Just remove the whole pan and then you can do whatever it takes to remove the fill plug.
And if you need to drill it out you can and then clean up the pan so there are no metal shavings in there.

The plastic plugs everyone talks about are on the differentials.
Take your diff drain plug to The Home Depot and get 2 more from the plumbing section and use them for your fill plugs.

 

your drain plug should be metal, with a hex (allen wrench) head. it's pretty much the lowest point on your powertrain. (to the rear of the front driveshaft)

 

it should be noted in the instructions that during the 2nd part, check and fill, the engine should be running.

supposedly if the engine is not running when doing the final fill, you can leave the tranny a quart low.

 

Yes... and presumably, that was why it got ground flat. :-)

 

I just bought a 96 discovery with 157,000 miles. He had the oil changed recently, not sure about the transmission filter and fluid. How hard is it to change the filter and what fluid should I use? I also will need to do a head/valve job as there slight water coming out of exhaust and exhaust valves have slight tap. My mechanical skils are good.
96 white discovery
159,000

 

just want to reiterate the proper steps for the REFILL:

1. fill until fluid comes out (should be about 3-4 quarts)
2. start disco, slowly shift through all gears at least twice
3. leave disco running, get under truck and continue refill CAREFUL WITH EXHAUST!
4. at least 3 times stop refill, get back in truck and shift through all gears again
5. replace plug once fluid starts coming back out (should be about 5-5.5 quarts)

last time i did this, i didnt keep the truck running and could only get about 4 quarts back in...just did it again (3k miles later) and got full additional quart in. luckily no chunks or metal, and now i've nearly flushed the tranny with two changes back-to-back (since it actually hold 12 quarts from dry).

 

Nice job on the write-up and the photos. As good as any I have seen. I have a 97 DI and was not aware of the need to remove y-pipe and crossmember. I am not looking forward to that.

 

You actually dont need to remove the y-pipe. The easiest way to get the cross member down is with a port-a-power. You put it between the frame rails and spread it just a hair and the cross member drops down on the y-pipe which leaves you plenty of room to fit it out. You turn it sideways and it comes right out. When you fill the trans you fill it running with it on the colder side. If you do fill/check it when its hot then the level is supposed to be 19mm higher than the fill line. There is a bulletin from landrover that explains.

 

96 D1 130k
Manual Transmission
Is the procedure the same for a manual transmission?

 

where do i fill the transmission at?