hi can someone outline what is the advantage of fitting the Metal Transmission Pan other than the OE Plastic one. What happens about the filter as it is integral to the plastic Pan how does the metal Pan filter the fluid?
(I think that the Metal would be better but need some clarification) thanks

 

The main advantage of the metal pan is that the filter is NOT integrated so after it's installed fluid and filter changes are much easier.

The knock on it is that it is believed to hold less oil.

 

Yeah main benefit is in long term cost savings. Only need to buy the filter, not the entire pan for changes. Don't need to rip apart half the undercarriage to get the pan out.

To be fair, most of those costs are once per ownership for most people (if you change your transmission oil every 100k miles).

Only other reason is if something goes wrong in the transmission, makes it much easier/cheaper to get to.

There have also been some reports of the plastic pan warping, splitting, or deforming. This can cause leaks which can damage the transmission.

 

I see this as being the main benefit. It means that you can actually change your oil and filter without having to rip apart the exhaust, remove a cross member, and jack the engine up. I suppose this translates into long term cost savings, but the point is that the fluid needs to be changed despite what the Land Rover manual tells you and this is a much more convenient and economical way of doing it.

 

Around 100K Miles, I had my fluid changed, but I'm pretty sure they didn't do the filter. So, in about 20k I will probably do another fluid change. I will definitely have them do the filter this time, but even if I keep the plastic pan, I figure another 50k Miles will take me 15 years at my current use-rate, so I'm not really sure I need to bother going metal. I really want to know if there is a loss of capacity once and for all!

 

I had to change mine because the pan developed a small crack. Luckily I noticed it quickly before I lost much fluid. I don't think that it would be to uncommon, just like cracked plastic intake manifolds. Some things just shouldn't be plastic.

 

I had an LR3 owner come by our shop and had said a local independent had did a trans flush(im assuming that's a drain and refill), but didn't change the filter. I asked them why not and they said the shop checked and the filter didn't need to be changed. What a load of crap...

 

Yeah in my case I think it was just pretty early (probably like 2012'ish) and the shop (it was the dealer actually) hadn't done a lot of tranny flushes at all. So they weren't really sure what to do.

I wonder if these cracks are from impacts or from heat or what....I would think plastic would do pretty good under heat if it's the right kind...and not be subject to the loads of thermal expansion and contraction. Again I have a skid plate protecting it from rocks and debris, but I still am exploring this change.

 

Haha. It's all in the wording...

What was said: "We checked and the filter doesn't need to be changed"
Actual meaning: "We checked in the manual and it doesn't call for a filter change, so it doesn't need to be changed. That'll be $120 for the labor."

 

Well in my case , the crack was under the heat shield. There wasn't any dents or damage to the heat shield. So I would assume it was heat related .