Freelander 2 - illusive fault need help!

Out of interest is there anything I need to be keeping my eyes peeled for or look at whilst doing the transmission fluid change. Which could be causing the fault, like the solenoid where is it? Will I be able to tell by looking at it if it’s failing? Doing the fluid change this morning.

Cher’s

You won't be able to see the solenoids as they're behind a cover. The condition of the fluid can tell you if the clutches are worn as it will smell burnt and turn brown.

Make sure you know the correct method to replace the auto oil and temp of 50 to 60 degrees for checking the level with engine on tick over. Make sure what you put in is suitable.

With such a high mileage it's worth doing the change. Not sure if it's going to solve yer problem. Not played with the SD4 auto much although i have plans to see what we can diagnose from them for the future.

Brilliant stuff thanks. Ye I’ve got the guide to oil change printed off at the ready from other threads I’ll up date with fluid quality & photos once complete. If I get enough time today I may approach taking the egr off for a clean as well to rule that in or out

Is it worth taking the cover off whilst doing the fluid change to check the solenoid? Or just check for burning smell to rule clutch’s in or out? Will I need to change fluid again if it is the solenoid playing up?

Right so transmission fluid changed all 7litres using the drain plug method followed by the oil cooler output pipe. Bright red fluid in Very brown fluid put. Not burnt smelling but very much past it’s sell by date. Photos to follow in next hour or so.

Issue remains as expected. Left car in drive with handbrake ON, air con ON, for ten mins. Car wouldn’t even get up the drive around 10% gradient. Air con OFF car went up the drive but issue of high revs driving slow remained. Clutch issue now ruled out. Would you advice looking at the egr valve next or the solenoids in the gear box?

Before and after. No shaving or particles in the dark used fluid.

Oil colour is what I would eggspect. It will change colour to brown in use which is normal.

Yer mention the air con. Does it only happen with the air con on or were you running the air con for another reason? The air con fans would cool the radiator hence increasing the time it would take to heat up. That dun't matter if it still does it.

Need to have a think about this.

Have yer managed to access the fault codes in the auto's computer? The FL2 logs error codes against date, time and mileage so yer can try to track which codes appear when the fault occurs.

The reason I had the air con on was purely due to me trying to replicate if the issue re occurred after fluid change. The fault occurs without air con on but the air con makes the situation worse to the point where the car doesn’t move.

The gear box fluid was upwards of 70 degrees when I tried the car it had been sat a while and was fully up to temp.

In regards to fault codes since removing the faulty MAF sensor which was raising code P007A I haven’t had a single fault code come up on diagnostics. Which makes everything more annoying! I’m getting a fault but the cars not throwing up any codes or any lights on the dash.

I’m starting to get the idea that this maybe more engine related than transmission after today. Maybe worth dropping a can of BG44k to clean the injectors.

Putting in sport mode also means you can change gear manually, therefore you could select 1st and see if it pulls away better, mostly in auto it wants to pull away in 2nd, and early ones suffered acceleration issues whilst they made up their mind which gear to pull away in, kugas and Volvos using the same box had same issue
Has the car had all the various software updates thro it’s life ?

freelance said:

Putting in sport mode also means you can change gear manually, therefore you could select 1st and see if it pulls away better, mostly in auto it wants to pull away in 2nd, and early ones suffered acceleration issues whilst they made up their mind which gear to pull away in, kugas and Volvos using the same box had same issue
Has the car had all the various software updates thro it’s life ?

Click to expand...

Hi freelance,

I’ve only had the car 6 months and I can’t find any paper work to suggest it’s had any software updates. It has been fully serviced by Land Rover but it seems that means nothing.

It’s not a pulling away issue it’s a general driving fault which occurs for a period of time after been stuck in traffic not just the instance of setting off. It never occurs from a cold start either. The car starts in a morning perfectly of the drive like a ****, it only happens when the car is fully to temp and it’s been sat a while. The video I posted does no justice to how bad the issue is I really need to put up a better bit of footage from the day time so you guys can see it properly.

