Disco Autobox questions

On or around Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:30:46 -0000, "Dom J" enlightened us thusly:

when you say "back end of gearbox", do you actually mean "gearbox"? Or do you means the back end of the transmission, i.e. transfer box? Gold colour sounds more like SAE80/90 from the T-box. Try and establish where it's leaking from, replacing the output seals will cost, not a lot, but it'll cost. ATF (in the gearbox) is invariably, IME, red or pink, not gold.

The ZF 4-speed is a real cracker of an auto box. I was very tempted to hunt one to replace my 5-speeder, but I've landed a half-decent LT77 plus T-box now, for a good price, so won't be. Had a ZF in the 110 before, though, which was a lovely thing.

Check the oil on the ATF dipstick (orange top, in the engine bay) it should be red or pink and clean and nice, and up to the level with the engine idling cold, and after having moved the selector slowly (pause for a second or so in each spot) through D-3-2-1-2-3-D and back to N.

if the transmission fluid looks brown, dirty, or smells "burnt", then either walk away or negotiate about a grand off the price. Auto TDis are not that common, but there are others and a failed 'box will cost bigtime - a good recon plus fitting can be a grand... If the oil's just slightly dirty/discouloured and smells OK (try smelling the power steering oil which is (should be) the same stuff, and doesn't get worked hard, for comparison), then it may just need changing, check service history - it should be changed at 24000 intervals, and the filter in the sump too - sump-off job, not too pricey in itself but the filter is about 25 notes.

Should have engaged brain before typing my origional post!!. Soon as I saw Austins reply I realised that i was looking at the transfer box...Doh!!.

Took the car for a quick test drive to day with the salesman. Seemed a bit hesitant to change up when cold (commen problem?), but once warmed up seemed ok. We swapped over and I drove back. The only thing which put me off was a whine coming from the back end when you lift your foot off the throttle. Best way i could describe it was like a knackered rear diff on a Transit van!. It wasn't loud but was enough to make me think again about buying the vehicle. Was this noise anything to worry about or am I just being too fussy?!.

Dom J

On or around Tue, 8 Feb 2005 20:51:34 -0000, "Dom J" enlightened us thusly:

LT230 T-boxes all seem to whine, unless they've got the Q gearset, which is quite recent ones.