Hi,

I was poking around under the 96 D1 tonight trying to become a little more familiar with my first Land Rover. What do I see? an open screw hole and I can see gears! I flick through the owner's manual to discover it is the flywheel drain hole. It says manual models have them but autos are sealed. Mine is an auto and the engine number also confirms this. I'll assume the owner's manual is mistaken.

So I read through the workshop manual and find out that the factory did not put a plug in this hole, and if I go wading or muddy offroad I should fit a plug, but on-road I should leave it open or drain it regularly. Glad I haven't really been offroad yet.

Well you learn something everyday! Why didn't LR factory fit these to a 4wd - beats me?

So I'm going to fit a screw to the hole, whether on or off road.

How often should I drain it? and does it actually accumulate oil in there?

they're not fitted, and I dont reccomend fitting them unless wading, as if you start to develop a rear main leak, a gearbox input seal leak or TC seal failure as appropriate then it becomes immedieately obvious by way of the new oil drip marks on your driveway.

if you seal up the auto its not to bad but in a manual the oil contamination will quickly be the death bell for your clutch. Unless your planning on sumberging the floor pan of your vehicle or have extra openings on your bell housing then you can go without your fording plugs right up untill you get bogged or stop on the ford. Once you stop it fills with water/mud.

__________________
Dave

"In a Landrover the other vehicle is your crumple zone."

Fozzy, 2.25D SIII Ex DCA Ute
The midlife crisis car
Some D1

For spelling call Rogets, for mechanicing call me.

Up imside there is the cam belt and as said you should put the plug in when wading if you don't this happens inside the Timing cover (as us poms call it)



and your cambelt snaps , no a huge problem on a 200/300 TDi but will ruin your day and cause you to go no where. Need to replace a few pushrods and maybe a couple of tapets and the cambelt. I did it twice in my winch challnge truck

The main reason you don't leave the plug in is because you need to let out air pressure which may build up . On my winch truck i had a breather tapped into the timing cover which let it breath and left the plug in all the time. And only took it out now and again to check for oil leaks

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Defender, Good enough for the Queen, good enough for me

95 300 Tdi Defender 90
99 300 Tdi Defender 110

www.reads4x4.com

I have fitted elbows to the 2 drain holes (flywheel housing and timing belt housing) on my 300Tdi disco. Clear plastic hose from each elbow runs up to an inline filter hich in the engine bay.

The clear plastic hose allows a visual inspection to detect any seal leakage. The cases can breathe and muddy water is kept out.

__________________
John

That's a really good idea, I think I might look into an elbow.