Disco 300tdi automatic drive lost suddenly

Hi again newish to LR 's and fully enjoying the green lanes with the family so far , we decided to buy an automatic disco as my wife has only one arm so thought she could use it aswell to help justify the cost of the toy

Any way whilst driving the discovery the other day ,it just revved out and stopped ,no hard driving just normal 35-40 ish ,i didnt notice any noise as the cd player was going at the time.

The car starts and ticks over , i can select any gear and nothing ,no change in noise at all not even slightly, diff lock hi-lo same nothing ,no movement of the prop shafts ,no movement of the speedo
No noise coming from the box at all ,the engine revs freely as if its in neutral
the gearbox oil is near max mark and is a nice clean pink colour

its a 1994 L reg with 140k 300tdi standard discovery ,i have used the search function and read quite a few similar issues but all have diff symptoms to mine like ,they work in diff lock ,or have dirty brown oil ,or the props turn ,or horrible noises .
Ive phoned ashcrofts ,the lady said "complete new box required" what do you guys think ? i would appreciate any suggestions that you might have .

Ok bit of progress today , removed covers off tranfer box

the shaft you can see through the round plate does not turn when in any gear whilst engine running ,the large square plate removed ,all gearsd look in good condition .

removed the starter and the torque converter moves round when you turn the engine over buy spanner on bottom pully

The selector on the side of the box clicks nicely throughout the full travel of the gear selector , Im thinking box out now i thought the auto boxes were pretty tough ?

anyone got one forsale locally ?

where are you?

perhaps an experienced disco owner is near to you and could have a quick look,

Are you really sure the hi/lo is engaged properly?

Im in sedgley in dudley west midlands , yes the hi /lo is engaging nicely (removed interior gearbox cover ,drilling rivets out) it moves nice but its seized for diff lock (moving over to the left) i have manally selected it via the lever with the removal of the wimpy but of 5mil thick wire

Today i drained the oil , dropped the sump off and removed the filter ,the oil wasnt as nice as the dip stick suggested ,it was a tad reddish brown but more red,and a bit wiffy ,the filter had a coating of grey muck over it ,so i will fit a new filter and new oil just in case the pressure is being restricted by a clogged filter thus leaving the box stuck in neutral ? or am i living in dream land with the unicorns ?

I doubt changing the oil & filter will fix it.

Have you checked that the gear change cable is moving the lever on the box ?

I suspect it may be a box off job if its not the cable.

hifly said:

I doubt changing the oil & filter will fix it.

Have you checked that the gear change cable is moving the lever on the box ?

I suspect it may be a box off job if its not the cable.

Click to expand...

Nah the cable is spot on ,moves to the correct positions

maybe torque converter is bust? ,i dont mind buying a complete box ,just finding one

In my experience torque converts don't just go bust without first giving you a few signs they're on their way out (eg. an occasional shuddering during driving and some chatter at torque converter lockup. )
Anyway with the design of the torque converter the blades in either the stator or rotor would literally have to disintegrate to the point where fluid cannot be whipped up before drive is lost totally as is in your case.
Going forward, I would suggest you check if the teeth on the output gear from the gearbox haven't been worn down, effectively ensuring that drive does not reach the transfer box. A precursor to this particular fault is clunking when the shifter is moved from neutral to either drive or reverse.
Secondly, as has been said before, please ensure that the transfer box selector lever has not actually selected neutral. That had me tearing my hair out for hours once.
Normally when the forward A clutch packs fail on these boxes, it is still able to engage reverse, so this makes me think it is not necessarily an issue with the box having failed. Thirdly, you're going to have to check to know if the flex-plate has not broken away at the center. If yours is like one of the models which has an actual flywheel with the flex-plate bolted on a boss to the crank, then it would still be possible to start the engine with the starter engaging the teeth on the flywheel but no power being transmitted to the flex-plate on account of it having broken out at the center.
All the best, I hope you get it sorted soon and keep us updated.

Thanks for the advice so far

Today i tried the oil /filter change on the box ,i have manually selected all the gears using the levers on the sides of the box , still no drive at all

i have removed the complete gearbox from the car (heavy job single handed )

the torque converter is still attached to the fly wheel i haven't found anything out of the ordinary yet ! as it started to get dark before i could inspect /remove the torque converter .

I am however covered in oil ,grease and dirt with the odd flake of rust in my ears and eyes .

happy days

ya its a bit of a pig on your own, been there, done it.

a word of warning when refitting, make sure the TC is fitted to the gearbox correctly and held in place while fitting as if done wrong you will bust the pump in the gearbox and it will all have to come off again and have the pump fixed.

Festerer said:

Thanks for the advice so far

Today i tried the oil /filter change on the box ,i have manually selected all the gears using the levers on the sides of the box , still no drive at all

i have removed the complete gearbox from the car (heavy job single handed )

the torque converter is still attached to the fly wheel i haven't found anything out of the ordinary yet ! as it started to get dark before i could inspect /remove the torque converter .

I am however covered in oil ,grease and dirt with the odd flake of rust in my ears and eyes .
happy days

Click to expand...

you took off the transmission all by yourself???
Please tell me you got one of those transmission hoists helping you out there.
Anyway, if you haven't already removed the transfer box, I suggest you you take it off at this stage to check if there's any teeth left on the output shaft.
And as has been said, please drop the torque converter into box making sure its seated firmly home within the pump before offering up the box to the engine.
Please keep us updated.

I had the day off today ,other than a quick look at the torque converter , the oil inside seems gritty to the touch , i dont think thats a good sign !

Ill update tomorrow hopefully with picks .

The transfer box is still attached so i will split that off aswell to check the splines and make it possible for me to re fit it in stages due to the weight and darn gravity

So i removed the TC and the inner (deepest smaller) gear is smooth all teeth worn off !
The gearbox splines look perfect ,although the tabs where the TC drives the pump look like they are worn /damaged look 50% narrower than they should

Do you think i need to replace the pump and TC

ifloochies said:

you took off the transmission all by yourself???

Click to expand...

i did mine on my own, used an engine host through the drivers window.

not an easy job but doable.

Festerer said:

So i removed the TC and the inner (deepest smaller) gear is smooth all teeth worn off !
The gearbox splines look perfect ,although the tabs where the TC drives the pump look like they are worn /damaged look 50% narrower than they should

Do you think i need to replace the pump and TC

Click to expand...

In my opinion you're safer replacing the box and torque converter.
The remains of those lost teeth have been pumped throughout your gearbox and may may be lodged in places where they shouldn't be. The main reason why the box uses a lubricant that is designed with detergents that work to ensure that its clean all the time is because the close tolerances applied in the internal workings of the box require surgical cleanliness to do what they have to do.
As it is now, you would have to take it as though your someone tipped a handful of fine sand or iron filings into your box the last few miles you drove.
With a new TC in place, it will only be a matter of time until the box itself starts acting up with its own issues as a result of that contamination.

Considering the sort of damage you described, it appears there's an issue of misalignment somewhere. You would have to check for excessive play at the drive end of the crank, or if there are any apparent issues with the flex-plate that could have allowed excessive side to side movement of the TC.

PS. You forgot to attach the pics

ifloochies said:

In my opinion you're safer replacing the box and torque converter.
The remains of those lost teeth have been pumped throughout your gearbox and may may be lodged in places where they shouldn't be. The main reason why the box uses a lubricant that is designed with detergents that work to ensure that its clean all the time is because the close tolerances applied in the internal workings of the box require surgical cleanliness to do what they have to do.
As it is now, you would have to take it as though your someone tipped a handful of fine sand or iron filings into your box the last few miles you drove.
With a new TC in place, it will only be a matter of time until the box itself starts acting up with its own issues as a result of that contamination.

Considering the sort of damage you described, it appears there's an issue of misalignment somewhere. You would have to check for excessive play at the drive end of the crank, or if there are any apparent issues with the flex-plate that could have allowed excessive side to side movement of the TC.

PS. You forgot to attach the pics

Click to expand...

Hehe im still working on how to attach pics ,im in full agreement regards the contamination ,as the oil does feel gritty between my finger and thumb .

But a small twist of fate today , i asked about a good second hand gearbox at a local breakers ,who replied yes i have just had a disco auto in which drives great ,its an mot failure car with three areas of welding required

So i popped over and asked how much is the box and tc were and He said £450 for the whole thing

Yay the pic worked (well i can see it)

So do i remove the box and tc for mine ,or mot /tax this one

It drives lovely ,the boot floor need 2 small 3 inch patches , and nearside rear arch seatbelt area excessive corrosion , no other fail points ,advisory on an oil leak , looks to be a pipe going to a black thing lhs of the head its split

Engine sounds sweet 150k Paper work in glove box for a rebuilt engine at 125k and seems to smoke a little more than mine tho ,bit of a blue tinge .hmmm

I have some thinking to do

If you think you can shell out for this other vehicle and manage the repairs, then by all means my good sir, go ahead and get it. From the little that's shown in the picture, the vehicle seems to be in good nick.
You would then have a vehicle that can be repaired and made road legal in a matter of days/weeks and another parts vehicle in your old car.
Congrats on sorting out how to attach photos.
It would be nice if you could now attach some more photos of the new car and your old one for comparison.
Cheers.

Potential other car ( i have puchased it for £450 )

Very nice!!!!