Thread: What did you do with or to your Disco today

Replaced the bushes in the rear sway bar - they were old and got badly chewed up on my last off road trip.
I also drained the swivel housing oil on the passenger side which has had an increasingly annoying leak. I replaced the oil with a one shot grease.
The surface of the swivel housing is marked/pitted in one spot....so if the thicker grease does not reduce the leak significantly..I guess it is time for new swivel housings etc.
At least if I want to continue doing remote trips with the now close to 350k girl....which I do, at least for a while.
While doing these jobs I noticed a few drops of coolant on the floor...a quick look and here is my next job..new water-pump required.
I put the pump on in 2010 about 150000k ago..so that is reasonable I suppose.
Noticed that one of the rear trailing arm bolts was almost finger loose..that was going to end in tears..so all in all..a well spent couple of hours.

Took the Disco on an expedition up the Holland Track for a few days.

Looks like the gear box is developing a issue with 2nd gear. Getting a bit hard to engage some times. So did a gear box oil change. Typical of the way things go when I work on cars. First up the filler plug was a torx type plug. So dug out a set of torx keys that I had. The largest in a standard set is on size too small. So a trip to Auto barn soon fixed that problem. It seems to me that the gear box had not been looked at in a very long time, if ever. Luckily the torx bit that I got was a impact half inch drive type. That plug was not going to fall out any time soon. Had the breaker bar and some heaving it finally moved. As I removed the fill plug I immediately noticed that the oil was overly full. So after refitting the plug real quick like and a clean shirt later it was time for the drain plug. I did not have socket for the plug only a ring spanner. The ring spanner was soon paired up with a large two pound brass hammer. That drain plug had also been done up with the intent of not coming undone with out some force. It must of taken some R and D to work out where to position the cross member so that it was directly under the drain plug. Thankfully this issue was anticipated and I had a large shallow container at hand. The oil that came out was very thin and smelt old. There was some build up around the magnet on the drain plug. This, given the age of the oil , was not a surprise. There was also a coppery sheen to the oil. May not have totally fixed the issue with 2nd gear, but at least there is good oil in the gear box now.
Cheers Hall

Tried to figure out why the abs light is on, think I have found out why, but don’t know how to fix it, see my post abs today

Fixed (I hope) a leaking P gasket. Cleaned and repacked the front wheel bearings, checked and topped up the swivel hubs, replaced leaking power steering hose, new front pads and rotors. Now enjoying a beer.!

FIL gave us a roast. Into the fridge for the 2 hour drive home. Oh the fridge ( Engel ) not working? Was working a month or so back when last used.
Next day - no power at plug..hmm.
Now how has that thing wired up? I had that done by an auto leccy many years ago. I recall it had something to do with a line from the aux battery because years ago I had a fridge no go issue and it was a fuse fault in this line and that resulted in me putting in a better use. From first principles - power from aux battery, then runs over firewall to DS where there is the inline 30 A fuse that I fitted..which is OK. There is power at the fuse.
hmmm...
Power line then disappears into a conduit and runs down the DS chassis rail and seems to go to the tow plug. OK so it seems the case that this power lead was installed for the tow plug not the fridge. Oh whats that.. a broken wire - poke it with a screw driver and it shorts/sparks to the steel rear bar. Disconnect lead from aux battery. Check fuse again - now blown. OK so I theorise that the fridge is powered by splicing into this line - that it is not working because of the broken wire. Not that Einsteiian.
Had to take tow bar off to get enough room to do this..not happy with the wiring location/clearance at all..but today is a band aid job.
Clean ends and solder the wire, tape it up. Fit new fuse - doesnt blow. Refit power lead. Check fridge - works.
Refit tow bar - oh one of the female ends of one of the mounting bolts has dissappeared into the depths of the chassis. Great. ****ed about for a while fishing that out with a bit of wire. Eventually got it. Positioned the wires as safely as possible..but a job for another day is to clean it all up, relocate with proper conduit with proper clearance.
I have been lucky this has not happened while on a trip. 22yo cars and various jobs done by various auto leccys - not a great recipe.

Accidentally fixed my clutch shudder issue that I have had for some time.
Spotted a piece of wood jammed between LH engine mount and chassis. Removed it and clutch shudder gone

Originally Posted by Rick1970

Accidentally fixed my clutch shudder issue that I have had for some time.
Spotted a piece of wood jammed between LH engine mount and chassis. Removed it and clutch shudder gone

Easiest fix I've heard of!