Mine went in to the dealers with a leaking sunroof which they fixed for £100 At this point life was great. Two minutes later, life was not so great. The complimentary health check had revealed several oil leaks and a potential £2k bill. Are Land Rover staff specially trained to deliver that kind of news because it was casually thrown into the conversation as if it was of no great significance!!

I have spent the last couple of weeks monitoring the leaks and in truth they are relatively small at the moment. I am anal about my cars though and have decided to bite the bullet and get it done rather than risk it getting worse and causing more problems. I have a AA warranty which fortunately covers oil leaks and they have agreed to play ball and pay for the repair. My dilemma is use Land Rover at £100/hour and only get £40/hour back from the warranty company or use an independent of their/my choice. The offending seals are rear main, first and second sump and IRD (low level repair requiring six seals!).

My question is, are the average garage up to this level of work and has anyone else had theirs done?

Can this be right? £2k equates to about 16 hours work (I assume that the actual seals are fairly cheap) at £100 + vat/hour which is a lot of time. Other thoughts
1. low level repair usually refers to rear diff bearing job which does involve oil seals when you replace a noisy diff bearing
2. I can image one seal leaking but how come all of a sudden you need all of this done?
3. No IRD on an FL2 do they mean transfer box or haldex?
4. Where is the oil coming from (front or back of the car or both?)

I would take it somewhere else for a 2nd opinion. Doesn't sound right to me.

PS I had the rear diff bearing done and there was then a leak but it was traced to them having put too much oil in the diff. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Have you seen any oil on the ground ? Do it now ! Your a long time dead !!

The quotation gives the breakdown of costs as follows;
Rear Main Seal (between engine and gearbox) together with end cap seals (not sure what they are): Labour 11.5 hours
1st and 2nd Sump Leaking: Labour 3 hours
IRD leaking: Labour 0

Total 14.5 hours labour. Parts £90. Labour is £108+Vat (I rounded down).

IRD is the description on the quote. Looking from under the front of the FL2 with the tray removed, the leak is coming from the unit on the LHS of the engine from memory (front diff/transfer box??)-I assumed this was where they meant but I am no engineer. The oils was more like gearbox oil than engine oil from this leak. As far as I can see there are no leaks to the rear of the FL2.

There isn't any oil on the ground or indeed the inside of the tray. I cleaned off the bottom of the engine around the gearbox joint. Two weeks later it is wet with oil again-around the seal and bottom of gearbox. In truth, it isn't a huge amount of oil but whilst I have the warranty I thought I may as well get it done. Is it something I should live with rather than repair?

Not many landrovers that don't leak but at least its stops the chassis rusting

The IRD is the transfer box, front diff is connected to the gear box. By the sounds of it your local indie could do this, just ask them about refilling the various units and what fluids they will use. For instance, the transfer box requires 120ml removed once it has been filled to the point where the oil comes out of the filler hole. Have a search and a read as there is some information on here about changing fluids and ensure your indie knows what they are doing, but I don't think you need to go to a main dealer.

I wonder what is implied by first and second sump?
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The engine sump is well and truly glued in place, you have to crow bar them off to break the stiction; then you find that the flange is bent and a new sump is required.
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The sump is fastened to a sandwich plate up to the cast iron engine block. The sandwich is an aluminium casting, itself glued.
Perhaps they mean the gearbox sump....
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Unless the leaks are really significant it sounds like opening a can of worms.
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Kind regards from Fred
. 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

An opinion!!!!
Dealers are always trying to meet targets and the service department are no different!
A small weap of oil from a seal is not cataspohic!! Some pics may
Help someone advise you on here a little better!
My FL1 V6 was dry till the day I sold it. Only time it leaked oil was after a LR Dealer service and they overtighten the oil filter. That evening in my garage spilling the contents of the oil filter after the "O" ring popped out.
I'm very sceptical of Dealers, get a second opinion!!
If your dealers are anything like Australian Dealer (god forbid) everything is down to a time and
not customer satisfaction or goodwill!
As you can gather I'm not keen on Dealer Service Departments!

Many thanks for all the replies-much appreciated and apologies for my lack of technical no how. It is clear a little more investigation is required on my part. Fred, your input confirmed my fears that sump removal could potentially lead to further rather large bills. Can the sump be removed with the engine in place or would seal replacement at a later date mean stripping the car back down again? I will attempt to get some photos of the area leaking and maybe pop it over to another garage for a second opinion.

Take it to a good Indy for opinion #2  * GONE. GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* GONE.2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Rocket ship. 33mpg.
* Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

2k will buy you a lot of oil!

In my opinion, just make sure the levels are kept up and leave it as it is, once you start messin you will most likely never cure it and something else will almost certainly go wrong.  MY2014 SD4 XS
Ipanema Sand

MY10 TD4-e GS Manual
Lago Grey Now retired after 8 trouble free years

Hi Labrador,
I worked until retirement for a Derbyshire company who specialised in service and repair of a countrywide specialist product. The van based countrywide engineers were instructed to find extra work at each service and get a generous commission when a customer accepts the work he has been quoted on. Engineers who didn't report enough 'extras' were called into the office for a taliking to by management because they were not profitable for the company...
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I guess dealer mechanics are on a similar deal to boost wages.
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Now back to your freelie. The main sump comes off after dropping the bottom tin plate.(sump guard). The sandwich plate is engine out or gearbox out. Ditto the flywheel crank seal.
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It is relative easy for you the owner non mechanic to remove the sump guard, ( 6 bolts; 13mm ring spanner, no jack needed).
Aerosol cans of brake cleaner (£4.00 per can), and kitchen paper towel will clean off surface oil for you to watch leaks over the next few days. As long as you are only using ordinary roads leave the sump guard off for the period.
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With the sump guard off you can see the extent of any leak as there is a carpet type mat already glued on.
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Where in Derbyshire are you?
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Kind regards from Fred.
. 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

+1 fredastaire.
Mine leaks oil, who's doesnt? If you are able to, follow Fred's advice. I always check easy levels weekly, i.e., not trans box, but if you follow Fred's advice then you should be able to ascertain how much is leaking out of that. If you do get underneath feel free to post some pictures.

Labradorslave wrote:

The quotation gives the breakdown of costs as follows;
Rear Main Seal (between engine and gearbox) together with end cap seals (not sure what they are): Labour 11.5 hours

Judging from the replies and the amount of oil I am seeing, I think I am perhaps being a little too anal on this occasion. I also think there is a distinct possibility that Hunters are "looking for work". The FL2 went in for a service 4 weeks before it went back with the sunroof leak. The oil leak was flagged up at service but no further action was considered necessary. After the complimentary health check it was flagged as "urgent attention required". I asked to speak to the technician at the time but he was busy on another job. The service department then gave me a follow up phone call and recommended the work be done.

I haven't taken the sump guard off yet but I think that is the next course of action. Fred, I live in Ticknall on the edge of the National Trust Calke Abbey Estate. There is a 4x4 specialist near me so I think I will pop over to them or my local garage who I have known for years. Many thanks again for the advice given.