Always been a Jeep man - several over the years, and currently a 1946 ****** CJ2A that was my Grandpa's - but had my eye on a DiscoII because I just love the style. Finally bit the bullet when I found an '03 in excellent shape with just 78K miles on it. Beautiful rig. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the front drive shaft issues. Wish I would have, because I'd have replaced the u joints first thing.

Two days ago, thankfully just a mile from the house and only going about 15mph on a smaller road, with only about 1 second warning, the u joint blew in the front shaft. I had just enough time to point the nose over to the side of the road, and slow down to about 15mph before I heard the mini explosion under there.

Damages: the shaft blew apart, ripping a large hole in the transmission and beating up the heat shield and metal underneath on the other side; minor dents in the exhaust pipe. Pulled the shaft off, towed her home, and she's sitting in the garage now.

I have a transmission pulled from a low mileage '04 DiscoII on the way, plus a new (better designed w/ greasable 1310 u joints) drive shaft coming as well.

My question is, will I need any kind of gasket set or anything else when doing the transmission swap? I'm wondering about between the transfer case and the transmission or anywhere else? I realize I'll see what's there once I yank everything apart, but the sooner I can get parts on the way, the better, because my Dad is actually visiting next week and can help if I have everything ready.

Thanks for any tips on this project! It's a beautiful Rover, I hate the fact that I didn't know about the drive shaft problems before hand, but live and learn. Anything else I should know about these rigs, things to check on that fail often, etc, please let me know so I can head them off before they happen.
Sincerely,
Jed

 

Well, you met the driveshaft issue the hard way. Sorry.

Other things to look out for.
Major issue.
Your temperature gauge, isn't accurate. Some guys have have vehicles massively overheating at 240* and it still shows all good on the gauge. Its not just your's, its the entire line. Buy an ultra gauge (UltraGauge OBDII Scan tool & Information Center) to keep an eye on things.

There is a service list somewhere around here. There is also a download for the service manual if you poke around. Service manual should be your best friend... Service List, I look at things differently than a lot on members on here, so for the sake of everyone arguing, its would be in your best interest to do the service list. All of it.

Welcome to land rover ownership

 

You might as will change to the 2004 transfer case with the Center Diff Lock while you are at it.

 

I did not know about the gauge. What temp should my obd ii gauge be showing as normal operating temp?

 

Temp gauge is like most modern cars with the 3 positions, cold, normal, and hot. It's more of an idicator vs an actual gauge.

Since LR's are temp sensitive it's a good idea to run an OBDII setup so you get actual temps and can monitor them correctly.

I have a Scangauge II in my 02 Kalahari & it works great.

Honestly the driveshaft design isn't what I'd call flawed. It's more of a maintenance item, that never gets serviced and yep it eventually fails. I never saw a single LR under warranty that had one fail. Could greasable fittings have saved countless transmissions? Sure, but BMW/Land Rover was looking at $$$ for new shafts down the road. If a car company didn't cut corners to save a buck we'd never need new cars/parts and BMW/Land Rover wouldn't be making the $$$$$ and they'd end up like Saab which spared no expense on safety and it cost em their company vs save a buck here and there...

If the shaft/ujoints were inspected at the proper maintenance schedule and the issue with worn ujoints was addressed by new ujoints or a complete drive shaft there would be zero issues. LR put that in their scheduled maintenance logs/books.

I personally love grease fittings on ujoints and I consider it an upgrade part. 95% of auto makers use shafts without em.

My Jeep Wranglers (05 Rubi/05 LJ) were about as cheap as they come. Only thing that saved em were the millions of aftermarket parts for them!

 

As long as monitoring actual sensor temps you should be fine/OK. Believe reference made for those depending upon dash gauge.
......

 

So sorry that thing happened to you as well. It happened to me at an intersection from a stop but I did not know how catastrophic it could get. I got spared. Your disco is young still. After the fix, youll enjoy it every time you drive. Good luck!

 

I'm gonna say some figures, if no one else will. Haha.

I run anywhere from 188-201. That's the ultra extreme temps I see. I am planning (but avoiding for reasons of far sexier projects) on the inline tstat mod. Doesn't drastically reduce temps, but stops the fluctuations. I'm still on original HGs at 104k. Seeing how long I can nurse them for.

I see some folks running at 210-215 who arnt complaining so much. I don't like it when I see anything 200+. Maybe I'm over sensitive.

I totally recommend the UltraGuage.

 

With the factory cooling system, you want to see temps around 200, never more than 210. That's when you start getting taps and knocks. I'm going to say that you will prob be around 215-220 so flush the system well and put a new $70 Land Rover 180 deg thermostat. If you still have temps over 210, then make absolutely sure that you have zero coolant leaks or coolant loss, then look into your fan clutch and radiator. If you do have leaks or loss, find out where it's coming from or going and fix that when you do the flush and thermostat. Read up on purging the air out of the system when you refill with green variety coolant and distilled water.

 

I see 188-207. I hate the fact it swings so much, but looking for a machine shop to fit a thermostat in the intake , right below the temp sensor, where it belongs.