Hey Guys -

This pass weekend, I'm getting an informational message that my gas cap is loose or missing. Of Course it's not. I'm thinking that I got the message my filling up with the engine running. Well - Me not being able to reset the service indictor was not enough for me purchase a tool - but with two issues - I am willing to buy one.

My issue is that I am finding them to be anywhere from $700 (Hawkeye) to $30 (No Name Brand on Amazon) I'm sure the $30 one will not do anything on my LR3. Can you guys recommend a decent tool that will not equal a couple of car payments? Or even better - what are you using that will reset the service light and gas cap warning. Currently no check engine lights.

Thanks,

 

There are a couple of other horses to check out. The IID tool and Black Box Solutions have just announced a new Nanocom Evolution unit. These are a step up from the straight OBD reader in that they can also perform more specific Rover tasks like adjust suspension height etc. The IID is VIN locked to one vehicle included in the purchase price, the BBS unit is supposed to be open to a particular model, so all LR3s or all LR4s for the single license.

Resetting the service indicator is something that either or these should have no problem with but again your auto parts store OBD will probably fail at.

The money you spend shouldn't be too hard to recover from actually knowing what to point out to your mechanic before opening your wallet wide with no idea whether what you're being told is remotely accurate. I have the more expensive BBS MSV2 and it has paid for itself in DIY savings over the dealership.

YMMV ;-)

 

Thanks for the info...

I had not looked into the IID Tool. It seems to have the right balance between function and price.

I normally only go to the dealer as a last resort... Normally when I have tried to fix something and made it worst. I've ordered a metal transmission pan and filter from the Local Ford Dealer because I was told that the Explorer Sport Trac has the same tranny... So my plan is to cut the plastic pan off and replace it with the metal pan. I have a feeling that this may require a trip to the dealer when I done. LOL...

 

I got a metal pan off of ebay. It's not the OE ZF version, and I'm not sure how I feel about it compared to photos I've seen of the ZF pan kit. Does the ford pan have a fill plug on it, or does it use the stock fill location on the tranny case?

 

The Ford pan does not have a fill hole. It does have a drain plug. I assumed that the fill hole was on the body of the transmission not the pan. My logic for ordering the ford parts was to replace the pan and filter without raising or tilting the engine. Hopefully this is the case - I plan on doing the work this Thanksgiving (Black Friday) - so I guess I'll find out soon enough

 

That was my plan too, cut the old filter/pan and not lifting the engine. But reading about the ZF branded pan, they added a fill plug and suggested that using the stock fill location would over fill the transmission. I'm guessing this is because the filter is different? I'm not sure. i'm assuming this other style pans are designed to use the stock fill port. I hope.

Let me know how it goes. Also, can you take some photos of the new pan and filter? I want to see how they look compared to what I've got.

 

Here are the pictures of the parts that I received a few days ago. The dealer told me that the pan had a drain plug, but as you can see- No drain plug. The "Hump" in the pan also has me a little worried. I Purchased a Qt of Land Rover Fluid from the dealer $30 - Ford has the fluid for $8. I'm not sure why the big difference in price but used transmissions is $3000 so I’m not trying to save on fluid to buy a transmission later. By the way - I'm changing my pan and fluid because it's leaking in the garage, from the electrical plug every time it sits more than a couple of days.

 

Hmm. I wonder if they added the hump so that it would hold more fluid. Here is what the one I bought looks like: