Freelander 1 Automatic gearbox

I bought my freelander 1 td4 automatic a couple of years ago very cheaply because there was something wrong with the gear box and it was jumping inbetween gear changes. My late husband fixed it after finding a loose wire somewhere near the gearbox. Unfortunately it has started having the similar symptoms yesterday so I took it to my local garage who said I need an automatic gearbox specialist and would probably cost a fortune I don't really want to get rid of it as it's been a brilliant car so any idea's of how I could fix it ????? Thankyou

It could be as simple as the gearbox connections coming loose. There are two large connectors that feed the various gearbox solonoids and sensors. These are a known cause of various faults. The connectors have a twist lock arrangement, that sometimes untwist themselves. This leads to bad connections and strange behaviour.
A member on here called @Hippo has done masses of write ups on the auto box.
Hopefully he'll be along now I've tagged him with some links that will help

Brilliant Thank you got my Haynes on standby for tomorrow and would prefer to look myself coz know a garage would charge a fortune !!!! And really don't want to get rid of it !!!

Watch this vidio for help with the jatco box

Mally1706 said:

Brilliant Thank you got my Haynes on standby for tomorrow and would prefer to look myself coz know a garage would charge a fortune !!!! And really don't want to get rid of it !!!

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Unfortunately I can't help with the Auto box as never had one and really sorry to hear of the loss of your husband so I hope you get it sorted for a reasonable sum.

Let us know how you get on.

It's true as nodge said the barrel connectors can come loose. They push together then the outer collar twists to lock them. They have a sort of firm but dry click to secure. This locks them together. However, the locking lugs inside the connectors which slide past each other to lock, can become damaged. This allows locked connectors to slide apart by up to 5mm which can cause poor electrical connections. It sounds like the likely cause especially if you had a similar fix before.

Normally you would get F and 4 flashing on the dash display if they come apart a bit, but it depends which pins have poor connection at the time. Some pins connect to sensors in the auto which give feedback to the auto's computer to allow it to monitor what's going on. Others power solenoids which are electrically controlled values, used to switch on/off the flow of auto oil in the auto, to change gear. Don't put any contact grease in them. There's 2 barrel connectors. The small one carries the gear lever electrical signals and the inhibit switch signal. Check both. They're located in front/above the auto. If yer look between the headlight and battery, down inside the engine bay yer'll see them.


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Hippo said:

It's true as nodge said the barrel connectors can come loose. They push together then the outer collar twists to lock them. They have a sort of firm but dry click to secure. This locks them together. However, the locking lugs inside the connectors which slide past each other to lock, can become damaged. This allows locked connectors to slide apart by up to 5mm which can cause poor electrical connections. It sounds like the likely cause especially if you had a similar fix before.

Normally you would get F and 4 flashing on the dash display if they come apart a bit, but it depends which pins have poor connection at the time. Some pins connect to sensors in the auto which give feedback to the auto's computer to allow it to monitor what's going on. Others power solenoids which are electrically controlled values, used to switch on/off the flow of auto oil in the auto, to change gear. Don't put any contact grease in them. There's 2 barrel connectors. The small one carries the gear lever electrical signals and the inhibit switch signal. Check both. They're located in front/above the auto. If yer look between the headlight and battery, down inside the engine bay yer'll see them.

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Thanks for all your advice it was very helpful because I didn't know where to look but after looking this morning and checking everything was connected properly I found a loose wire which I think was the same one as last time. I 're connected it and stuck abit of tape on it and hey Presto it's fixed so pleased and can t wait to go back to the garage on Monday and put them to shame ha ha !!! And another quick question if I can. Is £180.00 about right for a full service???? And once again thankyou

Mally1706 said:

Thanks for all your advice it was very helpful because I didn't know where to look but after looking this morning and checking everything was connected properly I found a loose wire which I think was the same one as last time. I 're connected it and stuck abit of tape on it and hey Presto it's fixed so pleased and can t wait to go back to the garage on Monday and put them to shame ha ha !!! And another quick question if I can. Is £180.00 about right for a full service???? And once again thankyou

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Glad it's sorted. What was the wire, can you post a picture of it?

The parts to do a full service will cost ~£65. If you use a decent on line suppliers. So the garage are charging about 2 hours labour on top. I think that's a reasonable time to spend, providing they do everything on the service sheet.

This one

Mally1706 said:

This one

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Nice bush repair.
So the offending wire is part of the gearbox wiring.

Interesting fix. Looks like someone found an open circuit wire at some point. (yer can find this sort of this by doing the resistance test )

The copper coloured wires joined together at the end need to be permanently protected. If they were to touch an earth (all bodywork, engine, gearbox etc is connected to earth) then it will cause a problem with the signal. The blue connector should be joining the wires together electrically. If it were mine I would use one piece of choc block to secure/protect the wires. Available form all electrical shops + diy stores. I would also have a look to see where the orange wire goes in case there's a similar unprotected cable at the other end of it.

http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-white-15a-12-way-cable-connector-strip/178056_BQ.prd