Disco 2 Water getting into Gearbox

Forgot to put the wading plug in?

Gearbox like other items involved the the transmission of D1 and 2 are designed to be oil and water tight and have a breather no doubt the same as other LR products and their gearboxes etc.
But other vehicle manufacturers don’t have a breather fitted to their gearboxes or diffs, so don’t take any notice about ambient air temps.
The difference I suspect is that LRs are designed to go into deeper water therefore a greater cooling affect and instant fluctuations and hence the breather.
Back to how does the oil in the gearbox get mixed water... there’s possibly an iffy oil seal

discool said:

Gearbox like other items involved the the transmission of D1 and 2 are designed to be oil and water tight and have a breather no doubt the same as other LR products and their gearboxes etc.
But other vehicle manufacturers don’t have a breather fitted to their gearboxes or diffs, so don’t take any notice about ambient air temps.
The difference I suspect is that LRs are designed to go into deeper water therefore a greater cooling affect and instant fluctuations and hence the breather.

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they all have breathers of one form of another and lr oil seals are one way seals ie to keep oil in just like any vehicle,they arent water proof just resistant ,if box input shaft is turning with a bell housing full of water it will pull water past the seal

jamesmartin said:

they all have breathers of one form of another and lr oil seals are one way seals ie to keep oil in just like any vehicle,they arent water proof just resistant ,if boc input shaft is turning with a bell housing full of water it will pull water past the seal

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Never seen a breather on my manual car, but that’s 43 years old, I have to look in it’s part catalogue, it’s not of a great interest to me as I avoided puddles with the cars I own when i can, or any water in oil issues.

discool said:

Never seen a breather on my manual car, but that’s 43 years old, I have to look in it’s part catalogue, it’s not of a great interest to me as I avoided puddles with the cars I own when i can, or any water in oil issues.

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they have a breather just not an extended one,apart from that they are no better water resistant than any car

Umm, Thanks jamesmartin and discool.

jamesmartin said:

if box input shaft is turning with a bell housing full of water it will pull water past the seal

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I think this one makes sense. Maybe it was a bit deeper than thought, or as discool says, it could be a oil seal gone or maybe dried out. It was a secondhand box we put in that had been lying about for a while.... in a field I expect ..
Not sure where the wading plug is, but will look that one up as well....
I think the simple answer for now is... avoid water... cheers for the tips and replies...

jamesmartin said:

they have a breather just not an extended one,apart from that they are no better water resistant than any car

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Ok thanks, I’ve found that the rear axel has a vent, going by the parts book and looks as it it’s only around an inch or so high.

From memory. I think there are two wading plugs to be attached and one goes in the bell housing, if that one was not fitted then the thing that @jamesmartin said could happen probably happened.
I once completely killed the clutch on a low slung kit car based on Morris Marina running gear, (yep i know but the gear is heavily modified so it's much better!). I drove it around in a flooded village. The water was only about 5 inches deep but it got in the bell housing and £$%^ed the clutch! Did no harm to the gear box, whose breather is simply a kind of hole on the top. So suppose I was just lucky!

Thanks Stanleysteamer I would imagine that's more likely the problem. I cant recall or seeing the wading plugs being fitted or checked when the gearbox was put on.
Next time its on the ramps, I'll get my chap to have a look and see if there are any fitted. If not, I'll try and get hold of some to get them fitted.
Do you know if they are only plugged in when wading, or they normally acting as drain holes for normal use?

There will be only one drain plug hole and that’s at the bottom of the bell housing and accessible due , depending on the circumstances, the need to fit, if not fitted, a plug before off-reading/wading
Only vehicles with a clutch have this hole.
D1 tdi’s manuals also have a timing belt, therefore there is an additional drain at the bottom of the timing case, D1 + D2 V8 autos don’t have any holes, no belt or clutch.

I expect you know the purpose of the hole being left open, but it can be plugged with the periodical removal off the screw plug for checking.

pardon. I accidentally duplicated the post. I didn't find the option to delete it. disregard this please.