I really need some advice from the seasoned Rover owners out there....My 97 Discovery seems to be ailing.

My Machine:

1997 Discovery
127K Miles
Bought her 4 weeks ago

The Symptoms Observed and What Lead up to Them:

-When I bought her some weeks ago she ran smoothly with no noticeable noises other than someminor tire noise. Occaisionallyat speeds over 50 mph Iwould feel a slightintermittent bumping coming up through the driver side floorboard. Figured it was suspension issues starting to develop.

-Within a week of buying I tookher on her firstminor off road excursion and became hooked onexploring muddypaths.Over the nextthree weeks I tookher through many sloppy off road paths to the point of finally getting stuck. Along the way Ibegan asking her to takeme upmildly bumpy inclines.

- THEN, this past week on thepaved road to my office I encounteredsome signinficant pot holes at speed that seemed to jar her pretty good.Later that day I took her out to a local trail over lunch and began to notice amore significantdroning sound coming fromwhat seemed the front end of the vehicle.Thought maybeI knocked the oldfronttires out of alignment on thepothole incident earlier in the day. Came back to the office with her covered in mud.

- On the way home that eveningan intermittent squeeling began up front.Thought it might bemud up in the belts since itcomes and goes. Very soon after I startedhearing intermittent clunkingnoises somewherebetween the middle and front of the truck upon deceleration as it downshifted from 3rdto 1st gear. As I drove more started getting the sameintermittent sound on acceleration upthrough 3rd gear but not after I gotherup into4th gear at highway speed. All along the droning sound seemed to get louder as I drove.

What I have done since this occurred:

-Talked with Disco Mike Jacobs. The advice was to grease all four U-Joints and test drive to see if the noise decreased in volume. Also was advised to change the Transfer case, front diff and rear diff gear oil to ensure it is new and topped off.

-Grateful for the help I did all these things this afternoon.

- Observations during the fluids swap and greasing:
o Transfer case oil removed was amber colored as if replaced recently.
o Front Diff oil very black and thin.
o Rear Diff oil milky tan and thin.
o U-joint on back side of transfer case did not take grease well. Seemed to not go in the nipple.
o U-joint on front side of transfer case took grease until it seeped out of ends.
o U-joint at front diff took grease well.
o U-joint at rear diff took grease well.

- Observations during road test:
o Still have significant droning sound coming from front of vehicle .
o Still have intermittent clunking sound on acceleration through 3rd gear.
o Still have intermittent clunking sound while decelerating from 3rd gear down to first when braking.
o Drone fades once at highway speed (50mph and higher).
o Clunking sound does not seem to happen deceleration from 70mph to 50mph. Decelerating below 45mph seems to clunk at each downshift
from 3rd to 1st.
o Clunking is not as pronounced when I shift into neutral at speed and brake down to stop. However it is still intermittently present.
o At low speed around 5-10mph I hear a mild clicking sound from up front.
o There is not any observed CV type clicking sounds when I drive it in tight circles at low speed (Counter and Clockwise)


So, now I am wondering:

- Do I need to replace the U-Joints? Is one bound up and aggravating the front diff?
- Is my front differential breathing its last breaths? Maybe a chipped tooth?
- Or (the big dread) is my transmission about to give up?


Any advice on my next course of action would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance...Mike

 

Found the problem....front differential pinion bearing is bad...thanks for the help