'95 - autobox issues - no/intermitent engagement

Picked up my car today . Drove about 7 miles to my gfs house. had lunch. then drove up the road, quick stop at a shop and had a little play with the seized H/L lever then we drove back to hers, on the way I noticed a funny squealing noise at lights but it went, quick stop at hers then drove home. On the drive home, i noticed the revs were all over the place and eventually lost all drive completely after. 17 miles without much of a stop.

Pulled over in a lay-by and noticed the squeal was back and paniced. Turned engine off open bonnet to have alook. noticed nothing so started up again, selected "D" and put my foot down to go and it didnt leave 1st and then lost all drive again. Played around like this for a while and a pattern developed that suggests when it cools down its fine, it gets hot then goes off again. It made no (or not big enough to notice) difference which gear (1,2,3, R or D) i choose but it always found park. And it would squeal just before it went.

Anyway, deceided not to risk damaging it so called the RAC man and he came to get me. At this point there was no sign of leakages just the odd bit of water but nothing worrying. We drove her on the flatbed and towed her home. once home, there was a small patch of a sludgy oil on his bed from around the auto box area. I think thats everything. The car is now on my drive with the front up on ramps. Ive crawled under and cant see anything massivley obvious.

What shall I check next ? The fact that it drove perfectly when i test drove it and for the 1st 20 miles and works fine when its cooled down abit is making me thing an oil top-up and/or oil + panel change should fix it or something simple like that? What do you experts think?

Just checked my transmission level dip stick. The car is up on ramps but reversed up a hill so its near flat but the front is still slightly higher than the back. With the engine running, nearly cold, and autobox in "N" the oil is below the 1st hole ?

1- is this correct or incorrect? Where should it be?

2- how do i re-fill it and roughly how much using the dipstick? I have 1/2 litre of Dexron IID here and gallons of it at work.

3- wheres it gone?

When you say you had a play with the seized H/L lever do you mean you tried to select low range? If so it could be the HI/LO motor has seized and maybe cooked the transfer box ECU. This can cause all manner of problems. You hand book will give you the details of topping up your auto box. The auto box oils and filter should be changed every 30K miles.

That sounds expensive - How do i start fault finding down that route ?

Yer I tried to select low. Gave a decent firm push on the H/L knob and it moved about 1/3 way between H > N and wouldnt go any further. It now moves freely (ish) that 1/3 or the way

And i dont have a handbook. What will happen if i just tip it down the dipstick tube ? seems easier than messing about with fill screws and pumps etc? Will be doing a proper filter + oil change soon but its going to get its LPG fully checked over before i spend too much on her

bigwilly said:

That sounds expensive - How do i start fault finding down that route ?

Yer I tried to select low. Gave a decent firm push on the H/L knob and it moved about 1/3 way between H > N and wouldnt go any further. It now moves freely (ish) that 1/3 or the way

And i dont have a handbook. What will happen if i just tip it down the dipstick tube ? seems easier than messing about with fill screws and pumps etc? Will be doing a proper filter + oil change soon but its going to get its LPG fully checked over before i spend too much on her

Click to expand...

The dipstick is the correct place for filling the box.
Download RAVE That will give you all the info you need.
The transfer box ECU is under the passenger seat, have a sniff round ffor burning plastic smells. The HI/LO range select motor is under the car , worth hooking it off to see if has seized.

Got RAVE already - soo far been vauge on the bits ive needed hahah.

Anyway put about 1/4l of ATF in thru the dipstick and its now inbetween the holes on the dipstick and it still making the sound but i havnt let it get warm enough to suffer the missing gears again.

The noise is definatley RPM dependant if that helps anyones diagnosis. its a clicking noise at low revs and increases in clicks as the RPM increases. But its not constant it comes when its been running for abit.

Interms of the Hi/Low motor... Im looking at RAVE now and it shows no sign of a motor on the 95 Classic range rover. From what it looks like its a straight mechanical linkage and no motor and no burning smell underneath the seat. But i have been under the car and spent abit of time applying lube + impact to the Hi/Lo shift and thats now usable and works so im confident theres either no motor and or it does work.

im outta ideas now any more things to try ?

