I bought my rather expensive L405 SDV8 last year and it came fully serviced. I do like to know where things are at though so I got the OK from the Independent Dealer to do a full fluids change and retain their in house warranty; so long as I used OE fluids.

I did front to back oil changes and it was enlightening. Both diffs were low on oil, very low with one being 1/3rd underfilled. The oil looked new, just not enough of it. The gearbox oil was drained and refilled with 4.6l of new oil so around 3l of the original oil was retained in the gearbox and oil cooler. The transfer box oil was dark and changed. The engine oil looked fine and was changed. There was a lot of oil outside of the engine as the oil cooler was leaking. If I hadn't done the oil changes then the oil cooler issue would not have been picked up in the warranty period.

I noted when I had the car up on the ramp for the oil changes that one tyre was split on the inner wall, a large gash. Unexpected as inner walls don't tend to suffer damage and the dealer had just put a fresh MOT on the car. So I changed both rears to keep the tread depth uniform across the axle. Also, the rear discs were heavily lipped and the pads low, so I have also changed the discs and pads for new Brembo ones.

Onto the one year service due notification that came around at the start of this month, some 3,000 miles after doing the oil change throughout but 12 months since the last service indicator reset. I changed the engine oil and filter again and also did the other filters; fuel, air and cabin. The air filters were strange, one was really dirty and one looked like new. Both were changed but I figured the dirty one had probably been ignored in the past as there is one screw on the air box lid that is much harder to get to than the other 11.

I think this is a tale of why it is best to service your own vehicles if you have the ability and location capability to do it. I am fortunate to have an indoor full rise 2 post ramp. At least then it gets done, I know its done and I know when it was done. The car sailed its MOT today with no advisories, unchecked it would have had a split wall tyre, knackered brakes and a massive oil leak.

@BAZ000000:

EXACTLY. Well done!

Only if you do it yourself, do you really know it’s been done properly.

And save a lot in the process. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” -where’s the fun in that?

from others' posts, I understand the filters get more dirty on one because the second turbo doesn't cut in until 2500 rpm, so I often underused.

Yes i thought the same as my left AF looking at the engine was filthy and the other as new, due to secondary turbo i read on here. overfinch modified

Yes that's right. The primary turbo on the offside is always sucking air in but the secondary turbo on nearside is only brought online at revs above 2400rpm, hence why the filter nearly always looks nice and clean by comparison.

Good job on the DIY work. I'm exactly the same, it's the only way you can be fully in-tune with your vehicle and know exactly what has been done, when and know the history on the condition of everything. Kev

2014 L405 RR Vogue SE 4.4 SDV8 in Corris Grey
2010 L320 RRS HSE 3.0 TDV6 in Stornoway Grey

Nice. Don't forget that Ian Bodsworth hails from Shropshire and does a superb Megaflush mobile service for the auto box to replace 100% of oil. Just had mine done for second time since purchase. Can't rate him highly enough  2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
New Defender D300 90 on order so "Rory" will be going to a new home....!
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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