gear for our weekly car fix, now we watch LR TIME . Keep up the good work. As a victim of the new London emmision zone extention we have replaced our tdv6 with a V8 D3.

You guys are hilarious entertainment while educating us at the same time , brilliant keep up the good work.

Hello two you both! I love your videos. JB Weld pales a product called Steel stick. There is a video on RU-vid explaining how it works. You need to completely drain your transmission a spray the area with brake cleaner. Sand the area with coarse sandpaper to increase the surface area sand the pice of Aluminium you intend to use as a patch and recreation the part and the transmission with brake cleaner again. Clamp the pieces together and allow them to dry overnight. Refill the transmission with the fluid you drained since it is so new it would be a waste to recycle it. Keep up the great videos. Land Rover is full of BS. They do not want to admit liability for their shoddy work. Here in Canada there are places to report this kind of nonsense. For what they charge they should have taken the vehicle back in and fixed their mistake. we also have very strict regulations that if you took these people to court they would not only be ordered to repair the work, but they could be heavily fined for their actions.

Great repair, love it! And of course LR should have resolved this in a kind way to the customer, even though it is a bizar issue. But then there was the service bulletin… and unnecessary fixes due to bad diagnosis. Not too nice of LR. We had a good experience though with Toyota, they took half the costs of replacing the head of our D4D diesel which was completely clogged up at 240000 kms (took only 3 years) due to a design fault of the head (probably a flow/turbulence issue). That’s proper customer care.

Good morning Professer Christian. Once again a very informative riveting blog. I hope the main dealers are learning a thing or two from your lectures. Cannot wait for the Christmas special extended lecture blog. Give my love to Vera. Regards Dave UK.

I don't ever go down the main dealer route with any faults these days, I've been burnt too many times! I've had to learn to spannering myself, and if things are outside of my comfort zone I'll take the Disco to an independent landrover specialist (Gem4x4... Good guys, central belt Scotland) but never the main dealer... They're all crooks from my experience ... Yes especially you Taggarts of Glasgow!! Another fantastic, well put together video of great content Vera and Christian ... Sundays just wouldn't be the same without a cup of coffee, a mince pie, feet up and a chuckle with you guys! Many thanks. 👍 😉

It’s an absolute disgrace what main dealers (stealers) get away with. My disco 3 had a book of receipts with it from the previous owners, guaranteed half of the jobs weren’t required. It also really annoys me when a manufacturer sells a car which has a fault they know about and they then charge €500 to fix their issue? As for that Land Rover garage. I think the big problem with main dealers now is that the staff are very narrow minded. If it’s not something obvious or the laptop can’t pick up an error code then they are stumped. I was once quoted €550 to repair a van, new alternator they cried. I went home, found the electrical fault and fixed it for €0.02. I used telecom jelly crimps, best bush fix ever, every tool box needs these.

You guys are amazing. I’m like you, in that I couldn’t be bothered dealing with useless dealers, and getting into arguments with these idiots. Your repair was amazing and I’m glad the repair worked out. If I lived near you, and had your expertise and special tools, I’d even sell my Toyota and buy another LR 😂

It's obvious,they don't like being told about a fault,that in my opinion should have been a call back,well done to guys for letting others know about this fault,and shaming the dealership, cracking video once again

Totally agree with Christian, the L-R dealer's service dept. misdiagnosed the oil leak and charged for unnecessary work. I wonder if anyone in their service dept was there in 2019 the date of the service bulletin. Your solution as usual was extraordinary!

Good Morning both thankyou for the video ! i always find your video"s very informative. i"ve just sold my landrover discovery 3 and purchased a volkswagen touareg and i agree dealership service is not perfect!! even Volkswagen. Take care and stay safe.👍😎

great video - they dont want to admit liability

You guys ROCK! I had to fix a leak in an old air compressor tank at my remote Cabin in Northern Michigan, USA. All I had available was some "JB Weld". 4 years later that repair is still holding, and I use that old air compressor every time I'm up there at my cabin, about 20 times a year.

Hi guys. I’ve been patiently waiting for you all week!

Customers should not have to pay for design faults. ZF needs to pay for the the design fault.

You are both awesome! I’m so grateful for ALL of your tips and demystifying otherwise awful jobs. I recently purchased dealership parts, 7 of the 9 parts ordered were incorrect. Maybe they fitted Toyota! The knock on effect was very very bad for me and significant financial loss! While talking about ineptitude I heard the same dealership charged £160 to fit a discovery headlight! 😮😅 What a shame nobody internationally can find a reputable landrover dealership!!!

Vera is correct they completely failed to fix a problem and should fix I for free. And it was a know manufacturing fault.

Hi Christian and Vera, Another very informative video and I do feel for the previous owner. I think a lot of the issue (and its not just a Land Rover thing) is that the dealers employ Technicians and not Mechanics. A technician will plug in the laptop, read the fault code and then fire the parts cannon at the problem and just keep chasing the fault until they've rebuilt the car with new parts and eliminated the problem as part of the process as after all its not their money. Still very glad I don't have an autobox!

Good work Christian 👍 I am with Vera on the "who should pay". If it were me, I'd take it back and get them to fix it properly, although to be fair, I think a lot of LR dealers wouldn't charge the extra for fixing it, like all things, there's always one bad apple? I do feel sorry for the previous owner, a lot of garages see a female and either charge double or charge for things that don't need fixing, which is wrong. Anyways, another great video guys, take care and have a good week.

You two are a hoot! Very well done.

Good evening Christian & Vera 😊 I just love your videos especially these technical fixes 😂 LR steelerships should hold their heads in shame and reimburse the previous owner 👍🏻 Have a great week until next Sunday cheers Stevie and of course a kiss for Vera 😘🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Land Rover should make all technicians watch LR time videos as part of their training 😂

Land Rover will never be able to outsmart a true engineer like yourself, hats off to Verha 😁👏👏 Love the videos GoodOnYa 👍🏿🇦🇺

Good thing that it did fix the leak - that "devasted" final clip was far, far from convincing! Regarding getting the air out - how about drill and tap another hole all the way through the plug, and then later seal that hole up with bolt / thread sealant? Main dealer's response is not good 😞

Totally agreed with your point of view.

Great episode and well done for finding the problem. The previous owner who paid for the failed repairs would have a strong case in a small claims court. I think a better method of dealing with the air lock when fitting the aluminium block would be to drill and tap a hole straight through it then seal it with a screw, washer and thread lock when the JB Weld had gone off.

Good evening Christian/Vera, as this was a bulletin from Landrover and a fault of the casting this should in my opinion be a recall that Landrover should bear the brunt of. the customer should not have had to pay for substandard work and dealership ignorance. I have a proper Disco like Vera (3) and two defenders and i would not take them to a dealer to repair, i just watch your videos and do i=t myself!! keep up the good work. All the best - Kevin. (From Bonnie Scotland)

Great job you two, you are the Burns & Allen of the Land Rover world (except Vera is smart). Wonderful to watch your channel grow and evolve through the years.

I absolutely love these guys and I don’t even own a Land Rover 😂

Love yalls videos!! You guys are amazing ❤️❤️❤️💯 I subscribed