Forward Drive issue... WORRIED!

OK, so as of last week, I have got in the Rangie thinking one of the brakes is sticking badly (it has had almost every caliper replaced bar one!) as I put it into drive and it wouldn't pull away as normal, it needed a hell of a lot of revs, as if it were towing a 10 tonne trailer! Putting it into reverse however, it was completely fine... This has happened a few times now, however it is intermittent which is even more strange... Some days it does it, some days it is absolutely fine. I connected up the all comms and had quite a few transmission errors, so I cleared them and I plan to take it out for a drive today to see what errors come back, especially if the problem happens again, so I'll post them on here tonight. I've also noticed when I flick the switch for it to go into low box, it does nothing which is also a new problem - in the past it has been reluctant to change once or twice, but the low box light on the dash did flash up and you could hear the motor trying to engage low box, but then obviously the light went off since it couldn't - rolling the car forward a few feet usually sorted this and it would engage no problem. However now, there is no noise and no light, perhaps the two issues are related, perhaps not... I'll do some testing today to find out. '52 plate, 78k. Very little 'abuse' - could the gearbox really be needing a refurb?

Any initial thoughts?
Ollie

Sounds like the transfer box shift motor and/or the switch pack on the back of it is fecked....the mounting the switch pack is on is brittle plastic and fails....rendering the motor useless....

On RANGEROVERS.NET HOME and fullfatrr.com - Index a member was looking to manufacture in quantities a new casing for the switch pack and flog them on, but I am not sure how far he got with it as you cannot buy the pack seperatly, you have to fork out the £££ required for a new shift motor.

I am not saying that is your issue but it is fairly common...as is the motor seizing up through lack of use (similar to the P38 motor)...

As for the issue regards pulling away, I can only guess at the A Clutch slipping badly, and constant revving will make the vehicle creep forward and eventually make the box try and select all the other gears until it finds 5th and it bangs into that gear with quite a wallop and then you get some appreciable movement....this is because A clutch is used in all gears apart from 5th and reverse...

A common symptom of A clutch failure is lack of drive until 5th and reverse....but this is usually accompanied with a trans failsafe message.

Search the RANGEROVERS.NET HOME forums for posts by RRPhil (Bemble on here) as this is discussed regularly on there.

I would try to avoid driving it, as you could trash the whole box resulting in a rebuild whereas if it is just the A clutch things will be cheaper!

You're probably right about the shift motor - do you happen to know if it would flag up an error message that I could check with all comms? As for the clutch slipping, wouldn't that be a continuous issue, rather than intermittent? I'll have a look for RRPhil, he does seem like somewhat of a legend when it comes to gearbox repairs! Thanks Saint!

pumpkinboy1991 said:

You're probably right about the shift motor - do you happen to know if it would flag up an error message that I could check with all comms? As for the clutch slipping, wouldn't that be a continuous issue, rather than intermittent? I'll have a look for RRPhil, he does seem like somewhat of a legend when it comes to gearbox repairs! Thanks Saint!

Click to expand...

Not sure on the shift motor issue...maybe-maybe not, I know it has been discussed previously, but I don't know enough to comment further on symptoms and looged faults, I didn't read that far through it all...

As for the Box issue, 'A' clutch issues are more evident with a warm gearbox when the oil thins out as it gets warmer and the hydraulic pressures holding the clutch in reduces slightly causing it to slip....

Research RRPhil's posts...as you say he is a bit of a legend!

Have you checked the oil level and condition?

Datatek said:

Have you checked the oil level and condition?

Click to expand...

Good call +1

I took the car for a 30 minute drive tonight, it didn't have any issues whatsoever, gear changes were smooth etc. I did notice however when I got out there was a very slight smell of warm oil and I had a look under the car - didn't notice oil dripping or anything but the sump cover does look a little porous and is probably needing replaced. So perhaps there has been a slow leak - I will check the oil level before I drive it again. Does anyone have a link to the procedure? I remember there being a thread about it... somewhere! PS, I re-read the gearbox with all comms and not a single fault was thrown up.

pumpkinboy1991 said:

I took the car for a 30 minute drive tonight, it didn't have any issues whatsoever, gear changes were smooth etc. I did notice however when I got out there was a very slight smell of warm oil and I had a look under the car - didn't notice oil dripping or anything but the sump cover does look a little porous and is probably needing replaced. So perhaps there has been a slow leak - I will check the oil level before I drive it again. Does anyone have a link to the procedure? I remember there being a thread about it... somewhere! PS, I re-read the gearbox with all comms and not a single fault was thrown up.

Click to expand...

I did a how to in the How To section on fluid and filter change...I also did one for the replacement of the oil cooler...the fluid procedure is in there!

Petrol or doozle ?

Petrol Cheers Saint