automatic not in high after using low gears

Hi, today I had to tow someone out of the mud so put my Discovery TD5 automatic into low gear and towed him out. Then I put it back to H on the transfer box but it drives like its still in low. I tried reversing it as used to have to do this with my Shogun. Then I tried putting it back into L, made sure both brakes on, put the transfer box into N, then to H, then put the car into D and drove again, still feels like its in L, ie not moving very fast. Should it go straight back to High gears or is there something else I should do. All it says in the manual is to make sure you are in neutral before moving the transfer box lever. There was no resistance when moving the transfer box lever either way

DiscoHelen said:

There was no resistance when moving the transfer box lever either way

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Maybe the cable snapped when you first put it in low and after that what ever you did it didnt move the selector on the box so it's stuck in low, you'll have to crawl under and watch it while somebody moves the lever inside, unless you see something obvious

well, funny thing is. This morning it was just the same, put it into low again, drove forward, reversed, put it in to high, reversed, drove forward, still the same. So, I thought I'd take it to the garage, drove really slowly, not really accelerating. Stopped off to feed the horses, got back in the car, reversed out of my space, when I put it in to reverse, it made a big clunking noise, went into drive, no problem, back in high gears. Went to the garage anyway and they said it might be a dodgy transfer box and they need to get it in, get the box off and have a look. So got to get my Shogun MOT'd first so I can drive that while they tinker with the Disco

Beginning to wonder if there is enough oil in the transfer box. Easy fix, if that is all it is! A lot cheaper than taking off the transfer box and "having a look", not saying they are wrong, summat could be off inside it. But if it was me i'd check the level in the box, and if it is really low, top it up and drive it around changing it from lo to hi to lo on a regular basis.
But then I am a tight barsteward!

Does sound like a lubrication problem if the cable is still intact. Drop transfer box oil, look at magnet.. bit of furry slushy grey stuff is normal just see if there’s any lumps of metal come out. Have a look on YouTube at britanica restorations sure he had a defender lt230 T box come in stuck in low, sure that had no oil in it. Can’t remember the vid but I’ll have a look shortly.

its definitely got transmission fluid in as it broke down before christmas when it had none so that's been topped up and we checked that in case it had happened again. I need to get my other car back on the road first, then they can have the landy in. Just charging the battery up and hopefully take it for mot tomorrow

That’s not good if it ran out of fluid, that could be the original cause of the problem, as strong as the transfer boxes are, like any moving mechnical part they don’t like running without oil. Keep us updated what garage say.

rich28uk said:

That’s not good if it ran out of fluid, that could be the original cause of the problem, as strong as the transfer boxes are, like any moving mechnical part they don’t like running without oil. Keep us updated what garage say.

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+1^^^^
Sadly!

Wonder if this video is of any help, if it’s something on the selector that’s stuck or failed.