Auto box won't engage 5th when cold??

I have a 2003 Discovery XS TD5 auto. I've only noticed over the last week that it won't engage 5th gear when it's still cold. Once the temperature gauge is about a 3rd of the way up it works fine. Normally at about 52 - 55 mph, it will shift into fifth gear under normal acceleration but when it's cold it will just sit in 4th all the way up the rev metre and over 70 mph.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience of this?? All input welcome. Already looking forward to the next huge bill.

Thanks in advance

youve only got 4 gears and a lock up clutch

nice one james wondered how far before some one said something

Ok, gonna sound stupid now but why does it change 4 times when hot and getting up to speed?

Bruxey said:

Ok, gonna sound stupid now but why does it change 4 times when hot and getting up to speed?

Click to expand...

the last change you feel is torque convertor clutch locking ,up to that happening drive is through high pressure oil in t/c after soild drive like a manual which is why revs drop ,try an oil change first sounds like a sticking valve

mate one i can say is jamies no's his stuff.Sit back listen and learn

ok thanks for the advice, I'm obviously not the most knowledgeable with the inner workings but slowly learning.

Bruxey said:

ok thanks for the advice, I'm obviously not the most knowledgeable with the inner workings but slowly learning.

Click to expand...

mate go to disco post lots of info and dont get wound up most of post wont happen to you but loads of info

In the last 3 months I've already had to replace the fuel regulator valve, rear suspension sacks, power steering hose, leaking sunroof and new front pads and discs. Just want a problem free month.

My D2 does the same thing. I had always assumed it was part of the gear programming to help get it up to temp as quickly as possible. Hence why it behaves normally once warm. ?

Bruxey said:

ok thanks for the advice, I'm obviously not the most knowledgeable with the inner workings but slowly learning.

Click to expand...

Hi Bruxey and welcome to Landyzone.

As has already been said your gearbox has 4 gears and a TC lock-up.

The TC lock-up occurs at approximately 52mph, depending on the amount of throttle you are applying at the time.

The TD5 auto's have a warming up procedure which works like this:

In order to encourage the fastest possible engine warm-up, the TC lock-up feature is disengaged, until the engine (and therefore gearbox) reaches a pre-determined temp.

Once the temp is reached TC lock-up can be initiated.


This is normal behaviour, so unless there is anything else amiss, your car is behaving normally.

However, as other has suggested, if you are unsure when the gearbox oil and filter were changed last, it would be a good idea to do it.

By the way, do you do the vehicle maintenance yourself? If you do, there are a number of tips for improving the reliability and efficiency of your TD5.

Cheers
Dave

I don't remember it behaving that way before, not so I'd noticed anyway. Just spent £174 on a gearbox oil change, new filter and gasket and seems to still be doing the same. I would've hoped my garage would've said if it were supposed to hold until up to temperature as they've been pretty good at safari in the past. It does however feel 100% better going through the gears, not that it was very rough before but not a complete waste of money.
I've heard it might also be the xyz switch but there's no dash warning lights on and I don't really wanna spend £300+ on what might not be faulty.

I don't do the maintenance myself as yet but I'm trying to learn my way around it as I seem to be putting something right on a monthly basis and it's slowly bankrupting me! Any tips and advice would be very much appreciated.

Cheers

thebiglad said:

By the way, do you do the vehicle maintenance yourself? If you do, there are a number of tips for improving the reliability and efficiency of your TD5. Cheers Dave

Click to expand...

Hi Dave,
is this info. collated in one location or topic, please?
Thanks,
Andy.

v8hybrid said:

Hi Dave,
is this info. collated in one location or topic, please?
Thanks,
Andy.

Click to expand...

Hi Andy, there are various mods that have developed over the years, so I'll list some of them here and you can search for fuller explanations:

1. De-EGR

2. De-Cat

3. Uprated Torque Converter

4. Re-map



There loads of others but that's a starter for ten, ok

The control unit also looks at the external air temperature. If it is below a certain limit, I think about 8, then it extends the time it waits before locking out in 4th. This is normal

fozzie said:

The control unit also looks at the external air temperature. If it is below a certain limit, I think about 8, then it extends the time it waits before locking out in 4th. This is normal

Click to expand...

The engine ECU takes signals from the AAT(Absolute Ambient Temp) as part of general fuelling calculations, this has nothing directly to do with the TC operation.

After speaking to my garage today, asking why I hear that it is supposed to hold the TC lockup until at temperature, they suggested I phoned Land Rover technical support to hear from the horses mouth. So I did.
Much to my dismay they confirmed what my garage had told me, this is not supposed to happen. According to Land Rover there is no system in place in my Disco 2 which makes it wait for the engine / gearbox temperature to rise before allowing the TC lockup to engage. If it's doing that, it's a sign that the bands are gone (whatever they are) and the cheapest course of action is for me to source a recon gearbox, as eventually it will completely cease up. This was from the head technician at Guy Salmon Land Rover, Coventry.
How gutted am I

there is no clutch bands in box ,there are clutch packs and when one or more start to fail they blacken oil and give burnt smell ,easy check ,to drop a capful of oil out ,if oils allright it will be a solenoid or valve fault

Bruxey said:

After speaking to my garage today, asking why I hear that it is supposed to hold the TC lockup until at temperature, they suggested I phoned Land Rover technical support to hear from the horses mouth. So I did.
Much to my dismay they confirmed what my garage had told me, this is not supposed to happen. According to Land Rover there is no system in place in my Disco 2 which makes it wait for the engine / gearbox temperature to rise before allowing the TC lockup to engage. If it's doing that, it's a sign that the bands are gone (whatever they are) and the cheapest course of action is for me to source a recon gearbox, as eventually it will completely cease up. This was from the head technician at Guy Salmon Land Rover, Coventry.
How gutted am I

Click to expand...

This just shows how little the supposed "experts" know. It really makes me angry.

All you need to do is read the RAVE official workshop manual,autobox section and you'll see that this procedure is designed into the inter-relationship between autobox and engine.

It's no wonder that less and less peeps have faith in the LR dealers - because they know nowt unless the computer tells them so.


Absolute rubbish.

Reading through the rave cd, the transmission ecu also looks at the aat (absolute air temperature) and changes the point at which it locks up. This is to prevent the box from locking out when it is cold