HELP!!! Disco2 with Auto Trans Leak after towing another Disco!!!

I just used my disco2 and towed another disco about 3 miles with a tow rope. The disabled disco was in "Neutral" all the way. After the tow I noticed a trail of Transmission fluid leading to and under the disco2 (the working one). I drove the 3 miles doing about 5-10 mph and it was a relativly flat road with no stopping during the trip.

My guess is that the automatic transmission was "overworked" and leaked??? What is the towing capacity of a Disco2??? If this gave me a problem I guess the towing package is just for looks...

I drove the Disco2 the next day and everything seems ok. No slipage, gear shifts ok.

What happened here??? Did I spring a leak??? Am I looking for trouble???

I also looked for a "transmission fluid" dipstick, none to be found in the engine compartment, nothing in the manual to sugest where it would be. I guess it might be one of those get under the disco2 and unscrew some fill plug to check level!!!

Thanks for your help...

Reply to
DKH
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The towing capacity is 3.5 tonnes IIRC. A lot less than what you towed.

Was the Disco you were towing an auto or manual? The reason I ask is, with the auto P38a you're not supposed to tow it without putting it in transfer box neutral (which you do with a fuse), and I assume the Disco is the same. I'm not sure what the implications are of not doing this, it may be unimportant or unconnected, but then again it may not.

But hopefully now somebody else will come along and answer your question.

Reply to
David French

DOH! Of course I meant the capacity is a lot *more* than what you towed...

Oops.

Reply to
David French

The disco I was towing was a 1996 Discovery SE7 it had an auto that was in "Neutral" but the H/L Box was in "high".

The disco2 the was doing the towing was in "D" and the H/L Box was in "high".

I could push the disabled disco with one person behind it, there was not too much drag or anything stopping me from pushing it by hand. But there was no way I could not push it 3 miles by hand.

TIA

Reply to
DKH

On or around Wed, 12 May 2004 11:12:50 GMT, "DKH" enlightened us thusly:

3 miles at low speed ain't likely to cause a problem. I've an idea the book says 20 miles and 20 mph as maxima for towing a dead-engine vehicle. The reason for this is that the gearbox doesn't get any lubrication when the engine's not running.

However, if you put the transfer box in neutral, then the gearbox doesn't turn and doesn't need lubrication.

to return to your original point about fluid loss from the towing vehicle... what gear were you using?

Running at that speed, you'd need to be in low range and gear position 2, or even 1, I'd think, or you'd be slipping the converter all the time, which, combined with the low airspeed, would result in overheating the gearbox fluid.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

I think your correct, The Disco doing the work was in "D" and "H" for the 3 mile trip. We were doing no more than 5-10 mph...

Thus if I did overheat the fuild and some it leaked out. Where would it come out of??? A seal??? A overfill valve???

How would I know if I damaged the tranny???

How can I check if it is not empty since I have no dipstick for the trans. Why would they not put a dipstick so one can check and add fuild as needed. without the need of getting the thing up in the air and getting under it.

It does seem to drive fine the next day...

Reply to
DKH

Erm....on the D1 the dipstick is in the engine bay...near the bulkhead. I can;t image they have done away with it on the D2!!! It has an orange top....

Nelly

Reply to
Neil Brownlee

Yes the D1 is orange and by the Bulkhead/Firewall

Yes they got rid of it on the D2!!!

Reply to
DKH

On or around Wed, 12 May 2004 19:36:22 GMT, "DKH" enlightened us thusly:

it's got to have some method for checking the fluid.

if you're really bothered, get the fluid changed. it may have gotten "cooked".

you're supposed to change the auto box fluid every 24K miles anyway... not that many people do.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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