r380 synchro problems?

[killahaas@gmail.com]

hey guys i am looking at a defender 90 with a 300 TDI and an R380 and i havent been able to look at the truck yet ( its out of state) but the guy told me the gear grinds a little bit while trying to shift into 2nd gear on the R380, he says "you can downshift into second fine it just does it from first to second when you hustle it..." what does that mean? like does this mean i will have to shift slowly into 2nd gear? is this going to me $$$? i am not really sure. i figured i would ask you guys

 

[Scott Brady]

My Disco grinds a little on second, especially on a quick shift.

 

[bobtail4x4]

Change the gear oil, and get used to it,

some do most dont, it will carry on like that for years.

 

[Antichrist]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Switch to MTF in the gearbox (I like Redline MTL). Odds are pretty good he's running what the owners manual says, which is ATF. A technical service bulletin was released saying to switch to MTF, but for some reason never made it to the US.

Absolute worst case you can double clutch going from 1st to 2nd.

 

[killahaas@gmail.com]

ok awesome because i didn't want something to happen to this truck month after i buy it or something with me knowing it had that problem.

 

[Paladin]

Of course it's impossible for us to say whether or not the box in that truck is going to **** the bed in the next month or not. But it's fairly common for the R380 to have a poor 1-2 shift. I've got a brand new box, with Redline MTF in it, and it's still crappy going into 2nd. Grinds sometimes. Kinda slow. There's a bit of a trick to it.

 

[Wander]

Sounds like the 1-2 shift on my IIa so I guess LR never totally fixed that issue. I have to double the IIa as it doesn't have a syncro on 1 and 2. Don't rush the shift and you'll be fine. Give it a two count on the shift to allow the cog speed to match and it should be fine, remember it's a truck not a sports car.

 

[Paladin]

Funny thing is they used this box on some Rover sports cars.

 

[killahaas@gmail.com]

Of course it's impossible for us to say whether or not the box in that truck is going to **** the bed in the next month or not. But it's fairly common for the R380 to have a poor 1-2 shift. I've got a brand new box, with Redline MTF in it, and it's still crappy going into 2nd. Grinds sometimes. Kinda slow. There's a bit of a trick to it.

Well i know i just wanted to make sure it was a common problem and not something that never happens

 

[Rovertrader]

Funny thing is they used this box on some Rover sports cars.

More sick Rover humor
Come to think of it I did grenade my TR6 tranny at 12k miles back in '75, long before the R380...

 

[Fivespddisco]

Well i know i just wanted to make sure it was a common problem

Yes sir very common

 

[killahaas@gmail.com]

Yes sir very common

Thanks Guys.

 

[rover4x4]

Redline mtl is good stuff

 

[Snagger]

The fault is pretty standard one the R380 clocks up 70,000 miles or more, and just means that on the upshift you have to select first, neutral, second, rather than shifting straight through. It doesn't tend to affect other gears and only occurs shifting upwards.

I had this fault when I first bought my RRC ('95 300 Tdi, before anyone says I have an LT77 ) at 80-odd thousand miles. With 180,000 now on the clock, it has got no worse. It's not a hard defect to live with, to be honest, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Just give the worn baulk ring half a second to do its job...

I can't comment on some of the oils used over there, but Land Rover revised the R380 lubrication from Textron III ATF to MTF94, and mine continues to run very well on it even at this high mileage.