My car is still under warranty. It is time for it's 37,500 service. I checked the book to see what is done during that service visit. Basically it's an oil and filter change. The only other thing I saw was a Land Roveradditivefor the fuel tank. I live 2 hours from the dealer. Up until now, I have always gone to the dealer for all the required servicing. However, I fell and I cannot drive long distances for 3 months. I want to have the service done locally. Can someone please recommend what type of oil and filter, I should ask for. My car is a 2004 Discovery. Also what about this Land rover fuel additive that they recommend for the fuel tank. Is that needed? Thanks in advance.

 

K&N makes a good oil filter. Do you run synthetic or regular oil? Synthetic will cost more but will protect better if you are willing to make that switch. 10W 30 is the grade you want. A bottle of seafoam in the gas tank should cover the fuel additive that rover reccomends. Seafoam can be purchased at your local parts store.

 

Use Mobil 1, 5W30 if you have winter, 10W30 if you don't. The K&N HP3001 (Expedition Exchange has them if you don't have them locally). They also have the fuel treatment at EE.

 

https://www.expeditionexchange.com/products/

 

synthetic or regular? I really don't know. I live in Northern New Englandso I need the winter grade. I doubt the dealer would usesynthetic. So far I have only been to the dealer for any servicing. This is my second Discovery. So far I have not had any problems with this car. Although I have had the front and rear break pads replaced. According to the dealer you cannot replace land rovers pads without replacing the rotors even if you do not need new rotors.I really find that hard to believe but the dealer scared me into doing it twice.$$ I wonder how often you need to replace the breaks on a discovery. I do live up a very long, steep driveway so I do stress the brakes alot.

Also as far as the fuel additive, what is it for? The reason why I ask is I just went over all my old service receipts. It looks like they only put it in once. I guess, I am more concerned with it then they are.

 

If I have my two cents to put in.....

If you start doing your changes, which is easy to do, just be sure to start a notebook and staple the receipt in there for when you do your oil changes.

+1 to K&N 3001. It is a nice long filter that holds more oil, sends more oil into the engine during start-up. It has a flow-back valve, which is a good thing.

Synthetics are alwaysa good move for these trucks.Maybe transition to a blend, like castrol syntec(?, whatever their blend is, it's pretty good stuff), and then, maybe a few K before it is out of warranty, put a synthetic in (mobil 1 of course) and then change it at 3000 miles and do an oil sample. Post it here or some other boardto have it analyzed, and find out exactly when you need to change your oil. Could be 3000, could be 7000 miles, then do an oil sample every 3 oil changes to make sure you're still good. And yeh, you'll need 5w30 up there.

The front rotors on thediscoare really thin. They rarely last longer than the life of a set of pads. Do a search on here, for brake pads, you'll see some highly recommended brands that costmore money, but will lastmuch, much longer than most parts store brands.

Why an additive? Discos have a tendancy to build up a lot of carbon in the engine. I can't get in to the science, but they do, it is the reason you have to burn premium. An additive every once in a while helps clean it out.

If you have any problems come up with your disco, feel free to come on here and ask, there are some really experienced people on here who can help you out before going before the wolves!

 

Thanks everyone for all your help!!

 

I think synthetic oil is preferable but not required. The grade of oil you choose depends on the range of outdoor temperatures you expect to be driving in before your next oil change. For a New England winter you'd want to go with a 5w-30 or 5w-40 or 5w-50...just make sure that first number is a 5w, anything higher may not properly lube your engine starting up on the colder days.

Go with the K&N 3001 oil filter. I've read numerous independantlab test reportswhereoil filters were cut open and examined for quality of construction and filtration...K&N were consistently ranked as one of the best oil filters. Fram are consistently rated as one of the worst.

For the 37k service, any local mechanic with a good reputation should be fine. Like you said it's mainly just an oil & filter change. However, If I were you I wouldphotocopy the multi-point Maintenance Service Schedule from your Land Rover Passport to Servicehandbook and highlight the 37k items. Request he perform all the tasks/inspections listed (including the fuel tankadditive)and make sure hesigns and stamps the 37k service record in your handbook. That will CYA on the warranty.

The dealer just did an oil & filter change on my '03 as arequirement of the extended Land Rover Assuredwarranty agreement that I just bought. I didn't have to have the oil changed by the dealer, I just happened to be there buying the warranty so it was a simpler process to have them do it. I knew they would not have the specific brand of oil & filter that I wanted, so I picked it up myself from the local auto parts store (Kragen) on my way to the dealers shopand supplied it to them. They had no problem with that and were happy to oblige (it's a common request). Naturally, theyonly charged me for labor.

FYI: I used a K&N oil filter and 5w-50 fully synthetic Castrol motor oil. - I live in California near the ocean but I will be be driving up to the Sierras to go skiing this winter. In one day my Disco could seetemps go from as high as the midseventies to well below freezing, so that's why I went with 5w-50, but 5w-40 would have been fine too, they just didn't have any at Kragen.