Engine oil in bell housing

[DWCamo]

Hi good people,
I took my wading plug out recently and approx 10ml of engine oil drained out. Is this a sign my rear main seal is leaking and is it something I should be concerned about? Should I continue to monitor the accumulation in the bell housing and if it's only a small amount, just keep draining it out occasionally?
Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. Cheers, DW.

[Ashleylipus]

You should be leaving that plug in your door pocket. Only use it when your off-roading. The oil could have accumulated over a long period of time or could be recent from bad rear main seal failure. The reason you leave it off is to make sure your bell housing doesn't fill with oil and destroy your clutch.

[justinc]

Are you certain it wasn't dirty looking trans oil? Or was it really black? The possibility of the oil pump housing on the front of the transmission leaking is quite high .

Jc

[DWCamo]

Thanks guys. Good advice. I'm pretty sure It was engine oil. Cheers, DW

[Chris078]

You should be leaving that plug in your door pocket. Only use it when your off-roading. The oil could have accumulated over a long period of time or could be recent from bad rear main seal failure. The reason you leave it off is to make sure your bell housing doesn't fill with oil and destroy your clutch.


I've seen this (leaving the wading plug out) a couple of times. The question I have is why? The bell housing has a breather on top, so it's not like it's fully sealed when the when the plug is in place.

my concern leaving it out is that a bug or ants will get in there (or extra moisture when raining) , make a nest and result in some expensive work being required to fix.

What benefit is there from leaving the plug out?

[Ashleylipus]

Leaving the plug out allows any oil leaking from seals to drain out instead of collecting in the bell housing and potentially destroying the clutch. The breather is so that when a warm gearbox is driven threw water and cools rapidly, clean air is able to be drawn in threw the breather instead of water or mud. Same for diffs, gearbox, transfer cases and i think even the winch has one. Putting the wader plug in prevents water and mud entering the bell housing. A guy on the Facebook perentie owners page has destroyed his clutch because of a failure of a seal allowing oil to leak into bell housing and coating the clutch because the plug was left in

[Judo]

I have also just soaked my clutch in gearbox oil because of a leaking input seal. I had the bell housing plug in. My theory was I would check it periodically so if it started leaking I could gauge how much and when it started leaking. It started leaking alright! Enough in 1 trip that it pooled in the bell housing and ended up all over the clutch from the flywheel. Now I have the gearbox out to replace the gearbox input seal, but am having to buy a new clutch plate as well - even though it is close to new.

Best idea is to leave it out and correctly monitor gearbox and engine oil levels. (Also you'll notice drips from the bell housing anyway).

I wouldn't worry about anything getting into the bell housing.

I went from one extreme to another. On my Disco I never had a plug in, even for water crossings and never had an issue. I recently did a proactive clutch change on it and visually it looked in perfect condition. On the County it came with the plug in, so I just left it permanently and now I'm up for a new clutch.

[Jonnooh]

I made up a plastic plug with a 5mm hole in it, I'm not likely to go through water but I thought if I did it would take a while to fill up the bell housing, at the same time you can see how much it leaks oil by looking at the the ground..

[Chris078]

I made up a plastic plug with a 5mm hole in it, I'm not likely to go through water but I thought if I did it would take a while to fill up the bell housing, at the same time you can see how much it leaks oil by looking at the the ground..


I like this idea, might have to copy it!

:D

[Ashleylipus]

The truth is if one day by chance you go threw water or a mud hole thats deeper than expected and you get stuck, by the time you get the winch out and around a tree your bellhousing is already full. One touch of the clutch and all that muddy water goes I between your clutch and flywheel and your done. Land rover made it simple. Driving on the road... Wader plug out.. Driving off road... Wader plug in.

[Jonnooh]

The truth is if one day by chance you go threw water or a mud hole thats deeper than expected and you get stuck, by the time you get the winch out and around a tree your bellhousing is already full. One touch of the clutch and all that muddy water goes I between your clutch and flywheel and your done. Land rover made it simple. Driving on the road... Wader plug out.. Driving off road... Wader plug in.

That's fine, but I'm not aware of landrover making it simple. The plug seems to be expected to be left in, which can lead to problems when the car gets old and leaks occur.

[vnx205]

That's fine, but I'm not aware of landrover making it simple. The plug seems to be expected to be left in, which can lead to problems when the car gets old and leaks occur.

Everything I have read and seen suggests that it is expected to be left out by default and only installed when needed.

[Tank]

Really, it is called a "WADER PLUG" by the people that built the engine, what's not to understand, it's not called "A LEAVE IT IN AND SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO **** YOUR CLUTCH PLUG", some commonsense, please, Regards Frank.

[Svengali0]

Really, it is called a "WADER PLUG" by the people that built the engine, what's not to understand, it's not called "A LEAVE IT IN AND SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO **** YOUR CLUTCH PLUG", some commonsense, please, Regards Frank.

...shakes head....:eek:
Interesting thread....We share the world...

[Jonnooh]

Is the army aware of this?

[dingsy]

I ruined a new clutch on the perentie by leaving the wafer plug in. The input seal to the gearbox had been recently changed and was split unknowingly during the install. Some of the input shafts are slightly squared off which makes the seal replacement more difficult. I leave the plug off now.

[Chris J]

I ruined a new clutch on the perentie by leaving the wafer plug in. The input seal to the gearbox had been recently changed and was split unknowingly during the install. Some of the input shafts are slightly squared off which makes the seal replacement more difficult. I leave the plug off now.

Exactly my experience as well Dingsy, leave the damn thing in the door. A bit of water in the bell housing will not ruin a clutch as quick as a bit of oil.

[DWCamo]

The extract below is from p10 of the manual. https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1158.jpg

[justinc]

I remove them on every vehicle we service if they are fitted and leave them in the car. I've replaced many clutches due to oil contamination over the years. Ine particularly bad 200tdi defender example i got oil all down my arm as i removed the plug! Must've been 200 to 300mls!!

Jc