R380 Gearbox 2nd Gear Chatter - Gold oil with pictures

[Rezley]

G'Day,

I recently posted the below thread to get some opinions on why my 2nd gear has become so noisy and if its terminal.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/discovery-1/176916-r380-gearbox-chatter-2nd-gear.html

Well due to a pending Robe to Beachport trip I have decided to dump the oil and have a look. Plug didn't look too bad, usual looking build up but with one little chunk as pictured ;) Oil was coming out clean, then as it got toward the last quarter, out came the golden metallic stuff.

I put my finger in the drain hole and felt around the bottom for any more little chunks of metal and couldn't feel any but have taken a picture of the oil showing gold metallic through it.

Observations:


2nd gear is noisy but mainly when under load, all other gears fine - gets worse as oil heats up. (Using Penrite Sin Trans Man, which I believe is now called Pro Gear Oil)

Theres is a small audible bearing type noise when in neutral that disappears when clutch is depressed.

Car now has 193k on clock and is behind a 3.9 V8

Noise has been apparent for a couple of months but has only covered around 2000km in that time.




Questions:

What is the gold from ie, what part is wearing?

How long is a piece of string but....based on previous experience, will it still provide some life or should I be looking to swap out box ASAP?

If something does let go, is it likely to be 2nd gear or the whole box leaving me stranded?

Should I be skipping second gear as much as possible in the short term?

I know these are very loose questions, but I'd really like to do one more trip in it (Robe to Beachport) before I pull it off the road but not at the expense of getting stuck on the beach with no gears, 400km from home.



I do have another second working box I pulled from another Discovery I owned but I'm not in a rush to swap it over unless I absolutely have to. As I can wait for rego to lapse and take my time doing the swap.

Thoughts/advice/experience welcomed right now :)

Thanks,
Rez

[Rezley]

Anyone?
Have I posted in the wrong section?

[rick130]

You're always going to get a certain amount of bronze each change, it's normal and it's from the synchro's, but use the wrong oil, eg. an unbuffered GL5 or a too light an oil with the wrong friction modifiers and you'll get a bucket load more.

Just re-fill with the oil you were using and monitor.

[Rezley]

Thanks Rick, oil has been recommended on here but doesn't specify MTF 94, though new oil does.
Both Penrite oils.

I'm a little more worried about the noise it makes in 2nd. Maybe I'll have to turn the radio up for now and keep on top of oil condition.

Rez

[goingbush]

Are you sure its just noisy in 2nd,

my R380 has just gone from being perfect to noisy in a matter of days, (a few hundred km) noisy in all gears except 4th

(lift up the rubber gear boot off & listen )

all I can read about them suggests that is the norm, the bearings fail first producing the noise and if you dont attend to it asap 5gear can chip teeth or even break a layshaft

I would not be going to Robe unless you get the problem sorted, it could get worse fast. Esp under the loads you will give it playing in the sand.

[Rezley]

Are you sure its just noisy in 2nd,

my R380 has just gone from being perfect to noisy in a matter of days, (a few hundred km) noisy in all gears except 4th

(lift up the rubber gear boot off & listen )

all I can read about them suggests that is the norm, the bearings fail first producing the noise and if you dont attend to it asap 5gear can chip teeth or even break a layshaft

I would not be going to Robe unless you get the problem sorted, it could get worse fast. Esp under the loads you will give it playing in the sand.

Hi goingbush,

Yes definitely only 2nd gear. All others are fine.
I should be in higher gears than 2nd most of time on the sand when in low range so fingers crossed as I've run out of time to do anything about it now. I will monitor noise for trip and keep hoping all goes well, then once rego is out I'll most likely do the box swap then.

Rez

[rick130]

Hi goingbush,

Yes definitely only 2nd gear. All others are fine.
I should be in higher gears than 2nd most of time on the sand when in low range so fingers crossed as I've run out of time to do anything about it now. I will monitor noise for trip and keep hoping all goes well, then once rego is out I'll most likely do the box swap then.

Rez


I know of one R380 that started to develop an odd noise and it wasn't bearings.

When the cluster was replaced there were some marks on one of the gear sets, the hard facing had started to lift.

If I can't find the pics I'll email Warwick to see if he still has them.

[AFC1]

Just had my 380 rebuilt.
The main problem i was told is if the 4th/5th selector goes, it takes out reverse with it....still move forward, but dont park against a wall...
Mine had a small crunch into 4th & 2nd was a little stiff some times.
Ended up $2500 for a full rebuild. (leysharfts, pump the lot)

Paul

[Rezley]

Paul $2500 is alot! I don't think I could justify that on mine.
I'm happy to say it got through the Robe to Beachport trip and home again ok.

Next test is towing my Escort to a Motorsport event tomorrow. It's almost like I trying to get it to break so I can fix it.

Cheers