UPDATE February 19, 2019: Yesterday we drained transmission and transfer case (the transmission was very low on fluid) and refilled with the correct fluid. Wow, what a difference. Shifting gears now much quieter and feels almost ‘silky.’ Still have to do the diffs and there’s an issue with a leaky seal in one of the wheels. George Tergin did the work but I’m proud to report  got some transmission fluid in my hair.

Coming up on six months since I took delivery of the Land Rover. Even as my daily driver I’ve only put 5,333 km (3,313 mi) on the truck so it really isn’t due (according to the manual) for a service until 10,000 km. But my mechanic pal George had a rare open window so we pulled it into his shop yesterday for a service and check up.

Those of a certain age will remember servicing your car every 3,000 miles. I think that’s frequency we’re gonna shoot for. Should work out to every six months and more often is more better.

George is a meticulous mechanic. No detail too small to examine. Probably spent half an hour just on the oil pan drain plug. It was my dime so I instructed him to pretend he was working on his own vehicle.

The truck has an oil bath air filter and Philippe must have been double-jointed to make it fit with the newer engine. Once George got it out he explained how it worked. Simple yet effective technology.

Replacing oil filter and fuel filter was pretty straight forward. The lubricant level in the front differential was little low so we topped that off.

We hit a snag while checking level on the transfer case. I won’t bore you with details but it seems like the kind of thing the guys at JiffyLube might have missed. George is doing more research so the truck remains in his shop for a bit. Just the eventuality that prompted me to add the pickup to my fleet.

All in all a fun day. Having watched George I think I could probably change the oil and filters on the truck but I doubt I will. Much more fun — and educational — to do it with George.