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Discovery 1 - Fault found!
Daddylonglegs - 20/12/13 at 08:45 PM

After much hoo-har and noise, the Disco finally got pushed into the garage to investigate the strange noise she had followed by a few days later the starter spinning but not the engine

Spent a couple of days under the truck giving my shoulders a workout and moved gearbox back/engine forward to discover ('scuse the pun) this...

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For the non-Disco types out there, the 8 small holes connect to the crank and the outer edge connects to the torque converter in the auto gearbox. As you can imagine, she ain't going nowhere in that state!

New part ordered and then the fun of re-building begins. What else is the Christmas break for?

MikeR - 20/12/13 at 10:34 PM

bit of weld and it will be fine ......

(thats not a serious suggestion).

is it a common fault? seems a strange failure.

Daddylonglegs - 20/12/13 at 10:37 PM

Yep! More common than you would think. £90 posted for a replacement from Ashcroft transmissions, much cheaper than a fresh engine if a broken crank had been the fault

Just the pain of the rebuild now

snapper - 21/12/13 at 08:06 AM

Ah yes near Xmas car breakdowns
I did front brakes and tyres last week, this week rear brakes and ordering drive shafts, hub bearings and centre drive shaft rebuild on a Mondeo

MikeRJ - 21/12/13 at 09:19 AM

It does seem to be a relatively common problem on Disco's compared to most automatic cars in general. I wonder if the input shaft to the gearbox isn't well aligned to the crank so the flex plate has to continuously err..flex?

Daddylonglegs - 21/12/13 at 10:52 AM

To be honest, the way this thing has gone, it looks more like it just ain't man enough to take the torque over a long period of time. The 300Tdi is a bit of a torquey beast and it does seem far more common that you would expect from such an agricultural 4x4

chrism - 21/12/13 at 12:46 PM

Could it be something in the auto transmission not releasing correctly when stopping so the engine torque fights against the stopped gearbox with the flexplate being the weakpoint.

MikeRJ - 21/12/13 at 01:54 PM

Unlikely to simply be caused by excessive torque, though that would exacerbate things. The way it has fractured in a circle right around the end of the crank suggests it's been flexing, since this would be the point of maximum stress. Check that the dowels between engine and bellhousing are present!

Daddylonglegs - 23/12/13 at 09:23 AM

Thanks for that Mike. Yes, the dowels are present but the end of the shaft on the TC looks marked a fair bit, so I'm wondering if someone has wellied it putting it back together at some point i the past? All seemed very free when I split the box and engine and the TC turns nice so I'll have to see what she is like once back together.

Checked the distance from TC to bell housing face and that is in-spec so at least I know the TC won't wreck the oil pump when I fit it all back together (I hope! )

britishtrident - 23/12/13 at 10:08 AM

quote:
Originally posted by chrism
Could it be something in the auto transmission not releasing correctly when stopping so the engine torque fights against the stopped gearbox with the flexplate being the weakpoint.


That's not the way conventional automatics work, the torque convertor never actually releases drive it just stalls (slips) when the car is stopped against the brakes, release the handbrake and without apllying throttle on a level surface the car should creep forward at about 2mph

britishtrident - 23/12/13 at 10:12 AM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
Unlikely to simply be caused by excessive torque, though that would exacerbate things. The way it has fractured in a circle right around the end of the crank suggests it's been flexing, since this would be the point of maximum stress. Check that the dowels between engine and bellhousing are present!


I would agree. fatigue fracture due to flexing these plates are not exactly stiff, on other vechiles I have seen a few of these plates that are distorted. and a few where the torque converter retaining bolts repeatedly work loose.

Daddylonglegs - 23/12/13 at 01:25 PM

One thing I did notice was that there were 2 bolts missing from the bell housing when I stripped it all down. Probably from previous work I guess, unless they vibrated loose? They were both on the upper offside of the housing (not the one which is a b***h to remove, I got that one OK )

Not sure if that would be enough to allow movement?

Daddylonglegs - 6/1/14 at 10:53 PM

Well, she finally runs. After 9 months off the road, the truck started within a few seconds and runs lovely!

Just got to sort out replacing the sill body mounts now ready for the MOT

Wheels244 - 6/1/14 at 11:14 PM

http://www.yrmlandrover.com/epages/BT3575.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3575/Products/041/SubProducts/041-0001

I've used their stuff loads of times - really good quality and reasonable prices.

HTHs

Rob

Daddylonglegs - 7/1/14 at 03:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Wheels244
http://www.yrmlandrover.com/epages/BT3575.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3575/Products/041/SubProducts/041-0001

I've used their stuff loads of times - really good quality and reasonable prices.

HTHs

Rob


Thanks Rob.

I was recommended a chap on eBay (frog12113) by someone on the LR4x4 forum. He reckoned they were OK too so I ordered 2 mounts and 2 sets of rubbers etc. Just need to get the old bu**ers off now!