Auto box jumping on gear shift ?Solenoid problem

Hi am a new owner with a 2000 Freelander 2.5 V6 with auto gearbox.
Car was fine for a bout 6months, then started having shifting problems.
When the car is placed in D, and you start driving there is a very strong "jerk/jump" as the car changes gears, enough to propel you fowards - as if the car had just been rear ended.
On changing from 1st-2nd its a mild jump, with the biggest jump felt on the shift from 2-3rd gear, small jump on 3rd-4th gear change. On deceleration as the car downshifts it does the same thing.
If u manually shift through the gears the jumping is still there.
I have had the trans oil changed, and the diff mounts replaced as part of the initial troubleshooting.
Took the car to LR dealership and they could not get the diagnostics scan to work on the car despite their best efforts. The mechanic did suspect that it may be a shift solenoid causing the problem.
Then took it to indep trans specialist for another opinion. He also couldn't get a diagnostic scanner to work on the car. He also suspected it was a solenoid issue causing the jumping on gear change. He couldn't say which solenoid was at fault but suggested we replace one which most commonly failed in his experience.
From doing some reading I understand there are 9 solenoids in total and 3 are shift solenoids A, B , C.
How would we know which one is at fault and which one to replace?

Welcome to the forum.

First thing to do is check the auto oil level is correct. The main dealer should have done this. I had jerking gear changes on my v6 which were caused by low oil. Sadley the auto destroyed itself by the time it was noticed so I would suggest you stop driving your car so you don't cause further damage.

Second thing to do is a resistance check on all sensors/solenoids. Main dealer should have done this too. If you find a sensor/solenoid out of spec, this will need changed, and may be the cause of your problems. there could be other problems too. You can find more info on the threads below. They list the spec of the sensors/solenoids. If you have a resistance meter you can measure them yourself.

resistance check = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTmdkDuKZ6A

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/jatco-gearbox-fault-232874-2.html

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/jatco-auto-box-true-231171.html

defo check the fluid but also does it get worse in the cold if so it could be your seals

I had this recently on my 2001 TD4 auto.

Everytime it changed up a gear it almost put me through the windscreen. Changing down was fine.

Took the car to S+D Transmissions in Doncaster. Knackered solenoid was diagnosed and replaced. Total cost was about £350 with replacement gearbox cooler, as this was leaking.

Thank you for the replies.
I had checked the trans oil level when it first started doing this (using the methods described on these forums) and the level was fine. We changed the trans oil anyway as it has 120k on the clock and no record of it being changed. No improvement with that.
Thank you for those links. Ill will look into getting those solenoid resistances checked by the trans guy. Its strange he didnt mention doing this, rather than just blindly changing one of the solenoids? :doh: Will update on any progress.

Vertuas - did they tell you which one of your solenoids needed to be replaced (was it one of the shift solenoids A,B,C, or other?)

The two that where changed :

2-4 Brake Shift
2-4 Brake Duty

parts £71 each ex vat. Ashcroft sell then for £47 each.

Hi
Did you change the solenoids, if so did that cure your problem ?
Thanks

ianda12 said:

Hi
Did you change the solenoids, if so did that cure your problem ?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Bump! Any progress?