Hi Dieselman
He didn't mention it, but perhaps Mike (who I bought the car from) was a friend of yours - as he seems to have taken your advice
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
.
He has already fitted an e-crofting kit (the front and rear diodes sing like canaries as soon as I open a door), and the car came to me with 3 (yes three) x 20 litre drums of Mobil LT 71141 (one partly used), which Mike had acquired through the local Mobil depot.
There is however some concern about the transmission - when hot it tends to thump on the down-change from 2nd to 1st (selecting Snow mode stops it) . It's also a bit 'thumpy' moving from Park to R or D. The car has done c. 170,000 km (so just over 100,000 miles), but rather alarmingly, the transmission failed and was rebuilt in 2010 at 100,000 km (say 60,000 miles). I suspect it had been treated as 'sealed for life'.
Even after the rebuild, there's no evidence that the auto fluid was changed until Mike changed it at 151,000 km, but he then changed it 3 times in fairly quick succession. However, he decided that following the correct procedure was too hard, so just measured what he took out each time, and replaced it with the same amount. Now this wouldn't be too bad, except that I have a couple of 4HP20 documents that are in agreement - the correct amount to be added should be about 3 litres, and Mike drained and refilled 4.75 litres each time!!!
So it appears that when the repaired transmission was reinstalled, they overfilled it. According to the documents I have, overfilling is better than underfilling, as underfilling can destroy the box. Overfilling will 'only' cause the fluid to overheat (and possibly leak out) - and guess what! Overheating produces thumps!
So far I've only changed the fluid once - and found that I couldn't undo the level plug - the centre had been reamed out. Ordered a few seals, plus the auto drain and level plugs - everything arrived except the level plug
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
. So I too just estimated - added a little over 3 litres, as I didn't want to risk the level being low. Got an immediate improvement, but it's not completely fixed - I need to carry on and do 2 more changes.
Anyway, sorry for this extended sob story - the problem is far from a deal breaker, but it's a good example of how little errors can compound...
Hope you are all surviving the virus - we are very bored with our lockdown here, but we feel safe.
Cheers
Alec