Disco 2 Water getting into Gearbox

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Inkjets1

Inkjets1

Member
Posts
58
Location
Plymouth, UK
Hi all,

I recently drove my Disco2 TD5 through a small ford, only bumper height. Didn't have no initial problems...
But, it was due a gearbox oil change shortly afterwards because we had put a replacement one in earlier (Manual).
When we took the FILL plug out, a load of watery gunk poured out. When we undid the drain plug, the remainder also drained out in a muddy coloured mix.
Obviously there has water that's got in somewhere, most lightly from the Ford crossing. All breather pipes are routed as they should be and are quite high up.
Any ideas on how this could have got into the gearbox or places to check that we may have missed?
One person did say if the air temp is quite warm outside (it was a warm day), and the water temp cool, it can cause a vacuum effect as you drive in it and draw it in from all sorts of places.
Bit stumped really. Just avoiding water crossings at the min.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers.​
 
Gearbox like other items involved the the transmission of D1 and 2 are designed to be oil and water tight and have a breather no doubt the same as other LR products and their gearboxes etc.
But other vehicle manufacturers don’t have a breather fitted to their gearboxes or diffs, so don’t take any notice about ambient air temps.
The difference I suspect is that LRs are designed to go into deeper water therefore a greater cooling affect and instant fluctuations and hence the breather.
Back to how does the oil in the gearbox get mixed water... there’s possibly an iffy oil seal :(
 
discool said:
Gearbox like other items involved the the transmission of D1 and 2 are designed to be oil and water tight and have a breather no doubt the same as other LR products and their gearboxes etc.
But other vehicle manufacturers don’t have a breather fitted to their gearboxes or diffs, so don’t take any notice about ambient air temps.
The difference I suspect is that LRs are designed to go into deeper water therefore a greater cooling affect and instant fluctuations and hence the breather.
Click to expand...
they all have breathers of one form of another and lr oil seals are one way seals ie to keep oil in just like any vehicle,they arent water proof just resistant ,if box input shaft is turning with a bell housing full of water it will pull water past the seal
 
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jamesmartin said:
they all have breathers of one form of another and lr oil seals are one way seals ie to keep oil in just like any vehicle,they arent water proof just resistant ,if boc input shaft is turning with a bell housing full of water it will pull water past the seal
Click to expand...
Never seen a breather on my manual car, but that’s 43 years old, I have to look in it’s part catalogue, it’s not of a great interest to me as I avoided puddles with the cars I own when i can, or any water in oil issues. :)
 
discool said:
Never seen a breather on my manual car, but that’s 43 years old, I have to look in it’s part catalogue, it’s not of a great interest to me as I avoided puddles with the cars I own when i can, or any water in oil issues. :)
Click to expand...
they have a breather just not an extended one,apart from that they are no better water resistant than any car
 
Umm, :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Thanks jamesmartin and discool.
jamesmartin said:
if box input shaft is turning with a bell housing full of water it will pull water past the seal
Click to expand...
I think this one makes sense. Maybe it was a bit deeper than thought, or as discool says, it could be a oil seal gone or maybe dried out. It was a secondhand box we put in that had been lying about for a while.... in a field I expect o_Oo_O..
Not sure where the wading plug is, but will look that one up as well....
I think the simple answer for now is... avoid water... cheers for the tips and replies...
 
From memory. I think there are two wading plugs to be attached and one goes in the bell housing, if that one was not fitted then the thing that @jamesmartin said could happen probably happened.
I once completely killed the clutch on a low slung kit car based on Morris Marina running gear, (yep i know but the gear is heavily modified so it's much better!). I drove it around in a flooded village. The water was only about 5 inches deep but it got in the bell housing and £$%^ed the clutch! Did no harm to the gear box, whose breather is simply a kind of hole on the top. So suppose I was just lucky!
 
There will be only one drain plug hole and that’s at the bottom of the bell housing and accessible due , depending on the circumstances, the need to fit, if not fitted, a plug before off-reading/wading
Only vehicles with a clutch have this hole.
D1 tdi’s manuals also have a timing belt, therefore there is an additional drain at the bottom of the timing case, D1 + D2 V8 autos don’t have any holes, no belt or clutch.

I expect you know the purpose of the hole being left open, but it can be plugged with the periodical removal off the screw plug for checking.
 
pardon. I accidentally duplicated the post. I didn't find the option to delete it. disregard this please.
 
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