Have noticed a sound from the front of my '03 Disco, only when coming to a dead stop or perhaps less than 5 mph while breaking. The sound itself sounds rather "tin like" as if one were tapping on a pie tin, only and probably the best I can explain it as. Any thoughts very welcome. Vehicle otherwise is running like a champ thank God.

 

Any noise should be cause to investigate front drive shaft if not upgraded from oem style. No grease fittings on double end allow it to snap and beat hole in transmission. It can make a chirp before this happens. May be un-related to your issue, which sounds more like brake pads.

 

So, how mechanical are you? Before you post a question like this, it is always good to do a search on your own to rule out possibilitys, like brake pads and front drive shaft. Have you replaced the front shaft yet? Have you ever verified if your shaft has 1 grease fitting on each of the 3 front u-joints?

 

I am mechanically inclined but strangled by time due to my Profession, however, it appears that the sound does not occur while accelerating at any speed, in fact I have not heard a peep while accelerating, the shifting through all gesrs "feels" smooth, and thus I am assuming something on the breaking aspect of driving as being the root, also noting that the breaking doesn't feel to be as good as it should be (compared to my GL450) . So I am curious if anyone else experienced these "symptoms" I described prior to finding out what the issue is. I did peek underneath and saw nothing peculiar. My money is not on the front driveshaft but again I'm novice. I would assume a D2 w 119k on it would have been through that problem by now? Hope I'm correct. I'm not driving it in any event as I am bringing it to the shop on Monday.

 

No, many drive with the shaft until failure. Or a new shaft is installed, and one from the dealer will be just like the old, no grease fittings. So problem repeats, baked out by heat from CATS. When shaft comes apart at speed the end of it flails around. Typically new D2 owners find out about this potential problem and put it high on their to-do list.

Brakes can be upgraded as in pads and rotors. Many do use aftermarket.

Pix of what happens with the front shaft, it can easily take out the tranny.

Also pix of the oem heat gauge, which is happy to display 50% from about 130 - 240F. So owners don't know they are starting to overheat until too late. A scanner shows real temps, and a 180F thermostat is available to bring temps down to reasonable. If going with that buy a real Land Rover one it won't come from a dealer, as it fits the diesels, and is not on their parts list in US. Places like Rovers North have them.

Putting in a cooler thermostat was the first thing I did when a 93 300 CE Cabrio became my daily driver.

 

Don't rule out hub. I've had them show wobble and noise only at low and braking speeds, when going south. Easy to rule out, jack it up check for wobble. Good luck