I'm at the bottom of my full-blown service list on the 2003 I bought in April. I drained and refilled the front and rear differential but could not loosen the drain plug on the T-case as it is a whole different kind of tight. I sprayed PB Blaster on it all day but its just torqued up way too tight. My 5-foot cheater pipe that I was bragging about last night was no match. I'm hoping to pop it loose with an Impact tomorrow morning. Anyways, the rear diff was full of oil and it looked OK coming out. But the front differential was not OK. There was maybe only one-half quart of fluid, probably more but definitely not more than a full quart. Cannot tell exactly as I drained it into the catch pan with the existing oil in it from the rear end. Not only that, I saw a few very small shavings on the magnetic drain plug. Very, very small and less than half-dozen, literally just a few tiny ones. I'm hoping that some of you will say that it is not a big deal. "You caught it just in time." "Check it regularly from here on out to make sure that the gear oil isn't getting by a seal." "A few little shavings is nothing to scoff at..." and so on. I have a motor oil leak so everything is pretty much coated at this point. I haven't washed under there in a while so I can't tell what the sources of these fluids are. But I will be a good boy and get it all nice and clean so that I can accurately assess where this leak/ leaks are originating. BTW, I was able to loosen the fill plug on the Tcase and oil was all the way up there so in the event that I cannot loosen the fill plug, at least I know that its full of oil. But there is no way its coming loose manually. I did a good oil and filter change on the engine 2,000 miles ago and used a quart of additive with 5 or 5.5 quarts or so of the Rotella everyone swears by. I wasn't loosing anything on the dipstick for about a month but I'm back to adding a little bit of motor oil every 2 weeks so I'm hoping that a better additive on the next oil change will hold me over for a while. I'm not pulling the engine apart any time soon. I am done turning wrenches on this thing for a while. I've spent enough time and money on it for now. I want to do a new cover, pump gears and timing setup but not for another year. I would like to just enjoy it, while keeping my fingers crossed, of course. Let me know what you think

 

Little shavings in front Diff is no big deal, but it's not a bad idea to flush it one more time after driving for a while to make sure noting is left in it,
As for t-case be careful not to break casing when opening drain plug (since it's aluminum)
As for additive in oil, is it stop leak you are using? I wouldn't use most snake oils in market, if it's leaking a little due to worn seals , try high mileage oils , they have seal sweal in them , & it's formulated in oil itself,
You can use a higher ZDDP oil like Mobil1 10w40 high mileage to slow down leak, if leak isn't too bad, (but that's my opinion), some ppl also swear by blue devil, I haven't tried it personally , but almost all other additives are snake oil, and just waste of money & they do more harm than good, by changing chemistry of original oil for the worst.

 

Are you trying to remove the correct plug on the transfer case? How're you going to get an impact wrench on it, or did you remove the brake drum?

 

It was definitely the correct drain plug that I was having a hard time getting loose but I got my brother on it and he snapped it loose. So, Transfer case has been serviced as well. I suppose I will check that front differential in a couple of weeks and make sure its holding the oil and maybe flush it again as you said. and No, I didn't use "snake oil" as my additive. I put in a quart of Lucas. I want to do a quart of Bardahls next time but I can't find the stuff in my area. It was suggested to me by a lifelong Rover guy that does strictly LR repairs in the Dallas area. I know some people think Lucas is junk but I really don't. It was the best thing I could find on the shelf at the time but I will try to find something better next go-round like the Blue Devil, although I have never come by that either. I will ask questions and do some searches when it comes time. Thank you guys for your responses. Everything is good on my end, got it all done.

 

I see I had a bit of a typo in the original post. but to answer Antichrist, it was the drain plug on the bottom that I was going to Impact. The top I loosened first, where I found the box to be full of oil. FULL; it drained a gusher from the top when I pulled the plug. Do I need to re-check the Tcase oil level tomorrow? Is it possible I will need to add more?

 

If you have a leak between the transmission and transfer case it can raise the level in the transfer. Alternatively could have been high because the PO over filled, like when the car was headed down a slope, or from water ingress.

 

aw man I didn't want to hear that. The transmission fluid looked as it should when I drained and refilled it last month. It was also at the correct level. There really is no reason for water to be in there. I know the previous owner didn't do any work on it. The Original owner had all Passport filled out to like 45K or 55K. So your guess is as good as mine but there was certainly a lot of fluid in it. We will see how see how she runs this week and I will pull the fill plugs on all of this stuff in a few days and make sure everything is where its supposed to be. Hopefully no snags because this I'm going to die of a heat stroke if I have to get under this thing again

 

Also, was the vehicle completely level when you pulled the fill plug on the transfer case? I made the mistake of forgetting to jack up the rear of a friend's Disco when I serviced his fluids in my driveway, and got a transfer case fluid shower when I puled the fill plug because my driveway is slightly sloped.