L322 Gearbox reluctant to change.

Land Ho! said:

Update:
Still haven't fixed it.

The other day i replaced the gearbox oil cooler thermostat and the housing for it along with the alternator belt. Didn't make a blind bit of difference.

Yesterday i replaced the sensor on the radiator (£20) because apparently they can still mess up and not show up on the computer. Great. Makes you wonder what else could be doing the same!
Anyway it didn't fix it. Although it did something though. The car lasted a little longer than usuall before playing up. When it did mess up, i put it into manual mode and it changed gear fine!! It had never done that before! Usually when the gearbox messes up, manual mode has no effect or control. So i continued to drive it and for some reason, manual and auto drive was working again? But only for another 20 minutes. Making my total drive time 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Going back in time a little bit....I decided to buy one of those lazer thermometers which arrived this morning. I wanted to check the gearbox for myself to see if it was actually overheating.....

Drove the car for 20 minutes or so to allow it get up to normal driving temperature and stuck the lazer on the sump of the gearbox. It was flicking between 102 and 106 degrees celcius. Lets just say it was 104 degrees for arguments sake.
I then drove it untill the problem occured which takes on average just under 1 hour. The problem came up so i jumped out to take a temperature reading.........it was now saying 135 degrees celcius!!

So i drove it home (about a mile) and checked the temp again. It had dropped down to about 120 for some reason. So i took her straight out again and she drove fine for 20 minutes! I thought it was sorted! But it wasn't An improvement yes but hardly fixed.

So my gearbox is actually overheating. So what does this mean? I always thought that something else was giving an ECU a dodgy reading. Apparently not?

A quick summary of things i have replaced:

New electric thermostat. (for the engine)
New radiator.
Oil cooler flushed but not replaced as told it was ok by 2 different "specialists."
New gearbox.
New Cat converter and 2 new O2 sensors. (Apparently now the other cat is on the blink)
New gearbox thermostat and thermostat housing.
New radiator sensor.
New alternator belt.

So, what the hell is making it overheat?? It doesnt overheat on the motorway. Only urban driving for 1 hour causes it to overheat.

I will get the oil cooler and oil cooler pipes replaced next just to rule them out but after that, i am all out of ideas.

Surely i can't be the only person this has happened to?
I am literally at the end of my teather now. It's starting to effect my mental health and social life. I work 15 hours a day on the stock markets so i have plenty of stress as it is. I really am close to tears now. People are even saying to me that my car is turning me into a diferent person. People keep telling me to sell it but i can't. I couldn't do that to someone else. I would hate for someone else to go through what i am. Im not an arsehole like the guy who sold it to me was. It's my problem and i want to fix it.

2 gearbox spealists say they have no idea. 2 Indies say they have no idea and now even Land Rover are saying they have no idea and that im on my own!

Im begging for anyone to come forward who has had the same problem and share your results. It seems that lots of people on here have had the same problem but they never reply to let others know what fixed it!!!!!!!!!! Bloody annoying!!!!!

HELP HELP HELP!!!!!

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Land Ho! said:

Hello Datatec. Thanks for your reply.

I used to have a small coolant leak but i fixed that months ago with a new rad. It's had the cooling system flushed 2 or 3 times in the 9 months i've owned it. It has anti-freeze in as well.
Both the top hose and bottom hoses are fine.
I used the lazer thermometer on other parts of the engine to rule out anything else that might be overheating.
The exspansion tank stayed the same temp.....the top and bottom hose stayed the same temp....the rad stayed the same temp....the engine stayed the same temp as did the oil cooler, which stayed at around 100 degrees celcius. No evidence of anything other than the gearbox overheating.

And yes the oil cooler bolts onto the bottom of the rad. No fans for the oil cooler. It's a water to oil system or something like that.

May i ask what makes you metion the brakes binding? I ask because my front disks and pads are way past it. And the brake fluid is dirty. Im getting it booked in very soon to have them done.

Saying that, the brakes (i think) were fine when my gearbox first started playing up which was last June.

And what is a VCU?

Cheers mate.

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Land Ho! said:

Hello Datatec. Thanks for your reply.

I used to have a small coolant leak but i fixed that months ago with a new rad. It's had the cooling system flushed 2 or 3 times in the 9 months i've owned it. It has anti-freeze in as well.
Both the top hose and bottom hoses are fine.
I used the lazer thermometer on other parts of the engine to rule out anything else that might be overheating.
The exspansion tank stayed the same temp.....the top and bottom hose stayed the same temp....the rad stayed the same temp....the engine stayed the same temp as did the oil cooler, which stayed at around 100 degrees celcius. No evidence of anything other than the gearbox overheating.

