Oil

[Hotrats13]

A wee mesage to new motorhome and van buyers,i have baught two new vans in the past and before leaving the dealers i check the oil level ect and find the levels very low<as i found out the manufacturers ship with the minimalest of fluids Because of weight for shipping.
Iwill be checking my new van before driving it as and when it arrives.

 

[The laird]

What have you bought Jim and where aboot did you go

 

[CriftinsCampers]

Haven’t they heard of pdi!
If a dealer isn’t competent enough to do such an important and basic check themselves during pdi then probably not a dealer to be buying from

 

[gasgas]

AND . . . . when I once bought a new Fiat Ducato based camper, although I am a bloke, I started to read the owner's manual. In the 'servicing' bit I noticed that the FIRST oil cahnge, from the factory delivery is due at 30,000 miles. EEEEEKKK
(or a year, which ever comes first I suppose you might add)

Remember the Morris Minor first service at 500 miles?

 

[trevskoda]

My we proton started to smoke after ticking over for a few mins, im told dont change modern semi sinth oils at 5000m best to go 20 th or more.
So i have tried that and its not smoking now.

 

[Molly 3]

Check your oil you may need some,

 

[gasgas]

My we proton started to smoke after ticking over for a few mins, im told dont change modern semi sinth oils at 5000m best to go 20 th or more.
So i have tried that and its not smoking now.

That's wierd. Any idea why? Perhaps the more volatile bits of the oil get past the rings and burn, then after 10,000 miles as it is all treacle they have all gone.
Have you looked at a bottle of SAE 0 - 20 oil? It's water in an expensive container.

 

[gasgas]

OOH look at this one, it's a 'mild hybrid'. Does that mean it doesn't have an agressive nature? Look at the photos, it even has a diff drain plug, something that Ford has not provided since 1965. Only trouble with this is, where would you find a garage that knows how to change the spark plugs? And all the documentation is in Japanese.
Bit of a risk, but I have lost twice the cost of this car in just the simple action of part exchanging a motorhome for a near-identical one at a dealer. Or at least I would have, if I had not smacked the dealer in the goolies when he told me how much to change.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202509106225733?sort=relevance&searchId=1e6af425-ef1e-4cbe-a0b0-28485655fd11&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Toyota&model=Crown&page=1&postcode=le174bt&year-to=2025&fromsra&backLinkQueryParams=advertising-location%3Dat_cars%26channel%3Dcars%26flrfc%3D1%26homeDeliveryAdverts%3Dinclude%26make%3DToyota%26model%3DCrown%26postcode%3Dle174bt%26year-to%3D2025

 

[Bertietoo]

My transit campervan seems to have acquired an unintented diff drain.
I suppose I'll have to get under there and investigate

 

[gasgas]

My transit campervan seems to have acquired an unintented diff drain.
I suppose I'll have to get under there and investigate

My RWD transit had 66,000 miles when I bought it and I could be pretty sure the diff oil had never been changed. Nobody ever changes it, and a garage would frown at you if you asked them to. Ford did away with gearbox and diff drain plugs in about 1970, claiming they are 'lubricated for life'.
If you have that seepage you need to remove the 'circular' diff plate with a container underneath and drain the oil. However, first check that it isn't the pinion seal gone where the prop shaft enters the diff at the front. Hopefully it's coming from a failed rear cover gasket.
This is what the diff looks like inside:

What you get out is likely to look something like this:

And for your own amusement you can put it in a glass jar and compare it with new oil, and come to your own conclusion as to whether the diff is indeed lubricated for life and doesn't need changing.

While you have the diff cover off, give it a good scrub and re-paint it with something like Hammerite gloss. Just to show off to anyone looking underneath such as the MOT man. He might think you have been looking after your camper properly. You will need a new paper gasket when you re-fit it. I bought a genuine Ford one, which had to be ordered because they never remove the cover so they never needed gaskets.


Anyway the choice is yours, you can leave it as it is 'lubicated for life'. Or you can make the wagon last another 65,000 miles.

 

[Bertietoo]

We replaced the back axle four years ago with one with a higher ratio because the original one was too low. So we topped up the diff with fresh oil then.
I bought the 'new' back axle on Ebay, so we have no idea of it's history. But the new axle with the higher ratio has made a terrific difference to our touring.

 

[AlyJay]

My transit campervan seems to have acquired an unintented diff drain.
I suppose I'll have to get under there and investigate

View attachment 76951

If your removing the diff cover you could make your own drain hole by drilling a hole and welding a nut to front of it, then sealing it with a matching cut down bolt and copper washer.
Use a decent sized nut to allow for big enough hole.
Make sure you cut the bolt down so it doesn't stick right through into diff and cause any damage.

 

[gasgas]

I should have included that if a garage was doing the job, they would just stick a sucking tube in through the filler plug. That would get most of the old oil out, but there would still be some left. However, that would be a lot better than just leaving the old black treacle in place and wouldn't cost anything like as much as removing the plate. In fact you can get a suction gun from your local car bits emporium.