Freelander 1 ATF fluid after 50,000 miles (133,000 total mileage)

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I'm not a fan of transmission additives as a rule. I generally consider them to be snake oil. However I know of many Discovery 3 owners using a product called Dr Tranny for TCC shudder which seems to work temporarily. I believe timely fluid changes are more beneficial to the transmission's well being however.
I have this funny 4th to 5th back to 4th before finally selecting 5th again. I've also noticed that while in 5th, the TCC is locked at the same time. This is very different to how my V6 box worked. In that, every gear was selected, the TCC only locking after a good few seconds in 4th or 5th.
I've not got round to a fluid change yet so things may change after that. I'd also like to reset the TCM adaptive memory but don't have the necessary FCR.
 
I bought another tcm unit off ebay and stuck it in the cupboard for a month. Then put that in. Took about a week for it to settle down.
I used the tiptronic control to 'teach it' when to change up, I let it change down itself. Worked a treat.
The weird thing was, before I started the oil changes the slip was 4th to 5th, now after 2 changes its 3rd to 4th???
Mike
 
Maybe you have a sticky solenoid valve? Don't forget that new fluid can cause dirt to relocate to a different location.

Most of the time mine works fine however I do get the odd random thump into gear. I suspect that a fluid change or two will sort that issue out. I don't know if leaving the TCM disconnected will reset the adaptive values back to base line settings. Normally this can only be done on a full featured FCR.
 
Obviously I don't know the background of the tcm I purchased. But when it was put in, it revved to 4000rpm before changing as if it didn't have any program.
Which is why I used the tiptronic to change up.
How long it would have taken to sort itself out? I don't know.
The only way I could find out is to put the original tcm back in and see if it changes like it did before it was taken out.
Mike
 
Skinny Mike said:
Obviously I don't know the background of the tcm I purchased. But when it was put in, it revved to 4000rpm before changing as if it didn't have any program.
Which is why I used the tiptronic to change up.
How long it would have taken to sort itself out? I don't know.
The only way I could find out is to put the original tcm back in and see if it changes like it did before it was taken out.
Mike
Click to expand...
Apparently disconnecting the TCM does rest the adaptive values.
See this thread. Second post down.
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/v6-gearbox-ecu.250709/page-2
 
Skinny Mike said:
Strange how the KV6 worked different to the td4. Same tcm and gearbox. Maybe the KV6 worked better due to the higher revs with it being a petrol.
Mike
Click to expand...
My TD4 definitely works differently to my previous V6. In the V6, every gear is sequential, the TCC only coming in on 4th and 5th and only after speed has remained constant of several seconds. My TD4 works the same way up to 4th including TCC if speed is constant but not high enough for 5th. When it does change to 5th, it often does its 4,5,4,5 thing but the TCC comes straight in, giving a hugh drop on RPM, almost to the point of labouring the engine. It's very odd. I can't even manually select 5th without TCC engagement too. I'm sure that's not correct and so is worth investigation.
 
Skinny Mike said:
I bought another tcm unit off ebay and stuck it in the cupboard for a month. Then put that in. Took about a week for it to settle down.
I used the tiptronic control to 'teach it' when to change up, I let it change down itself. Worked a treat.
The weird thing was, before I started the oil changes the slip was 4th to 5th, now after 2 changes its 3rd to 4th???
Mike
Click to expand...

I had this slip and changed to this millers oil , I also gave it a good thrashing , up and down hills, through lanes and making the box change gears as much as I could

did first use hippos ohms test results and were in range

after I done the oil change on the third occasion the slip went and changes were very smooth

belive there's another ATF oil called ravenol and is supposed to be designed specifically for the jatco

http://ravenol-shop.co.uk/epages/cc...-a96c-49cf-a1cd-10964cbd24e3/Products/2111191

have known a few people to have got good results , but not using this myself can't give a full 100% report

of course u and others know considerably more than me, just wished to pass on what I had with my box

hope u get on ok mate
 
[QUOTE="

belive there's another ATF oil called ravenol and is supposed to be designed specifically for the jatco

http://ravenol-shop.co.uk/epages/cc...-a96c-49cf-a1cd-10964cbd24e3/Products/2111191

have known a few people to have got good results , but not using this myself can't give a full 100% report

of course u and others know considerably more than me, just wished to pass on what I had with my box

hope u get on ok mate[/QUOTE]

I went for that one - what I liked was it was a) specifically for that gearbox. and b) much later spec than the old Land Rover oil - bit more pricey but a triple flush with a couple of hundred miles between each and my old girl at 127,000 miles - who had been sadly neglected for at least 25,000 miles before I got it - changes beautifully
 
Cheers guys will do another oil change and see if this improves the slip. If not I can always bung the lucas oil stuff in on a fourth change.
Should be doing the next change in about 3 weeks. Got a holiday booked in soon, so the freebie will have to wait til I get back.
Mike
 
Fixed it:)
And fixed the bad gear change. All came down to bad earth Connections. The give away was when my reader told me I had a bad oxygen sensor, which is fine except my car doesn't have one! So it had to be bad wiring.
Took the battery off and removed the tray to find a corroded earth point, and found the main earth point on the autobox. So cleaned the first then ran another earth from the main earth to a bracket on the other side of the engine.
The car immediately ran perfectly:D
So today I did the last ATF change and put the lucas oil stop slip in to see what happens. So far it's silky smooth.
But I'll give it a while and report back. See if it really is fixed, fingers crossed.
Mike
 
Skinny Mike said:
Fixed it:)
And fixed the bad gear change. All came down to bad earth Connections. The give away was when my reader told me I had a bad oxygen sensor, which is fine except my car doesn't have one! So it had to be bad wiring.
Took the battery off and removed the tray to find a corroded earth point, and found the main earth point on the autobox. So cleaned the first then ran another earth from the main earth to a bracket on the other side of the engine.
The car immediately ran perfectly:D
So today I did the last ATF change and put the lucas oil stop slip in to see what happens. So far it's silky smooth.
But I'll give it a while and report back. See if it really is fixed, fingers crossed.
Mike
Click to expand...

nice one mate , pleased u got it all sorted out
 
Had chance to drive around last night, stop start traffic and a few pick ups where the car was left to cool down a bit and a bit of motorway.
All worked fine. The Jatco box isn't the smoothest box to start with, but its now more than acceptable with just the odd slighty clunky gear change, but that's just me being picky. No slips, no banging into gear and no bouncing between gears when it can't make its mind up.
Only thing is, now the gearbox works, you can really tell the suspension bushes need replacing, and the drop links and the lower ball joints and I'll have to sort out the squeaky hard top, the list goes on!
At least now I know I don't have a huge gearbox repair bill looming over me:)
Mike
 
Skinny Mike said:
It does. And when I did the top up, the stuff that dribbled out was nearly red.
I was that happy I changed the engine oil and filter and had a cuppa. :)
Mike
Click to expand...
Mike - did you take the micro dog for a walk at the same time as the 'cuppa' :D

I might be a 'Cha' wow-a

Oops, I am seeing 'red' now - and yikes - :rolleyes: - so are you ......... :)
 
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