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OrangeAlpine

Member Since: 10 Oct 2025
Location: Winchester
Posts: 10

2013 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Alpine White

noisy change into 3rd gear when cold - is that normal?!

morning all,

a few weeks into owning the 90 now (2013 puma 2.2) and starting to learn some of the quirks vs my Discover 2 (like the 35 page "water ingress manual" - and I thought the D2 was a sieve!)

Anyhow, I've noticed what I'd consider to be a poor engagement when up-shifting to 3rd gear when starting journeys - when engine/box cold typically, but have put this down to me/poor change process after years of not driving manual gearboxes and certainly not one as, well lets go with, unrefined as the defender!

Changing into all other gears seems fine, and downshift from 4th or 5th to 3rd is fine, its just the upshift into 3rd when the gearbox is cold - later in the journey this seems to "go away" and upshift behaves as (I think) it should - but could be me refining my change style?!

Should mention that a reconditioned gearbox and clutch was fitted prior to me owning it, in Nov-24

So, a few novice questions if I may;
1 - is this typical?
2 - could this be as simple as changing the oil (its on order so that's a job for next week)
3 - could this point to a more sinister issue and, if so, where should I start to look? (I'll add that to the list!)

thanks in advance for any suggestions and wisdom!

21st Oct 2025 8:55am

OrangeAlpine

Member Since: 10 Oct 2025
Location: Winchester
Posts: 10

doh

- just noticed this post https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic96967.html so I'll have a full read through!

If my gear changes are anything like my ability to search the forum then the issue will most definitely be me!!

21st Oct 2025 9:12am

blackwolf

Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 18031

2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey

The MT82 box is not renowned for problems and this is not typical. I suggest reading the other thread, being very aware of your technique, and changing the oil and - importantly - making sure that the correct amount is put in the box (if filled to the filler plug there will be issues).

See if that improves the performance.

Remember also that the Defender is far less car-like than a Disco2 and always will be. You don't say if your Disco was auto or manual but if the latter the MT82 should be a more pleasant box than the R380 in a (manual) Disco, the R380 is very agricultural and whilst good ones are fine, bad ones are awful.

21st Oct 2025 9:39am

lightning

Member Since: 23 Apr 2009
Location: High Peak, Derbyshire
Posts: 3508

Change the gearbox oil as a first step, before you try anything else.

l have just done this on mine and the cold start gear shift has got a lot better. The gearbox takes 75w/90 oil, there's a thread on this forum regarding the correct type of oil.

21st Oct 2025 9:39am

OrangeAlpine

Member Since: 10 Oct 2025
Location: Winchester
Posts: 10

thank you @blackwolf

- the D2 has an auto box thats surprisingly smooth for its age etc so I suspect a lot of this will be me getting used to the manual box and will, I hope, be helped with oil change

thanks @lightning

- oil change is on the cards (along with transfer box, engine and axles) as soon as the oil arrives....

21st Oct 2025 1:25pm

steveww

Member Since: 05 Jan 2022
Location: Malton
Posts: 612

2015 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Bronze Green

The change can be a bit awkward when the gearbox is cold. I find that a slight pause in neutral when changing gear with a cold gearbox works well. Once it's up to temperature the change is smooth.

21st Oct 2025 6:04pm

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