When you turn right out of a junction on a normal residential road, the auto will change from 1st to 2nd as the engine goes over the white line in the middle of the road yer turning into. Does this happen to yours?

If your slowing down to near stationary then accelerate normally it will do so in 2nd as it's still moving/rolling. It will only go to 1st if you actually stop then pull away.

When sat int traffic do you put it in neutral (i do) or park or leave int D with yer foot ont brake?

Generally pulling away or setting off the car is in 2nd. It will happily drop and move through gears well depending on how much pressure I apply to the throttle. When the cars not faulting it drives like a dream.

When sat in traffic over the months the problem has been going on we have tried various methods like putting it in N or P but all resulted in the issue happening. Generally now it will stay on D. Purely because the kind of traffic I’m talking about it just around town. Slow moving, sometimes stood still so I’d be changing N to D like a yoyo.

The SD4 auto has a low pressure option for when it's int D and yer sat stationary for a period of time (measured in seconds) to reduce pressure on the auto.

The issue mentioned by freelance was a problem found some time ago when the FL2 auto was pulling away int 2nd from stationary, mostly or all of the time, depending on conditions. It put more pressure on 2nd when pulling away int 2nd and took out the clutch pack over time. If yours had this problem then i would have eggspected it to surface a long time ago unless the auto has been replaced and the software not updated with the update fix.

Suggesting that this doesn’t seem to be the issue I’m having? When I bought the car to be fair I never expirenced this issue it was only typically happening around 3 months after I bought it when the warranty ran out! Is this software update something I just really cl up to Land Rover and ask to be done or....

There was a software update which solved the pulling away int second gear from stationary instead of first, when in D and driving normally.

There were some later issues with a delayed response when pulling away. A recalibration if the gearbox sensors was the fix for some. I have eggsperienced this on an SD4 anorl. Slight delay as soon as yer pull away. It's as if it's waiting to see if yer made a mistake and yer take yer foot off. Its slow to pull away then picks up normally. It dunt over rev when this happens like yours does. The recal dint fix all of them and some have to live with it. It's occasional. Not all the time.

On me phone at the moment so dun't have me documents available. On the FL1 auto we can measure the sensors in the auto. Not certain this is as easy on the FL2 auto.

Ye sounds like i differs from what I’m getting. I’ve had a go at getting to the EGR valve to strip and clean. WOW what a pain in back side that is to get to! I didn’t manage to get it off how ever I did get as far as the socket which provides it power so my theory, unplug (yes it will fault and fetch ecu light on) but if the problem occurs whilst unplugged surely it’s not the EGR. True to it’s colours, socket unplugged car still faulted therefor I’ve ruled the EGR as working fine... unless someone suggest my theory of testing doesn’t work .

I’ve done a bit more diving online and found this thread on an older Freelander and can’t help but see very much a similar issue but on a car that’s nearly 10 years old. Does this shed any potential light on the issue I’m having? Fuel pump, injectors or a vacuum hose from turbo actuator potentially warn?

Anything stand out you think may be worth checking out.

It sounds like the valve body in the transmission. You have a TF80 gearbox that was fitted to many vehicles. I had an XC90 that uses the same box which had similar issues, changing the fluid helped a little and then one day it went bang, literally. What you are experiencing is excessive shift flare in my opinion. Get it to an automatic gearbox centre, they will probably confirm this.

Looking at the Symtoms for a failing valve body I’m struggling to marry it up to the issue I’m having. Yes I get a delay on shift when the problem occurs, but why only when the cars been sat in traffic? I feel like the delay is a reactive symptom to real problem that lies with the gearbox or engine. The lack of power going to the wheels seems to be the issue. Surely this would be a constant issue I’m battling with if it was the valve? It didn’t seem to get any better after changing fluid per previous comments after driving it no more than 30 mins after the change I expirenced the same problem again. The gear box when the fault isn’t occurring runs and changes like a dream. Don’t get me wrong I’m completely open to every suggestion at the moment as it’s driving me crazy and I agree certainly worth popping to a gear box specialist to see if they can shed any light on it. I’ll try nip it down this lunch time as there’s a place litrally down the road.