Mechanical problems in Morrocco - HELP!

Second post on here 10 days in to a 2 month trip. Thankfully after my first post I was able to fix the problem with the advice people gave me off here.

But now it seems more serious:

I've got a 300tdi discovery R reg (1998) that seems to have developed transmission problems. There has always been a bit of a clunk when changing gear which I've been told by the mechanic (who recently did a lot of work on it in the Uk) was nothing to worry about, there is a bit of play in the front prop shaft if you turn it. However, there now seems to be a metalic rattling and sporadic deep crunching noise, this tends to happen when changing gear but is fine when the car is under drive in he higher gears. I thought it might be the UJ's but these seem fine with no play. This occasionally turns into a metal on metal vibration noise which seems to be coming from the centre of the car. The sound seems as though it;s traveling down a propshaft but obvisouly it's hard to explain a noise from a car on a forum post!

I was just about to head down to Western Sahara when the problems arose. Knowing there was a land rover main dealer in Agadir I turned round and headed there. After a test drive with the mechanic they've double checked the Uj's and taken of the front prop shaft, after moving it a bit with the diff lock on (without front prop shaft) they drained the oil from the gear box but have now gone to lunch. The language barrier is very difficult and I'm panicing that my landrover is now in bits. The spline on the shaft seems to be fine as i thought that could be worn.

Any help members might be able to cast on the situation would be greatly appreciated. As far as I could tell they thought it might be a gear box problem but I'm worried they are confusing the play in the front shaft for the real problem.

Hoping someone can provide some kind of advice on faulty finding hopefully through pointing and pidgeon french I can get back on the road.

Check the clarity of all the oils ie from gearbox, transfer case and both diffs. The one with the bits of metal in will be your problem area.
However, please remember that your R380 gearbox needs that specialist oil and not EP 80/90.
I would suggest that you catch the oils that you drain, filter them and re-use them if no fresh oil is available.

Could it be the clutch release or pressure plate breaking up as it's heard when changing gear?

@ Vince - The main gearbox (R380) can and does run on MTF94 but it can also run on Dexron IID or Dexron III, auto transmission fluid which is much more widely available.

@ EDoubleD - I did that run you are currently doing, down the eastern side of Morrocco, then across the south to the Atlantic coast and then south. It was an awesome trip and a real milestone in my life.

Check the oil quality in the diffs, the tranny box and main gearbox and see where the problem is. Sorry I can't help you any more.

Dave

I'd have said UJ's too .. but check the diffs! Had a very similar noise during gear changes when my rear diff lost a few Crown and Pinion teeth! Only found when it was jacked up and run in gear, and wandering round, listening, to find where the noises were coming from.

Don't forget, a Landy is a bunch of tubes, and sound readily travels through them all!!

agreed paul, diff noise VERY much sounds to be coming from the gearbox, always

once the car has either propshaft removed, you can start eliminating axles

if you had a bad clunk you might consider the gearbox output shaft, which could now be starting to slip

this is visible if you remove the inspection plate on the transfer case, its the round one at the rear/top

just the top plate, not the second plate, thats the bearing holder

i appreciate the language barrier but if the guys are helpful and knowledgeable, hopefully all you need to do is point at things

oh and you can have huge amounts like nearly half a turn of play in the front shaft and still have a car that operates correctly

there is a tremendous amount of slop in a worn front axle and a worn centre diff in the transfer case, well before anything gives up.

your 98 plate disco was likely fitted with an F suffix transfer case which would have had a cross drilled input gear so that somewhat null and voids the output shaft theory now i think about it

however, if you can get eyes on the inputs/outputs of each component as a whole ie clutch/output shaft, input gear/output flanges, diff flanges/wheel hubs you can see what parts look/feel to be operating smoothly and what are not

i say again, slop is not the end of the world so you need to look deeper

Vincemcdonald said:

Check the clarity of all the oils ie from gearbox, transfer case and both diffs. The one with the bits of metal in will be your problem area.
However, please remember that your R380 gearbox needs that specialist oil and not EP 80/90.
I would suggest that you catch the oils that you drain, filter them and re-use them if no fresh oil is available.

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We had the transfer box oil out at the land rover dealers in agadir and it looked ok. Next step is for me to have a look at the front diff as has been suggested and the dealve deeper into the TFB but as has also been said this is fairly rugged. Right now I'm wondering if it is a diff problem?

As a matter a of interest although I have oils with me what would people suggest to use as a filter for resusing oils?

EdoubleD said:

As a matter a of interest although I have oils with me what would people suggest to use as a filter for resusing oils?

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I would NEVER re-use oils. Bear in mind all you need is very std. EP80w-90 for diffs and tranny box plus MTF or Dexron atf; all of which will be readily available.