[Alaska-RRC]

Hey my name's Chris from Anchorage Alaska,
this is my first post here,

I have an 89 Range Rover Classic, (with OME lift & 10.5k winch.)
It had been running fine lately, until last night on my way home from work,

I was driving on some snowy back roads, and was romping on the gas a little to see how good the traction was..
having some fun sliding around corners and what not.
Then I made the mistake of shifting the auto transmission down into 1st, I wasn't going that fast at the time, but I think I reved it up too high in first gear.

was going to try poping it through the 1" 2" 3" just for the hell of it.. that's where things went bad.
It stayed in stuck in first.
I could move the shifter lever back and forth through the all the gears, but the transmission was staying in first,
could drive forward in first gear, and that was all.

So I pulled over into a parking lot and shut it down to look things over..
Now I can not get the rover to start because it's in gear.
i've had it towed home, and i'm trying to deciede what to do.


I checked the shift linkage. it's still attached and appears to be working., the arm moves back and forth when I move the shift lever.

I did notice today while moving the shift lever back & forth through the gears it feels stiffer, tougher to move than usual.
also tougher then right after I first had the problem.

I took the shifter housing cover off and looked inside, didn't see any obstructions.


So, do you think I need a new transmission?
I didn't hear any terrible noises when it happened.


Is there any way I can get the Rover to Start in Gear?
so I can at least try to troubleshoot before buying a new transmission.


I read that this could be caused by the governor sticking?
is there any way to get it to un-stick? :?

 

[rufant]

G'day Chris,

with the correct workshop manual/wiring diagram for your vehicle you should be able to find the inhibitor switch for the transmission (the bit that stops it starting in gear) and bypass that so you can get it going again. I'm not auto trans expert but it sounds like something has gone south inside the box. I would get it to an auto trans expert for a proper dianosis, possibly the linkage has broken inside the box. You could pull off anything you can pull off (like the sump) and see if you can see anything obvious, past that i would probably bump it off to the pro's.

 

[Alaska-RRC]

Hello Rufant, thanks for your reply.
I just had a look through the rave manual,
Then I went out and Fixed it myself!, 8)

Was busy with over a foot and a half of fresh snow in the past couple days,
but finally had a chance to look at the rover.
after burrowing under there I noticed two things..


1). The Shift Linkage Cable had slipped out of the bracket, and was just sliding back & forth when I moved the shifter.

2). The bolt had fallen out of the neutral safty switch, so it wasn't attached to the frame & was just floating there on the cable

- When it first broke down I hadn't noticed this, since it was dark and about 5deg. outside, my feet were wet, and I was really pissed.. :x
I checked & saw that the cable was moving, but didn't notice that it wasn't moving far enough.

It was an easy fix,..a lil tough to reach the bracket.
just had to losen one 13mm bolt, spread the bracket with a flathead screw driver,
push the cable back in and clamp it down.

I found a bolt for the neutral safety switch in my RX-7 parts bin, and I was good to go!

 

[Alaska-RRC]

This fix solved two other minor annoyances.

For as long as i've had the rover, it would never go into park.
and I could only start it in neutral.

I previously thought the parking pawl was broken,
but now that i've adjusted the cable it goes all the way into park,
and will start in park as well.

 

[rufant]

Glad it was an easy fix.

RRC and RX7's, fuel must be cheap up your way... :wink: