Squadie away, wife stuck in surrey with broken Discovery.

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JordanTD5

Active Member
Hi guys, I know International Rescue is normally reserved for stuck/stranded members but I really need some help from the community here.

I am away on a 5/6 month tour in Afghanistan and the clutch has decided to go on the Discovery leaving the wife and kids stuck at her parents in surrey.

Copied from the Discovery forum:

Alright guys, really need some help.

As some know I'm in the army as an aircraft engineer. I'm currently on tour in Afghanistan until June and my wife back home has just let me know that the clutch has gone on the Discovery :doh:

She said it went suddenly on friday when driving from Ipswich, Suffolk to Dorking, Surrey when pulling away from the toll booths at the Dartford Bridge (of all the places to get stuck!! :eek:).

After some 3,500 mile fault diagnosis over the phone I came to the conclusion that the clutch itself is fine as it can be started in gear and driven around by my brother by rev matching.

In my opinion the fault therefore lies in actuation of the release bearing.

On inspection yesterday the bottom of the master cylinder was wet with fluid so my brother replaced it but it did not fix the fault.

Today a local mechanic (partner of one of my wifes friends) has had a look and says he thinks it feels like the push rod on the slave has broke through the clutch fork much like THIS THREAD and that its gearbox off to fix.

His diagnosis fits with the symptoms, but from what I have read/seen the Disco 2 has a much stronger solid fork as apposed to the folded plate one on the TDi engined Land Rovers and should be less likely to fail in the same way. I'm unsure whether he knows what he's talking about or whether he's jumping to conclusions based on past experiences with the weaker fork.

This is SO frustrating as I always do all work myself on our cars. I hate giving any money to garages for work I can easily do myself; especially splashing out on the removal of a gearbox. It seems on this occasion with me being away I have no choice :(.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen the D2 fork fail the same way as the D1 item does?
2. If the slave cylinder is removed. Is the hole in the bell housing large enough to ascertain serviceability of the fork before removing the box?
3. Any other ideas?

It would be a massive help if any members on here live local and could give a second opinion, lend a hand with repairs or know a good/fair garage near Dorking that will help out.

Obviously tea, coffee and bacon butties etc... would be provide for anyone that comes to the rescue :)
 
Am no good with td5's so wouldn't know where to start.
I can only recommend Keith gott land rovers outside Alton, Hants. if you can wait for a 2 week ish booking time.
Sorry I can't help any more.
 
I can't do anything tonight and I don't know about d2's or td5s

There is a good garage near me, not a specialist 4x4 one but they are good. Quite far from dorking for a car that won't move tho. Sorry I can't be more help. I can PM the garage details if they are wanted it's in hurstpierpoint so quite a bit south

Ed
 
Cheers for the responses guys.

Does anyone local have a borescope or video probe that could be used to check inside the bell housing if the slave cylinder is removed?

Like i said. From the info I have the Disco can be limped without the clutch to a garage with a bit of rev matching provided there isn't too much stop/start. The only problem being that our AA recovery has been used to get from Dartford to the inlaws so AFAIK they won't come out again for the same fault (not without extra charges anyway).
 
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Hi,
Sorry I can't help out with this one. I'm heading of to a hotel tonight for an early start at work tomorrow in gloucester. There is a place called inside out 4x4 in Dorking. I've never tried them. They are in Capel just south of Dorking. They're open 8:30 tomorrow.
 
Just a thought... Jordan do you or yer missus have a 'premium' bank account as in one you pay a fee for (usually about 15 quid a month) - you might have breakdown cover on that, that you could tap.

We bank with Natwest and the cover is with Green Flag. Might be worth checking?!?
 
I'm Dorking as well but I don't have tools or the knowledge to do anything like that at the moment. Sorry I can't help but I can suggest Keith gott land rovers in hants
 
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