Wading plugs - Yes/no

[Snooky]

Been out playing this afternoon in the rather flooded roads of Hampshire and thought about the wading plugs that are in my cubby box and never fitted.
So do you fit them?
Do you just leave them in?
Just fit for off road events?

Or don't know what they are  

[iomlr]

i was always under the impression to fit them when u know u will be wading alot!

[Snooky]

That's my impression, but always seem to forget when going to P&P days  :D

So just wondering what the general opinion of them was

[iomlr]

i left the plug in my td for about 5 years (totally forgot about it) and had no problem

[V8MoneyPit]

i left the plug in my td for about 5 years (totally forgot about it) and had no problem

You must either have one of the rare leak free Land Rovers or you haven't got any engine or gearbox oil in it  :lol:

[extreme90]

i leave mine in all the whilst, i just remove after being in deep deep water to let anything thats got in. out, especialy the timing chest one  :shock:
then every month i remove the timing chest regardless of offroading or not, to make sure theres no unwanted stuff in there  :roll:

[leo]

i leave mine in all the time and keep a good check on them ,ive not yet come across anything inside that needs to come out .

[extreme90]

im still trying find where the water gets into my bellhousing from  :shock:
its rtv's on mating face and the starter and slave cyl are both rtv'd aswel
but it still gets in  :roll:
o copper sealing washer on the plug aswel  :shock:

[unknownmanxman]

But dont do what i did and leave them in... Cos my crankshaft oil seal started leaking and filled up my timing cover.... Knackered my cambelt..

[extreme90]

ditto same happend to me  :oops:
i was in wales 10 mile along a rocky beach,
wheres all that oil coming from whilst putting a waffle down  :roll:
look underneath....s***  :shock:

[Litch]

If you get weter in your bellhousing and it causes the friction plate to rust to the flywheel you will know about it. Most times you can free it off easily enough but once I had to remove the gearbox and separate the two manually. Also you won't be doing your release bearing any favours if it gets a regular dunking.
Ok, the above scenarios only apply of water is getting well into the bell-housing and playing in puddles doesn't count but the plugs are there and should be used.

[davidlandy]

I leave mine in but take them out regualr to check , and just after goin in the deep stuff.  

took the timing case one out after a days playing and approx cup full of water came out!

[extreme90]

normaly mine r bone dry even timing chest
its only when im stuck in water at windscreen height for 5 mins when it gets into the bell housing  :roll:

dave, next time you change your cam belt, change the oil/dust seal on the timing chest as thats were it gets in from, everyone forgets about that seal, i replace mine everytime the covers off for inspection, and all the other seals aswel
i have no luck so if i leave it, 10 miles down the road, it leaks  :roll:

[disco-v8]

ok ive never realy thought about stoping water getting in everwhere!!!

so is it a realy bad thing that i dont have wading plugs????

cant realy stop it getting into my bell housing on mine as there is a small rectangle shape hole in it

or is it different on manuals / autos?????

and different on V8's and TDI's

[AbyssDJ]

dont think we've got any in... looked at em a few times but thought "nah sod it"....... aint broke yet?





YET!

[iianorthants]

if you go to and old clay-pits etc  (like tixover) without the plugs every time you go through the water/sand splashes you have a small chance of getting that in timing case  :shock:  the stuff eats bearing alive, a rubber belt or a timing chain an't going to last long

[smo]

I've always had TD5's so not needed them :p

[DogVanMan]

I asked Ray's advice at Rockingham Landrovers some  time ago. He's been playing with them and fixing them for donkey's years.

He said he's happy to drive through water without them, recently drove over half a mile along a river in Africa without stopping to put plugs in, but he would if he was going to be stationary in deep water for any time.

What does come across though, both from Ray and from what you guys are saying, is that if you do fit them for a play day, you MUST either remove them afterwards or check them regularly.

Horses for courses. Personally I leave them out day to day but fit them for a day at Tixover.

Graeme

[simonred90]

i dont bother on the grounds of if they are in it WILL leak and let [!Expletive Deleted!]/water/grit in. seals always do. that way it iwill stay in and wear your timing belt etc or mainshaft/release bearing etc. leave them out and anything that goes in will come out. that way no damage caused an as a bonus you'll know if a seal fails.

[Saffy]

Leave mine in on both Series Engine (1 plug) and defender 300tdi (2 plugs). I remove them at beginning of monthly fluid/grease level service and check that nothing has dribbled out at the end when I go to replace them.

I make the choice of leaving them in and regular checking for internal seal failure/oil build up out of laziness and forgetfulness - I know I will forget/cant be bothered to put them in when I take a greenlane short cut. I run the risk that a very bad crank seal failure will go unnoticed between my monthly checks or that there is a lack of ventilation causing a detrimental moisture build-up. On other hand, crank seals usually fail slowly, a dribble of oil being caught by the plug will give a good fair warning that I will need to replace seal in couple of (read 6) months. Such small dribble build up would go unnoticed with plug removed most of time.

I would not give bad advice and say do not bother fitting them - the hole and plugs are there to be used by design.

I have seen a timing belt case slowly fill up with sand and clay when the owner didn't use plugs, what gets forced into hole during offroad doesn't easily come out on its own. Sticking a jet wash in will only drive particles deeper into places where they have no place to be.

[diggerdog36]

i left the plug in my td for about 5 years (totally forgot about it) and had no problem

You must either have one of the rare leak free Land Rovers or you haven't got any engine or gearbox oil in it  :lol:

What difference would the wading plugs have on oil leaks??

Just that my transfer box has sprung 100 leaks over night!!

[clbarclay]

I just put them in before pay and plays or greenlanes and take them out afterwards. I do have the advantage of only having one wading plug mind, V8 and VM don't have cam belts.

One firends clutch siezed after leaving them in and ingored for a year and another that didn't use them eneded up stuck in a nasty mud hole, his engine struggled and stopped running after a short while. One the way home I sugested checking the dipstick :-({|= . The advantage though is that having destroyed a TD internaly he replaced it with TDi.