Thread: Metal Shards in my Rear Diff and Discoloured Tranfer Case Oil

Hi Pinelli,

We found a similar problem with our 1999 Discovery II, which we bought second hand with 200,000 odd kms on the clock. We had a lot more sludge, which bound the metal chips. See the attached picture. The axle housing required extensive flushing with hydraulic oil to remove the sludge and metal.

The Discovery II is a permanent four-wheel drive. Therefore, the rear diff isn't necessarily doing any more work than the front diff. When a wheel spins without center diff lock engaged, all the drive is sent to that wheel irrespective of whether it is a front or rear wheel. However, the front axle can wear more rapidly than the rear axle due to the added mechanical stress of steering, especially if the front tyres are uneven or too aggressive for the terrain.

It seems that the previous owner may have used, for an extended period, different brand tyres with different tread and wear patterns on the front, or left a spare tyre on the front for far too long, or used very aggressive off-road tyres on the steer for high mileage driving on bitumen.

To reduce the wear and tear on the front axle, we now run new matching tyres on the front with at least one solid centre rib to give a faster and less stressful steering response.

LRT

After 20k,my rear diff plug was as per the pics,front was fine.I took a sample of the rear oil & the stuff off the plug to MR & they said not to worry about it.I will be changing it again shortly after 10k,& will be interesting to see what it is like.
The extended drainage intervals in the D2 manual are for synthetic fluid.Most service mechanics use mineral oil as it is cheaper,but has to be changed more often.

I know this info is for Disco 2 but does anyone know if the disco 3's have an issue with the Diff - We have a jan 05 build del May 5 - only done 50,000km - issue started in Jan 11 - Told it was a Left front wheel bearing - replaced only to find out still grinding noise - told front diff - LR replaced however drove car home - noise and vibration worse than ever - went back and now told rear diff - how can this be - does anyone know or can help. Landrover do not want to know or help as car is out of warranty.

Note: Car has NEVER been off road or through water.

Any suggestions would be grateful.

This puts my mind a rest a little. I was a bit freaked out when I undid my Transfer and rear diff yesterday.

I'm just working out what I'm going to flush it with before I fill with redline shock proof.

Happy Days.

I'd wish you'd stop digging these up Joel--

I'm gunna have to do mine now.
I used some spectacular Castrol supercar diff oil in the green one and got all of two weeks out of it till the crash,,

so this time its a 4litre container "off the shelf"

oh,, brass plugs?
yes? no?

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

I'd wish you'd stop digging these up Joel--

oh,, brass plugs?
yes? no?

No worries. Anytime.

I'm sticking with the plastic ones. I haven't priced new ones yet but I recon they'd be cheap and I haven't heard of them failing. Brass are pretty expensive considering.

Happy Days.

Brass. All us monkeys have them