[Agent 14]

I dont use 4wd Low much, but i know it worked fine until the other day. Popped it in low and it worked fine, but when i tired to get it back in high i get the dreaded "Select Neutral" and it just flashes on the shifter. I know the motor is mostly working because sometimes when i attempt a shift into high it will get stuck halfway. Wont select any gear and will grind if i put it in park on either side.


Once i shift back to low, i wait a second and i hear it clunk into gear, then it drives fine in Low.


I dont need the low range right now but i need my truck. Ive searched all over for some info and this i what ive got.


1. Neutral switch could be bad. Which i hear is buried in the dash. Skip.
2. Motor terminals could be dirty...but i dont see any exposed terminals. Just those two sensor wires.
3. Motor itself could be bad. Possible.


Temp fix is to pull the motor and crank it back by hand (tools). Most people say this isnt hard and its only two bolts to get the motor out, but i see three bolts and they are NOT easy to get to. There is this big round thing in the way. What is that thing?


Im no stranger to working on vehicles but i am currently without a lift. Any tricks here? I just need to get her back in 4wd High until I get more time to diagnose this.

 

[piprover]

The only comment I can make is to make sure its in neutral. Sometimes I can move the shifter across the H but it hasn't gone into neutral. I have to go back and shift again making sure it goes into neutral before moving across the H

Dave

 

[Richard_G]

Make sure the dash display is showing N when you try to change ranges. If it isn't showing anything or is showing something different to the position of the shift lever, then the XYZ switch on the side of the gearbox is faulty (there is no neutral switch, it is detected by the XYZ switch).

 

[Reinhoud]

Is the neutral of your auto really neutral? Or has it still a bit of drive in it?

My Discovery has this problem, and I can't shift high/low without putting it in reverse..

 

[Agent 14]

Ok, it ALWAYS says Select Neutral on the dash. Sometimes it will indicate HIGH or LOW when i switch, but not always. And, even when it DOES indicate HIGH...it doesnt switch into high. It feels like the motor is going halfway because NON of the HJIGH side drive selections work. When i switch back to LOW, i wait a second, hear a clunk, then the low side works fine.

When it in that halfway point, if i put it in park, the parking tooth will grind.

 

[Agent 14]

Where is the XYZ switch? I only see a sensor on the bottom of the transfer case with two wires....and the motor with a bundle of wires.

Am i looking in the wrong place?

 

[Richard_G]

XYZ switch is on the side of the gearbox, where the gear change cable attaches. It should NEVER say select neutral as you shouldn't be able to move the lever across the gate unless it is in neutral anyway. Do you get a display on the dash showing what gear you are in, do the lights next to the gear shift lever correspond with the position the lever is in?

 

[Agent 14]

The lights do correspond to both gear box and gear, but they remain flashing regardless. Even when its in 4wd Lo...the orange lights still flash. It wont move in 4wd High.

 

[Richard_G]

Sounds like the range change motor has stuck. What should happen is this. You move the gear lever to N, N shows on the dash and the N light next to the gear lever lights. You move the lever across the gate, the indicator lamp (orange picture of two gears) on the dash flashes, the gear position lights next to the the lever flash and the dash beeper will beep in time with the flashing lights. If everything is working as it should, you will get 3 or 4 beeps and flashes (no more) then you will hear the clunk as the motor changes the range in the transfer box. The dash will then show Low or High depending on which way you are changing. Exactly the same happens when you go from low to high and high to low.

 

[Escape]

The big round thing that limits access is the handbrake drum. ;-)
You can still get to the bolt, easiest is with a ratchet spanner (size 8 IIRC, could be 10 as well). There's 4 of them, 3 on the motor gearbox and 1 near the connector.
It sounds like the internal mechanism is stuck. You'll probably be able to move it by hand once you remove the motor. But do put the motor back (once you get it to shift to high), if not there's a good chance it will slip out of high while driving, not fun!

Filip

 

[Agent 14]

Ok excellent, so its CAN be removed without removing the brake drum. Awesome. Ill report back with my results.

Do you know if i need to crank it CW or CCW by chance?

 

[Agent 14]

Ok, motor removed and i was able to switch it back into 4WD High. The motor wasnt turning so i disassembled it and realigned everything. Im still not going to try it, but i had to adjust the gear to fit into the newly rotated pin.

This has NOT fixed the "SELECT NEUTRAL" issue though. The dash still flashes (but not beeping). It is driving in 4wd HIGH now but it doesnt seem to be shifting at the same points. Am i just going nuts? Is there anything with that neutral switch that limits the transmission shifts somehow? Like a limp mode?
Also, since its flashing, i lose the sport mode. Since that changes shift points, i was wondering if these sound related.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Escape]

Good to hear you're up and running again.
The transmission shifts differently in low or high. So if the controller thinks the car is in low, it will feel off driving in high. Did you put the connector back on the motor? The position switches are in the motor gearbox, the controller is probably remembering the last recorded value so it needs to see the new position to update.

Filip

 

[Agent 14]

I DID reconnect everything. I assume the switches are in the BLUE part of the motor? The part where all the wires go into? Man...trying to realign that part is not going to be fun. it just spins freely when removed.

 

[Richard_G]

It has gone into limp mode. If it detects a fault when stationary, it only uses third gear, if detected when moving it only uses fourth but it will still feel like it is changing gear when the torque converter clutch locks up. In limp mode kickdown and the Sport button don't work. However, in limp mode you would normally get a Gearbox Fault message on the dash, not Select Neutral so it does sound like it is the range change motor that needs calibrating.

 

[95classiclwb]

since you know what to do, I would suggest shifting again. you have nothing to loose and a lot to gain, it may work normal again.

 

[Agent 14]

Are we talking about the Fuse 37 Calibration method? Im not sure that will work since i dont think the motor is working well. I tried shifting it into 4low and high as suggested. Shifted into 4low no problem. Did not go back into high. Went right to neutral. It does go back into 4 low though.

 

[Agent 14]

Seems the Fuse37 thing is only for the next model. Any tricks for the p38?

 

[Agent 14]

New symptom!

When i run through the gear in 4wd High, the dash shows "N" when in neutral...but goes back to "SELECT NEUTRAL" once i put it into ANY other gear. The gear shift lights flash always.

This tells me the neutral switch is probably fine, and the encoder is off alignment (based off another thread). Any way to get that motor back in alignment enough to pull it out of limp mode? I dont care about 4wd Low for now. I just need to get her back on the road.

 

[Richard_G]

Gear shift lights should only flash when you are moving the gear shift across the gate to select low ratio. The N display comes from the XYZ switch but there is another switch (the Neutral switch) under the shift lever to tell the ECU you have moved the shift lever across the gate. It sounds like that is permanently engaged so it thinks you are trying to change range when you are actually engaging a gear. You can confirm this by getting to the 6 way white connector (C615A) under the centre console and trying to select gears with it unplugged. If you lose the Select Neutral warning then the switch is permanently grounded making it think you are moving the lever across the gate. By the sound of it, this is one of two problems, the other being a range change motor that needs replacement.