 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > L663 Drivetrain Breathers |
 
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| A1C6 Member Since: 15 Oct 2024 Location: Australia Posts: 89  
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Welcome to the forum - great to see other Aussies here.
I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "breathers", but they wade great. The only time I've heard of an issue is when somebody was driving through a track that went through the side of a lake. The track where you could drive was shallow enough for an L663, however it got way deeper to one side, and this guy drove off that side and somehow ended up with his front wheels on the shallow bit but his rear dragging through the deep bit. It's on some guy's youtube I'll have to find it. The car was able to get home, but they disassembled it and got hairdryers out to dry the electronics the best they could while still on the track. Not 100% sure of the damage but it wasn't in a good way. The Defender is like a set of wellies: they're great until water goes over the top; you'll be fine if you check the depth before you go... unlike me a couple of weeks ago (car was fine; underpants were brown though) Oh, and if you notice squealing after you wade, that is the car automatically applying brake pressure to try and push water out of the brakes; nothing's broken. Current (LR): 2023 Defender 110 X D300 Former 2022 Defender 110 V8 P525 2021 Defender 90 XS Edition P400 |
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31st Aug 2025 7:04am |
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| GobiOne Member Since: 22 Dec 2024 Location: Melbourne, AU Posts: 5
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Thanks A1C6,
I was indeed referencing the “quality” of the case breathers across the new Defender, and looking to gain better information on whether the standard breathers are reliable (i.e. well designed and routed) to ensure no water gets into critical drivetrain components when wading? From what I’ve seen of vent lines in component parts manuals, they are fitted with long lines that I can only assume are routed nice and high. Any further comments most welcome, though it sounds like your experiences have been only positive. Thanks, GobiOne |
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31st Aug 2025 12:01pm |
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| zilch Member Since: 11 Sep 2019 Location: Whitsundays & Sydney Posts: 844
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Welcome to the group yet another pommie bar steward down under
MY20 110 P400 SE Defender MY10 3.0 RR Sport |
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1st Sep 2025 1:54am |
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| GobiOne Member Since: 22 Dec 2024 Location: Melbourne, AU Posts: 5
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Why thanks Zilch,
Having watched this group since taking ownership of our L663 110 SE in March this year, it certainly offers the best advice on the topics I’m interested in. We’ve 20,000km on our Defender now… trouble-free touchwood. I’ve recently performed a mid-schedule Engine oil change as the schedule is a significant “own goal” to JLR’s efforts to dispel the reputation of unreliability, IMHO. An oil / filter change at 15-16000km makes good sense to me (and many others). And while 8.8 litres of good (full synthetic) engine oil is a great start, it appears many owners are not getting to the 30000km scheduled oil change without the car throwing codes (fuel dilution, etc.). Their position seems most ill-advised… though only as ill-advised and impractical as Toyota’s persistence of 10,000km changes on their new Prado and LC300. I’m ex-Caterpillar Mining (retired) and we were pillared by customers in my early years when we scheduled 250hour oil drains. That’s an oil change every 12 days for many users… grossly impractical! I guess we shall see if JLR move on their 30,000km recommendations… but I’m not holding my breath. |
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1st Sep 2025 2:17am |
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| A1C6 Member Since: 15 Oct 2024 Location: Australia Posts: 89
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I'm with you on those oil changes, mate. They're dreaming. Although, in saying that dad refused to change the oil of our car at 15,000 km, opting for the LR interval. Silly boy. Current (LR):
2023 Defender 110 X D300 Former 2022 Defender 110 V8 P525 2021 Defender 90 XS Edition P400 |
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1st Sep 2025 2:31am |
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| GobiOne Member Since: 22 Dec 2024 Location: Melbourne, AU Posts: 5
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Indeed.
We've moved to the new Defender after about 800,000 very satisfying kilometers motoring in VW Golfs (and GT-Sport and GTD) and a Tiguan ... all with the 2 litre diesel. All with 15,000km oil changes with Castrol Edge LL (as prescribed), genuine filters, etc. Nothing at all hard about it, just solid (i.e. regular) scheduled maintenance using prescribed maintenance products. The Tiguan did throw a wobbly at 165,000km in the DSG Transmission (whilst towing our T-Van camper), but that was a known issue that was support by VW (at 165,000!) after my servicing for 120,000+ km... again using good oils and genuine filters. And documentation in the Service Book. It's not that hard! So all the L663 SE D350 has to do is get to around 450,00km troublefree! Surely that's not too big an ask?? |
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1st Sep 2025 2:44am |
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| A1C6 Member Since: 15 Oct 2024 Location: Australia Posts: 89
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I think it can do it if you continue to use the philosophy “if you take care of your gear your gear takes care of you”
The only engine failure I’ve personally heard of was a friend with MY20 D300 (D350 is a retune) whose engine  the bed on Fraser Island (look it up). Was replaced under warranty. Current (LR):
2023 Defender 110 X D300 Former 2022 Defender 110 V8 P525 2021 Defender 90 XS Edition P400 |
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1st Sep 2025 10:45am |
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| zilch Member Since: 11 Sep 2019 Location: Whitsundays & Sydney Posts: 844
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Likewise, I have interim oil and filters done every 12,000km ish and a full major service every 24,000km, 93,000k’s over the last 5 ish years and plan to keep it for another 5 🤞 yet another pommie bar steward down under MY20 110 P400 SE Defender MY10 3.0 RR Sport |
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1st Sep 2025 12:37pm |
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| XplusYplusZ Member Since: 16 Aug 2021 Location: UK Posts: 548 |
The LR nerds on several Landrover experience days I've been to have shared the same fact - the wading depth is actually governed more by the vehicle's bouyancy than engine breathing limits.
You could probably go a bit deeper before sensors switch off air supply to the engine to protect against flooding, but the wheels will start to lose traction before that point. If you do some very rough maths, it seems to make sense: For a 110 the solid undercarriage footprint is probably ~ 1.5m x 4m. If total wade depth is .9m with ground clearance of .3m, that leaves ~.6m of body submerged. Meaning the volume of water displaced at 900mm is: 1.5m x 4m x 0.6m = 3.6tons Which is getting very close to the vehicle weight, even with very rough calculations. So at 1m depth that would jump to 1.5m x 4m x 0.7m= 4.2tons |
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3rd Sep 2025 11:55am |
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| GobiOne Member Since: 22 Dec 2024 Location: Melbourne, AU Posts: 5
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Thanks very much for your reply XplusYplusZ. My reason for asking the question was because in many 4x4 makes and models, adding better quality breathers to the driveline compartments is regularly recommended. In this case, forum comments and a review of parts schematics tends to suggest each is fitted with a long breather tube on the L663 as standard. Which is great.
You’ve added further to the equation and I like where you’re going, as having the car float isn’t at all a good outcome. Thus, sticking to the widely published 900mm wading depth appears more than sensible. Many thanks to all contributors. Cheers, GobiOne |
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3rd Sep 2025 12:20pm |
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| H1Tad Member Since: 20 Jul 2024 Location: Maine Posts: 167 
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You could always lead the breather/vent lines up to the air intake system and tap it in before the filter. If you've got a RAI then that pretty much keeps you from worrying about water intrusion through the breathers - you know nothing's gotten in there if you aren't hydrolocked. 2022 Defender 110 SE P400 Tasman Blue Expedition and Cold weather package
2003 Hummer H1 P400 Firehouse Red 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser |
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3rd Sep 2025 1:26pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17935  
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Which is the reason of course in really deep water you should open a door and flood the interior. That way you maintains traction. I'm not sure that I would want to do that in either a new Defender or a Grenadier though (and in classic Land-Rovers it isn't usually necessary due to the rate of water ingress). |
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3rd Sep 2025 1:59pm |
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| WizzardPrang Member Since: 05 Nov 2020 Location: Hertfordshire Posts: 181 
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Agreed! The interior is where most of the ECUs, battery and other electronics are. Current vehicle: 2020 Defender 110S Gone: Defender 90 HT 200Tdi, Discovery Sport, Freelander 2 Insta: wizzardprang |
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3rd Sep 2025 9:34pm |
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