Hey all, I posted in the new member forum yesterday about my "new-to-me" 2000 Discovery II.

Since the rig has just over 100k, I'm going to tackle the huge list of maintenance items someone posted here, starting with an oil change and checking or replacing the front driveshaft. I changed the oil this afternoon and now I'm off to the races.

While under the truck I examined the driveshaft to see if it's been replaced before. I was hoping I'd find a newer shaft with some grease zerks, but what I found was quite haunting-- Looks like a bomb went off under the vehicle, there's some heat shield that's torn, a HUGE gash in the vehicle body above the driveshaft, scrapes all over the catalytic converter, and low and behold a welded transmission case.

So clearly the PO had the driveshaft fail on them, but I bought the rig at a car auction, so I have no idea the history. It's in great shape though, so someone took relatively good care of it, or so it would appear.

That said, here's some pics of the carnage. Looks worse than in the photos (cell phone can only capture so much). I should note that there is not a *drop* of oil anywhere on the tranny pan, so the makeshift repairs seems to be holding well. The big question is-- how reliable will this be long term. Do you guys have any experience with welding these cases? The replacement shaft is an OEM unit, so I suspect this was done by a dealer or independent shop-- I think someone who has a clue about these trucks would have used an aftermarket shaft w/ the zerks. I digress, look at the photos and tell me what you think please!

How did LR get away with not making this a recall??? Also the grey goop you see is some kind of gasket maker or silicone.. RTV maybe? It's soft and can be peeled off.






Anyone know what this unhooked electrical connector is for? It's hanging below the passenger-side door, behind the front wheel.



Can leaking valve covers cause this extent of an oil leak, or is this likely to be something different such as leaking oil pan / rear main or other such thing? It doesn't appear to be a fast leak by any means.

 

i have that same goo on my trans case. i think we can count ours as a few that survived the failure. it is leaking from the sump gasket, but whatever.. i need to service it anyways.

that extensive of an oil leak is probably a combination of many things, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, valve cover gasket, if its just the back of the pan i would count on the first 2. the front of mine was this wet.. it needed a timing cover seal, and front main seal.

 

How does one check the transmission fluid? I didn't see any dipstick in the engine bay.

 

I bet that weld will last longer then the truck.

I'd check it for leaks periodically, but otherwise not worry about it.

I'd be amazed if a dealership did that repair, though. I just can't imagine they'd do anything other than swap the tranny.

I think most of our trucks have comparable oil leaks. Mine got a bit better when I replaced the power steering pump and hose, but these things just leak a lot of oil. If it's not pooling on the ground I'd just watch the levels and not worry about it too much.

The check the tranny fluid you unscrew a plug in the transmission. You need to download the "Discovery II Workshop Manual" (aka the RAVE) and start studying it.

http://macassemble.com/lrm/

 

i wouldnt be surprised if it did. whoever did it did a good job.. messy but good. it all adds to the "story" of our rovers. lol

 

That's kind of what I thought. I work in a steel fab shop and have welded for years, and in the off chance that I have to weld aluminum, it's hardly ever pretty (unless in perfect position and prepped just right), but you can get a decent weld out of it. I can't speak for TIG welding though as I've never welded with it.

Glad to hear this transmission has a chance! Not seeing any transmission fluid outside the case is reassuring too!

 

Ouch! Looks like JB weld... I can't say I haven't done anything that ghetto ah ahahaha.

Also to check tranny level, leave the truck running (or else fluid will dump out) , put wheel chalks on the truck and keep the parking brake on and put it in neutral, then remove the fill plug on the tranny. It should drip a little fluid from it.

 

It looked like JB weld at first glance, but after running my fingers over it, it was clear that it was welded. You can see the weld bead profile in the pictures.

It would be a royal pain to weld with the tranny in the truck, I think it's safe to say that even the most experience welders would have a hard time making that look pretty.

Is the fill plug at the top with the larger bolt where a hex bit would fit? Then there's a real small one at the bottom of the pan, is this the drain? I can't see how that would drain more than 2-3 quarts, or are the looks deceiving?

 

From memory I can't remember exactly where the fill plug is but it is on the tranny pan itself, the drain plug is on the very bottom yes. And the tranny holds about 10 quarts if I remember correctly, if you open the fill plug with out the pump running (truck on) it will dump most of that fluid

 

Makes perfect sense! Thanks for the clarification. The fill plug is facing the front of the vehicle, about 3/4 of the way up the pan if I remember correctly.