And yes the oil cooler bolts onto the bottom of the rad. No fans for the oil cooler. It's a water to oil system or something like that.

May i ask what makes you metion the brakes binding? I ask because my front disks and pads are way past it. And the brake fluid is dirty. Im getting it booked in very soon to have them done.

Saying that, the brakes (i think) were fine when my gearbox first started playing up which was last June.

And what is a VCU?

Cheers mate.

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Datatek said:

I said I know nowt about the L322, apparently it has no VCU so forget that.
If the oil cooler temperature does not rise with the gearbox temperature going up, that might suggest restricted flow. Are there any flexible sections to the cooler pipes that may have de-laminated inside? Any sign of the pipes being damaged or dented? Have you checked the flow rate through the oil cooler? If the gearbox temperature rises, the temperature at the cooler inlet should be close to the same temperature. If it's not the flow must be restricted. You mentioned I think a thermostat? Could it be failing to open fully?

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Land Ho! said:

No worries about the VCU mate lol.

And i said the thermostats had been replaced so all ok there.

As for the oil cooler, it was flushed when the guy replaced the gearbox and was told it was fine. I think one of the indies flushed it as well and said it was ok.

However, the oil cooler pipes are showing signs of "weaping." They are not "dripping" but where they attach to the oil cooler, there is clear "dampness."

I have mentioned this earlier somehwere in this thread and i have also mentioned this to every "professional" who has looked at my car. Not that they needed telling as it's easy to see if your looking at the cooler.

I am not a mechanic so i can only go by what others tell me. Landrover have suggested i replace the cooler and pipes but only because they know i have repalced everything else and will not say wether or not it will fix it. More of a case of "just replace it to be safe anyway" rather than "this is your problem. Replace it."

As mentioned before, i will get the cooler and pipes done ASAP. If that fixes it, i will be happy but at the same time extremely ****ed off because every person i have taken my car to i have always said the same thing........................."i don't think the gearbox is the problem. (gear changes are perfect everytime. No clunking etc) I think something is making the gearbox mess up."

So saying that, i would expect all of them to then work their way back from the gearbox to all it's components that are related to the box. I.e the cooler, pipes, rad, thermostats etc etc etc. Wouldn't you?

I will try and take a picture of the pipes so you can all see how clear it is that there is a slight loss in fluid and not a perfect seal.

But again, none of these pros told me to replace it.

I will update again when the cooler and pipes are done. The cooler is only about £140 and the 2 pipes are £55 and £100. Should only be 1 hours labour so it's not too expensive.

But that will only add more salt to the wound if that proves to be what was wrong all this time!

Oh and what was that about the brakes mate? Whats the rellevance? Cheers.

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Datatek said:

Just because the stat has been replaced does not mean it is OK. Lots of duff stats about. Brake discs will show signs of blueing if the brakes are binding.
I think you have diagnosed the problem when you found the cooler at an appreciably lower temperature than the box. It's just a question of finding out why.

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Bemble said:

Regarding the ‘transmission overheat’ message – the radiator replacement clearly hasn’t fixed the problem. You now need to look at the fluid cooler and its feed & return lines.

Regarding the metal filings in the fluid – most likely the axial thrust bearing between the B & C clutch hubs has failed (very common in the 5HP24) or possibly the torque converter lock-up clutch has gone through its lining. This transmission is a piece of cake to repair and you really should have a go yourself.

Once the transmission is out, if you grab the input shaft it should have 0.2-0.4mm end float. If the endfloat is more like 2mm then the bearing mentioned above has definitely failed. I’ve replaced around a dozen of these in the past year. You’re then good for another 100,000 miles.

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fanatic said:

Torque converter lock up clutch fail and kill gearboxes there are uprated Kevlar versions to stop known issue.

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shandonman said:

I have just read this thread for the first time and am a bit confused. We had a similar problem whilst towing with our L322 where the car would hold on to gears ( usually 3rd ) and not change even when under no load or using the manual mode. We thought this would be solved when the gearbox was rebuilt along with a new torque convertor and radiator. Although the gearboxes other problems were all fixed, it still occasionally holds on to gear but only when towing ( presumably its working harder and getting too hot ). What is confusing me though is I was told the oil cooler is part of the radiator and cant be flushed properly hence a new one. Is there another oil cooler also ? The specialist is recommending replacing the transfer box motor which has never worked but £800 + labour ! He reckons it could be connected to the problem but after seeing this LR bulletin I want to ensure there isint another part of the cooling system needing looked at first.

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