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A friend of mine was recently out off roading, using his new £5k Landrover Defender 90 for the first time. To our amusement, it got stuck in a kind of swampy pond thing. But in the process of flailing about and trying to wriggle free, his clutch stopped working.
Once we'd stopped laughing and towed it back to the workshop, it turns out there is a hole in the bottom of the bell housing, which you are apparently supposed to plug before off roading. Needless to say, he hadn't, and his clutch filled up with mud to the point that it was basically stuck open, hence loss of drive!
Nobody seems to know why the hole is there, there's one in the bottom of the timing belt cover as well. The best answer I've heard is that when the seals at the ends of the crank inevitably fail, the resulting oil leak will drain out of these holes, alerting the owner to the problem and preventing the bell housing/timing belt cover from filling up with oil!
Anyway, I thought I'd check that there isn't something similar on the Surf which we should be doing before hitting the mud. Other than the common sense precautions, like checking rubbers, greasing nipples, vaseline in electrical connectors, etc. I know the ECU can be moved higher but I don't have a snorkel yet and really don't want to be going deep enough to get wet inside the vehicle.
Thanks in advance
Once we'd stopped laughing and towed it back to the workshop, it turns out there is a hole in the bottom of the bell housing, which you are apparently supposed to plug before off roading. Needless to say, he hadn't, and his clutch filled up with mud to the point that it was basically stuck open, hence loss of drive!
Nobody seems to know why the hole is there, there's one in the bottom of the timing belt cover as well. The best answer I've heard is that when the seals at the ends of the crank inevitably fail, the resulting oil leak will drain out of these holes, alerting the owner to the problem and preventing the bell housing/timing belt cover from filling up with oil!
Anyway, I thought I'd check that there isn't something similar on the Surf which we should be doing before hitting the mud. Other than the common sense precautions, like checking rubbers, greasing nipples, vaseline in electrical connectors, etc. I know the ECU can be moved higher but I don't have a snorkel yet and really don't want to be going deep enough to get wet inside the vehicle.
Thanks in advance
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