L322 Strange Automatic fault

Hi folks,
A friend of mine has a 2003 L322 3.0td HSE auto with 103K on the clock and a full service history, and it has this strange fault, when the car has been left standing overnight when started and put into drive it will not pull away it revs freely up to about 3000 rpm and the vehicle doesn't move then after a couple of minutes it will pull away like the auto box is slipping for about 50 yards and then it performs flawlessly and can be driven all day long up hill and down dale without missing a beat, the fault only occurs after it's been standing overnight there are no fault codes and no warning lights have ever come on, I said I would ask if anyone on the forum has had this issue. Thanks in advance for your replies.

Check gearbox fluid level, condition and filter and report back.

Hi thanks for your prompt reply, my mate has owned it for about 6 months and it started to do it after about a month, the independent specialist who sold it to him said "they all do that" my mate then paid him to change the filters and fluid about 8 weeks ago and it was alright for about a month but now it's started doing it again, fluid level ok and no leaks.

The TD6 is fitted with the GM5 gearbox and is a notorious fail item on the car.....they tend to eat themselves...reason is the valve block is made from soft aluminium (read - cheap crap) the valves inside wear the valve bores away causing loss of hydraulic pressure to the drive clutches.

All this wear of the valve block dumps metal shavings into the fluid turning the fluid into fine sand paper!!

This in turn wears the Torque Convertor Lock Up Clutch material away rapidly dumping more crap into the oil....this also wears the drive clutch packs friction material...and the thing is a perpetual cycle of doom!

Hence why I said take a look at the condition of the oil and filter as this will go some way to tell you the condition of the whole box.

It is not a case of 'if' the gearbox will let go, but 'when'....yes all the TD6 L322's with the GM5 box will suffer gearbox failure, but with a rebuilt box fitted with a Sonnex (spelling) valve block, that is the only cure.

I'd recheck the oil level and condition.....also check in the gearbox sump for metal fragments indicating the box is eating itself......usual life is 80-100k miles for the GM box.

Do a gooooooooogle search for a guy called RRPhil, he is more of a ZF guru but has done a strip down of the GM5 box...makes interesting reading.

EDIT: Limky..... http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/6-...22/34259-gm-5l40-e-transmission-teardown.html