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2004 Range Rover HSE not engaging drive

11K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  03rangiemark 
#1 ·
Hello,

When I select Drive the indicator lights show it has been selected but it does not engage. Sometimes after a few times it will engage. Recently a local mechanic changed the inhibitor switch and it worked for a few weeks and has occured again. This time I left it in drive for approximately 1 minute and then it engaged. When it engages it drives as it should.

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated, thanks.
 
#4 ·
The mechanic is now thinking it may be an internal issue with the transmission. He says the fluid was black and dirty so that may be something but is concerned the new lighter fluid may make the transmission slip. The odd thing is it goes into reverse perfectly but sometimes does not go into drive. I did have a vibration issue at about 40 mph where it seemed the transmission was trying to decide to shift or not.
 
#5 ·
If any of the clutches slip when they aren’t supposed to the transmission controller will immediately recognise this via the input and output speed sensors and flag the TRANS FAILSAFE PROG message, locking the transmission in 4[SUP]th[/SUP] gear (A & B clutches engaged). Did your mechanic use the correct fluid? The vibration issue could be the torque converter lock-up clutch. Does the engagement delay on the A clutch only happen when the transmission is cold, hot, or both? If you rev the engine slightly while you’re waiting for Drive to engage does this make any difference?

Phil
 
#6 ·
It has gone into trans failsafe in the past but not often. They have not changed it yet so if you tell me the right fluid I will make sure they use it. The engagement delay does seem to happen when it is first used or has sat for a while. When it has happened we have stopped using it and taken it to the shop therefore not 100% that it only happens when cold. We did not want to get stranded so when it happened we stopped using it. I did not want to rev the engine when it was not engaging thinking that it may damage the transmission if it engaged under revs. When it most recently happened, I tried putting the selector into drive quite a few times, turned off the engine and restarted and it still did not engage. I finally left it in Drive for approximately a minute and then it engaged. I took it straight to the shop and when there it engaged drive every time we tried so it might be the case that when warm it works. Again, thanks very much for your time and advise.

Brian
 
#7 ·
There is an excellent thread about changing the trans fluid in a BMW era MkIII. Look for it, and the fluid type.
 
#9 ·
The correct fluid for your 5HP24 transmission is one of the following :

1. Mobil ATF LT71141
2. ZF Lifeguard Fluid 5
3. Pentosin ATF1

Use whichever is most readily available/cheapest in your part of the world.



It’s very important that your mechanic follows the correct procedure to ensure that the fluid level is set correctly i.e.
· The engine must be running while the final fluid level is being set
· The fluid temperature should be 40°C
· Each gear position should be selected in turn at the shift lever and held there for a few seconds before returning to the Park position just before the final fluid level is set



The reason I asked about the sensitivity of your forward gear engagement to fluid temperature is to try to ascertain if you have an internal leak which is preventing the A clutch from engaging. Leakage will be worse when the transmission is hot. For example, the upper valve block on earlier models was known to develop a crack in the F-brake circuit between the SV-1 & KV-F valves, which caused the pressure in the A-clutch circuit to drop in 1[SUP]st[/SUP] gear, effectively dropping the transmission into neutral.





If the engine revs are increased then the additional flow from the oil pump exceeds the leakage and the A-clutch then engages.

However, you seem to be saying that the problem doesn’t just occur when your transmission is hot so this seems unlikely to be your issue. I’d still ask him to look at the selector cable adjustment, just to be sure.

Phil

P.S. all of the above assumes that your Range Rover is a 4.4 V8 with the BMW M62 engine
 
#10 ·
Question about Point 4: does that imply road wheels should be spinning? ie: manually selecting each gear ratio? And what is the most efficient way to achieve Point 3 without access to a Testbook?
 
#11 ·
I've yet to see anyone change it at exactly those temperatures.
If it's on 4 jack stands, then allowing some spin is fine. Although selecting the gear is the main thing, not really letting the wheels spin around.

Martin
 
#14 ·
Good for you. Cleaned the filter though??
Either way, good news.

Martin
 
#15 ·
My transmission has begun to do the same thing. Only when first starting up after sitting idle at least over night. Doesn't do it every time, and engages fine after restarting. It does seem to have a noticeable "clunk", but not too harsh, when I put it in Drive from Park when this happens. Just enough to know that it's not going to move when I lift off the brake pedal.
It's only been about 5k miles since I last changed tranny fluid, filter, cooler, radiator... with Filtran filter and Pentosin ATF fluid, Behr radiator &cooler. The battery is pretty young. Didn't see any real amount of debris in the tranny pan magnets when I pulled. Changing the fluid won't help here.
Trans fluid/filter changes at about 80k miles, then again at about 160k miles. Filtran filter & correct fluid both times.
I do notice that wen I read the trans coolant temp with my RSW All Comms app, the temp reads 37 degrees C from the start, without even starting the vehicle from cold (outside ambient air about 24C) so I think the trans temp sensor is a bit off.
Any ideas?
Phil?
Help?
 
#17 ·
I do not know what the allcomms reads to develop the trans temp but the temp sensor in the trans can be tested at the ecu box (engine off, key off iirc) You have to remove I of the connectors to the trans ecu to probe the temp sensor pins. RRphil posted pics on how to test the resistance of the sensor (without crawling under the car) and I used the info to verify that my trans temp sensor was basically spot on. Rrphil also posted a graph that shows the sensor resistance at various temperatures. So 1500 ohms might be a tranny temp of 35 celcius. It is not hard to do as I did it with an ohm meter and used a laser thermometer for checking oil temp in the trans. Our trans lasted to about 120k miles so yours has done very well. Ours seems to have had a very slight resonance in the 30-40 mph range and not sure if it was due to the typical failure of the thrust bearing in the trans (which ours had)
 
#18 ·
BG Distributor has a comparable fluid for the ZF5hp24 transmission I have been using it with no problems. My son uses it in his BMW repair shop with good results. Cleaning the filter is not acceptable replace only with OEM filter if it doesn't have made in Germany on the back of it don't use it. Have seen problems with non OEM aftermarket filters allowing pump to starve for fluid.
 
#19 ·
Thanks Steve, but I've only used LR/VW/Audi or Pentosin trans fluid, the OEM fluid, and only the Filtran OEM filters. Never tried to clean and reuse a filter. Never plant to.

I was hoping RRPhil might have some insight into what causes an occasional non-engagement of the transmission with no fault codes thrown anywhere.
 
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