Freelander 2 - illusive fault need help!

Right so I’ve spoken to the local auto box specialist who also specialises in Land Rovers and had done his fair share of work on this model gear box. I put the valve body idea to him which he suggested the car isn’t showing sufficient symptoms to prove this theory although it is a common issue with this box.

He has said what’s happening is when the cars stopped at lights and the cars faulted is it’s defaulting into 5th gear (some kind of safety feature) that’s why I’m getting the slow build of revs along side speed, followed by a drop in gear and high revs but still slow speed. He has suggested something is causing the gear box to default which could be a variety issues with diagnosing it properly it’s hard to tell over the phone. Could be gear box or an issue as simple as the MAF sensor. He’s going to have it in on Tuesday to run full Land Rover diagnosis for £45 to try get an answer and go from there. I’ll update as soon as it comes back.

I was wondering if the temperature was increasing when stationary, causing a leak to open up. But it's only a guess.

Do you have yer own diagnostic that can tell yer what gear it's in? This would test the theory of it pulling away in 5th.

Ye the whole engine/gear box getting warm when stationary due to lack of air flow was something I half hearted pieces together with the fault only occurring after been stationary. Then ye rubber hoses may open up as they get warm but finding the pin hole if there is one somewhere is a needle in a hay stack I guess. I’ll see what his diagnostics comes back with see if we can get to the bottom of this!

As for my diagnostics yes I have a Delphi unit which can tell me which gear is selected and that never crossed my mind but yes I can prove the theory of 5th right or wrong I’ll give it a wirl over weekend see what comes out.

Does it pull away initially with the same felling of being in 1st gear before it plays up?

I struggle to accept it would pull away in 5th anywhere like the feeling of 1st. Unless it pulls in 1st then changes to 5th when it faults.

So I’ll give the example of other day when I forced the car to fault. Sat car at bottom of drive, in Drive, hand brake on. Left it for ten mins as if I was stuck in traffic (extreme traffic I know) then put the car into Reverse (driveway has a 10% incline) the car set the ff in reverse extremely slow then soon as I got to the incline it wouldn’t go up the drive. On a few occasions like when caravan has been hooked up it’s nearly stalled. So that does ring true with the car trying to set off in too high a gear. The whole thing that these gear boxes default into a safety mode and go into 5th I have no idea about that’s just what he told me today. Apparently it’s there as a safety feature in case something occurs whilst coasting on the motorway the car defaults to 5th instead of dropping to 1st and killing the gear box. Or that’s the brief jist I got from the phone call. I suppose the only way to prove that like you say it try it on diagnostics see what it says. I’d say it does explain the slow build up of revs and speed when setting off from stood still when the fault occurs. But again this is potentially just a safety feature such as the car going into limp mode I guess to protect the gear box. There’s still an underlying fault with the car causing the to happen. As soon as the car seems to drop into a low gear and revs really high it still doesn’t move fast.... this must be where the issue lies something is causing that to happen. He did mention quite a lot about the solenoids I can’t remember the specifics but I know that’s what you suggested maybe at fault. As well as the software issue which he said he can check when he logs the car onto the Land Rover data base.

How ever I’ve just realised I’ve kind of already dis proved the theory of 5th. It can’t do 5th and go backwards

GarethFreelander said:

How ever I’ve just realised I’ve kind of already dis proved the theory of 5th. It can’t do 5th and go backwards

Click to expand...

well spotted

It's as if it drives ok but on occasion something triggers it to slightly disconnect the drive, which causes the revs to climb. Yer would naturally think of a leak under pressure but as the car behaves the vast majority of the time it makes me wonder if it's something else like sensors or as yer say engine related int stead.

Right..... so after the diagnostics it was confirmed the gear box is fine, it’s reacting the way it’s reacting due to an engine fault.

The engine fault is an EGR fault coming from the throttle valve not the exhaust valve. The motor on the throttle valve isn’t working properly. So for example when it should be 50% open its only actually opening to 20% therefore over fueling and giving incorrect mixture of air to fuel. I got a far more complex explaination on Tuesday when I took it and was shown the ‘flight log’ of the car having the same fault continuously occurs over the past few months. I was advised the replace the throttle body potentially even go for a second hand one and fetch it back to have the ‘throttle adaption’ set up as he is currently unable to get the throttle to open in line with speed & rpm while it’s failing.

The original £60 bill for the diagnostics was only charged at £20 including the second visit to set up the throttle adaption. I’ve decided to buy a new throttle valve at £100 inc VAT for a genuine pierburg. I’m about to fit the new throttle valve in tonight then take it back to be re-adapted tomorrow.

Darren @ S&D Transmissions in Doncaster’s knowledge on these engines and gear boxes were second to non. And I certainly can’t grumble at what he’s charged me.

Fingers crossed this is finally solved! I’ll feedback as soon as I can put it to the test. Really appreciate everyone’s help especially in this thread to try get this sorted and it’s certainly given me a huge amount of knowledge I didn’t have before about my car! Hopefully anyone with a similar fault can pin point it a bit quicker than me using this thread!

Good news then.

We weren't that far oft when pulling together the logic behind what was going on. The next step would have been to look at live data when the fault occurs to see if the engine demand request changed causing the fault to occur. If not then a general look at engine live data to see what changed at the same time the fault occured.

Can the Delphi display diagnostic codes and the logged mileage, time and date they occured?

Not far away at all, you’ve been a huge help hippo.

No it doesn’t record as and when the faults occur with mileage. The Delphi wasn’t picking up the fault he has which shows it has been occurring over past 6 months.

It only picked up an engine fault last week after I cleaned the throttle body out. Turns out by cleaning it I made the fault more apparent and it turned the ECU light on which I couldn’t clear the fault. Or get rid of the ECU light. I’ve just put the new throttle body on now and light has cleared & fault using Delphi. I’ve done throttle adaption on Delphi too but still going to take it back to darren tomorrow to give it a check over that he can see the faults gone. Cars currently sat on drive running leaving it ten mins and going to check the issue has gone..... moment of truth.

The Freelander 2 logs mileage, time and date against fault codes generated. Handy if something happens which triggers multiple faults all over the car in different computers. May just be a case the Delphi unit dun't pull this info out for yer to view.

Ye that’s the info he had told hand when logging onto the car but my Delphi won’t get me them details frustratingly!

Still ok?

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/what-mileage-is-your-freelander-2-on.311241/