F-Type R AWD - transfer box fluid change

[dstarkey539]

I have just had my 2015 F-Type R AWD serviced at Lookers, a big Jaguar / Land Rover dealership near Aylesbury, Bucks. The car has only done 22400 miles since new and has always been garaged. The dealer could not change the transfer box fluid as two of the blind / captivated nuts (Rivnuts?) fitted into the chassis members were spinning so consequently they could not get the bolts out. Anyone come across this problem before? The dealer advised that to replace the nuts would cost around £1500.00. I was told its the access cover (under-floor panel?) that the fitter could not remove but this was said to me by the receptionist and not the guy with the spanners.
If the 'spinning nuts' are indeed Rivnuts I am not overly surprised there is a problem with the retention. We use a lot of these blind fasteners in the aircraft industry. Its basically a tubular nut with a straight knurl (a series of serrations) on the outer surface and with a cylindrical extension on one end . You insert the nut into the hole and then use a special tool to both fully pull the nut into the hole (so that the knurl/serrations bite into the aluminium) and expand the cylindrical section (like a 'pop' rivet) and hence both retain the nut in position and prevent rotation. Unfortunately, if the aluminium is one of the softer grades, and the hole tolerance is not accurately maintained, it does not take much torque to break the nut free in rotation.

LATEST UPDATE!! I had a call back from a technician from Lookers late this afternoon. The 'spinning nuts' are in fact for the bolts attaching the gearbox cross member to the chassis box-section and this member has to be removed to access and service the transfer box. Lookers have come across the problem before and have made up replacement nuts with an integral 'wing' welded to the nut for attaching the new nut inside the chassis box member. Apparently there is small hole in the chassis which with a fair bit of fiddling provides enough access to enable the replacement nut to be installed. I would have thought that Jaguar Land Rover Ltd would have come up with a recognised repair scheme by now as I am told its a known issue with the F-Type. Anyone got any experience with this problem?

[mike020150]

It's good to hear that the problem does have a solution. A quick check of the service bulletins for the F-Type hasn't revealed any officially approved solutions. That may be because the number of AWD F-Types is necessarily quite low and the maintenance task only occurs outside warranty, so the factory may not yet appreciate there is an occasional issue unless dealerships report it. Mike.