Just looked at my 06 and I have the old style. Going to order one from Rover North right now and switch it out.

 

It is one of the few mods you can do standing up and doing it can save you a thousand as others know very well.

This is the kind of fix that should be mandated as a recall - it may not be safety as normally thought of, but it certainly keeps the vehicle from being at the side of the road.

 

Just got my new style cap from Rover's North and did the install. Luckily I hadn't had any leaks and didn't notice a pressure build up when I made the cut. Thanks guys for the link with the photos showing how to do it.

 

Put the new breather cap I got on last night. There was a bit of a hiss when I cut the old one off. Diff fluid was changed 15k miles ago, so the pressure can build up relatively quickly.

 

Well, in your case, you know your time, money and effort was not wasted.

The breather cap is such a cheap easy fix, the dealers should pick up on it and offer it for say $199.95 plus tax - a steal given the cost of new seals/labor - or maybe they prefer the new seals fix .....

 

You know its funny, I asked the dealer tech about doing these he said they don't do them, just unhook the line at the rear and blow it out, so that's what I did, idk?

 

I am a bit puzzled by the logic re unhooking the vent line at the differential and blowing on it and I suppose then the assumption that all will be well in the future.

It seems to me that all a successful blow would achieve is proof that the vent is currently venting - good to know of course, and that would probably explain why the differential seals have not yet blown, however not now plugged is not quite the same as will not plug.

About all I can recall is that when I cut off the factory vent on my 3, I would not say that I felt any release of pressure, but when I tried blowing thru the old vent, I could not. I just presumed that there was still some venting action, but not a detectable amount re the air pressure I could achieve just from my lungs.

The new vent, before I installed it, I tried same, and I could blow thru it. I presume that all is still good and that if I were to remove it, that I could still blow thru it.

It may be OK to keep the original spark plugs until the engine runs rough, but waiting for the diff seals to blow before changing the vent given that it is a known problem - well that puzzles me.

 

I do know the rear diff that was in mine had a leaking pinion, I blew out the line and changed fluid, pinion leak stopped
I have had the same happen on my d1 , blew out line no more leak

 

I notice you mention the rear differential above. I am not certain that there is any sort of vent cap related to the rear differential; it think the hose just has a bend in the vent tube up near the fuel tank filler and is effectively open to the atmosphere. As such, if the vent hose plugged, blowing the hose out would be an effective fix.

The front differential, that is different however, and where the new style vent cap is to be installed to replace the original that is prone to plugging.

 

Iirc there is a cap in back also, blew out both when I serviced them