Fluid is where it should, transfer box works and has little or no effect on the clicking + missing gears, it definatley seems dependant on time running/mileage/temprature and im determined to fix it.

Any more ideas i can chase to check it ?

Another thought....my SRS + TC lights are on. the SRS flashes ? And i have no reverse lights which is weird as it went through its MOT yesturday? Could it be an electrical issue?

COuld there be a chance i'd half engaged the T-Box in my playing and "wound it up" ?

What does the oil smell like and what colour is it because it sounds like one of your clutch packs is burnt out.
The oil should be a red colour not brown and smell burnt.

brown and maybe a hint of burning but nothing to bad ?

From what ive read - the clutch packs would constantly mean no drive? I could go and get in my car now and drive 1/2 a mile before it started acting up again. What is the clicking noise in that case ?

I think that if you do an oil change you should remove the sump and renew the filter as well and while its off check how much metal and clutch bit are in the sump then decide from there.

sounds like a good plan.

The thing seems to be taking alot of oil so im still hoping its my original plan of just low oil, low pressure and the pump is the RPM associated clicking noise catching air. Its taken 1/2 a litre now. it seems to be at the correct level, i run it till it clicks, turn it off then it it takes more oil lol.

You didn't mention it was a Classic, a 95 could have been a P38.

haha thought we had crossed wires there somewhere. No problem though and I will know for next time to make it clear that its a classic

auto boxes shouldnt ever have dirty or burnt oil or sludge in the sump ,oil will go light brown with age ,clutch packs are hydraulically applied and a leaking piston can cause worse symptoms as oil heats up depending on leakage rate ,hi/low levers on rrc often sieze on pivot you need to remove consol rubber gaiter to get at it

Ive quite succsefully unseized my lever already. Crawled under, located the shifter, few taps with a small hammer on the side of the pivot and a dose of 'Duck Oil' by swarfega and its nice and loose now and seems to be working perfectly.

My POA now is drop the sump, change the filter and refill and go from there. Whilst ive got the sump off is there anything i can do to try to diagnose/fix the problem? DO i need any specialist tools to refill the pan ? AND how longer job is it ? is it the sort of job i can begin at 6pm after work one day ?

Could the clicking noise and loss of drive be 2 separate syntoms?

Since I filled up the tranny box with oil it hasn't lost drive since. But the clicking noise keeps coming back.

I've checked all the fluids I'm aware off (this is my 1st 4wd and auto car). So steering fluid (maybe a touch lower than it shud be), brake fluid, engine oil and transmission dipstick were all fine. The coolant took best part of 2 litres.

Is there anything else that could click dependant on engine rpm? Diffs, hi/lo box and pumps else where etc?

castleated park wheel is screwed to govenor

Gd point. Why would that click after a while though not straight away...

UPDATE:
I drove it today until the clicking started, pulled over and got a long crow bar out. I then opened the bonnet, took a deep breath and then gently placed one of the ends on various parts of the engine.

The good news is (i think) the left hand exhaust cat was loudest part, and the autobox + tranny box were quieter than the air plenum. I have a sound clip on my laptop but struggling to upload it but will carry on trying. Could this noise be the cat or something in the exhaust somewhere and the loss of drive was just low fluuid? i hope so

http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/125086/RRC_engine_click_2?rn=it70fayy2i2o

http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/125085/RRC_engine_click_1?rn=isftyck03wn4

Click the links, it will open a new window, wait a few seconds and the play bar should start automatically.

one is in the cab (the clearer one in my opinion), the 2nd is by the driver door.

Has anyone got any ideas? Or anyother things to check?

Had the fan belt off today and wobbled everything and that all seems as it should. Topped up the steering fluid which i thought had fixed the squeak but no And it then started loosing drive again. Looks like a tranny rebuild now. Anything i can do to just double check before hand. Anyway to check the tanny level? or anything like that?