Yup, Dexron 3 for transfer case and auto gearbox but ordinary 75W-90 gear oil in the diffs. When I pulled the transfer case off and then put it back on again, I only read the bit in RAVE on how to remove it, I didn't bother reading the how to refit it. I mean, it's just the reverse of the above surely (and there's an awful lot of bits they tell you to remove or disconnect that you don't need to do)? It is but the first sentence in the refit instructions, is to always change the gearbox output shaft seal if the transfer case has been removed. So on that occasion it was ATF leaking out of the gearbox and not the transfer case.
The transfer box was off and on the bench in under 3 hours and that included a lot of swearing at bolts that didn't want to come undone. I reckon it will go back on in not much over an hour. It was just the fight that a couple of bearings took to remove (or more to the point, the big circlips that hold them in) and getting the thing back together that took most of the time today.
Didn't get too cold but didn't get it finished so it's still on the ramp with the transfer case on the bench. Old chain must be at least an inch longer than the new one so not surprising it could be made to skip. Front output shaft bearing had slack in it as well as being noisy and rear output shaft oil seal was slowly filling the parking brake drum with ATF. So a good job I bought the seal and bearing kit as well as the chain. Following the instructions in the overhaul manual, having changed the chain, bearings and seals, it came to putting it back together. Would it go together? Would it hell. One thing I couldn't understand was that when putting the interlock spool back in, it says to put it in low ratio even though it had been in high when taken apart. Looking at the way the cogs line up, this actually made sense. But the cover wouldn't go on. We must have taken it on and off at least 6 times trying to work out what was stopping it about 15mm short of going on fully home. Finally twigged it. All the pictures in the manual show the transfer case with no range change motor fitted. As the motor was in high and the mechanism in low, the two didn't line up and was stopping the two halves of the casing going together. Pull the motor off and the casing slotted back in. Then rotate the drive to put it back into high and refit the motor.
At this point, we'd spent so much time with the thing in bits on the bench, we decided to call it a day and finish it off tomorrow. Should be pretty straightforward not having to do battle with bolts that haven't been undone for many years.
Might become a collectors item one day purely for rarity reasons. The do seem a bit of an oddball, nice paintwork, red piped seats and red carpets but lacking many options. No headlamp wash/wipe along with the other things Sloth mentioned.
If it sounds like a fan, it probably is a fan. Pull the centre console switch panel, take it out and give it a proper clean.
I've changed one on my own with the car on the ground in the past, took a whole weekend. Mate who is giving me a hand has a 94 Classic which needed the viscous changing and we used the lift when doing that. It may be heavy but with two people and the car up in the air, it only took about 3 hours to remove the T case, change the VC and put it all back together. So, with any luck, we should be able to get mine done before it gets dark.....
Got thermal long johns, thermal socks, a thick pair of jeans, tee shirt, sweat shirt, overalls (laying in the passenger footwell so the heater will be blowing on them on the way over), old jacket (also in the passenger footwell) and 3 pairs of gloves. Got a woolly hat somewhere but I'm buggered if I can find it although I have a feeling it might be in the boot of the car already.
I've been able to make the chain skip a tooth if I floored it from standstill for a while now (only to be expected after 410,000 I suppose) but as I may have to tow a dead 1978 Rolls Royce for about 300 miles next week, figured I ought to do it before then. As it's coming out I bought a set of bearings and seals to go in while it's apart and on the bench (or floor, I can't remember if the barn has a bench in it or not).
Today I've pulled the EAS valve block off and given it a set of new O rings. Wasn't that urgent but it was beginning to drop slightly overnight so figured I'd do it. As it was -1C this morning, took the car out for a 10 mile or so run to get everything nice and warm, then pulled the valve block out so I could take it into the house and do the job in the warm. By the time I'd finished it and went outside to refit it, the temperature was up to a nice (?) +4 degrees C.
Weather is forecast to be the same tomorrow so I'll be getting a bit chilly. Arranged the use of a 4 post lift belonging to a mate's brother in law to make dropping the transfer case and giving it a new chain, bearings and seals. Only problem is that the lift is in a barn with a huge opening at one end so not even a chance of being able to put a heater in there. We're working on the principle that by the time I've driven over there (30 odd miles), everything will be nice and warm so we'll only start to freeze when putting it back......
If you jack the front of the car up on the crossmember just in front of the bottom of the radiator, leaving the wheels sitting on the ground, the gap between the sump and the top of the axle opens up enough to drop the sump.
I fitted a Bearmach a couple of years or so ago, no leaks on that.
Not long after I'd put the Ascot back together, I got the book pop up with distribution motor stalled error. I found the same as you, a bit stiff at one end of the travel. I sprayed the spindle, or at least where I could get to it, with silicone spray and worked it back and forth a few times and it freed off. Got to be worth a try even if it's only a temporary fix. There was also a fix on the other side where stiff distribution flaps were loosened off by putting a self tapper in the joint where the two sides of the heater box join to spread them apart very slightly.
Looks right to me. 12V on 14 (or 4) and ground on 20 should cause the message centre lamps to light up, while 12V on 6 and ground on 7 or 17 should do the same with the rest of the illumination. Don't forget that the gauge lights are dimmable which might cause you a problem if changing for LEDs (although I know Marty has done it so maybe not).
Looks to me like the rears just use Speednuts while the fronts have a Speednut at the top and one of the square nylon insert things the are used in various different places.
The distribution motor drives two flaps and when I first got the Ascot it was doing the same as yours. When I investigated, it looks like someone had been in there before me and one of the gears, driven by the quadrant, wasn't connected.
It was the one at the top which had been pulled out slightly so wasn't being moved by the quadrant. With the motor removed, I checked the movement from one end of the travel to the other and pushed it back in so it mated with the teeth on the quadrant. Whether someone had done it or if it had moved on the spindle I wouldn't like to say.
Assuming RHD you can get to it easily enough by removing the instrument cluster surround and unbolting the cluster itself. You can sit the cluster back in the hole but not put the screws in and you can then switch everything on and watch it operating before screwing it all back together. Don't try switching it on with the cluster disconnected.
Probably, but I did buy boxes of 24 of each.
Had a run to Screwfix for a couple of boxes of AA and AAA batteries. Dina is putting the Christmas decorations up and all of the LED lights needed new batteries. I know, there's almost 3 weeks to go before Christmas but she insisted......
No, the V8 P38 and TD5 Disco use ESR2935 (supersedes to PCF101410) and has an extra spigot at the front used for the throttle body heater on the V8 (no idea what the TD5 uses it for). Correct one for the P38 diesel is ESR2936 which supersedes to PCF101420. See https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/expansion-tank-25td-britpart-esr2936-pcf101420-p-2741.html (yes I know it's Britpart but it's the first listing I came to with a proper description).
Any airlocks will have disappeared and made their way to the header tank after 2 or 3 starts and a bit of a run, so if it always does it, it's either blowing excess out the overflow or you've got a leak.
That's not battery drain, that's a battery complaining about the cold!
It's only relevant to very early diesel versions. For some reason the BeCM didn't sleep and the mod ensured that it would. Won't have any affect on yours at all.
I degreased with thinners then sprayed mine with Hycote Bumper Black while the trims were off and the rest of the car was in for a respray. WD40 restores the black for a few days, as does oil. Silicone grease lasts a bit longer but not by much.