Our Disco finally came into its own last August in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, but sure enough the transfer case got flushed of oil wading through the high waters. My old university pal who is now a quite-high-up at JLR who helped design the Discos back in the day warned me about this and he was right. Only this month did I finally get around to refilling the transfer case which I drained of all the oily water - not watery oil - out of it last September. I've drained and refilled the transmission (replacing the filter when I did), both differentials and the transfer case. The later using the tip from someone here to remove the switch from the side of the case and fill through that rather than trying to get the proper fill plug out the back. Thank you indeed to whoever suggested that.

Anyway. Now when I try to drive the thing, I'm getting a nasty scraping noise coming from somewhere around the transfer case or parking brake drum. It only happens when I'm actually moving, so I'm hoping its just a sticky parking brake rather than a knackered transfer case.

Anyone experienced similar and / or have any tips other than drive the thing and see what goes bang first?

Thanks.

 

Without taking things apart, it's hard to say. Wouldn't be too hard to check the parking brake and eliminate that. If you have grinding noises, there will be crap in the oil on that transfercase.

 

I'm inclined to agree that filing half a pound of iron filings in the transfer case oil would be a bad thing, just hoping for any suggestions before the socket set and drain pan comes out again..... No idea how to back off the parking brake without serious wrenching either....

 

Have you pulled on the parking brake while moving slowly to see how it affects the sound. Maybe tell you if problem is brake or transfer case

 

Well another thing is loosen the drain plug slightly, and hand thread it out. Let some oil out. Check condition. And x2 on apply parking brake and observe.

 

You can put a 15mm IIRC wrench on the backside of the e-brake drum and loosen the brake shoes. Keep loosening it until the e-brake drum doesn't work anymore... then go for a short, safe test drive.

It's also pretty darn easy to the drop the rear driveshaft at the e-brake end, and take off the drum to inspect the inside.

FYI the transfer case is only turning when the wheels are turning. So revving it in park will not eliminate the possibility of a transfer case issue