Freelander 1 td4 auto slamming into gears

Well just recently my hippo has started slamming into gears...it started just from 1st to 2nd but sometimes does it through all gears up n down.
Ive put 4 liters of N402 through it as its all I had left, checked the wiring and conector, checked resistance of all 9 solinoids and the 3 hals, all seems to be in spec...im still leaning towards a solinoid faulty? But does anyone know which one would cause slamming into gears? Once in a gear its fine..

I haven't had it scanned yet but i suppose I ort too..

any ideas?

if the seals are gone it can do this but the first thing to check is how much fluid is in it

Fluid is ok also 4 liters changed..
you mentioned seals?

How many miles has your car done if it is high then it could possibly be the seals but get everything checked first as it is a gearbox out job

Get the codes read before going further. Hopefully they'll point you in the right direction.


Interestingly my wife's BMW box starts slamming into gear if the engine oil level is low. This can't happen to the FL1 though, as it doesn't have a low oil level sensor.

Its coming up to 135k but runs like a dream apart from the auto box issue thats just materialise...I hoping the code reader points to a faulty solinoid as anything more serious would probably be B.E.R. on a 2000 hippo with high milage.

Ive had a look around the internet and most parts are available..I just trying to gather info on other autos that may have had this problem, maybe someone has had this problem and can say yes its the ttc solinoid, or 2-4 solinoid etc. Otherwise im going to have to take it off the road and start to slowly strip the box down,

Which bit do i need to change..

Not sure if this helps, or points to a problem on my own box but;

I have a RonBox fitted and on some settings the gear change is what I would describe as over firm. A bit of a clunk that is more than you would like. I've found what I believe to be the optimum setting though. Mine's just on 120k and I've just had my 2nd fluid change. After a change, and an appropriate setting on the RonBox it's as smooth as anything.

jedi,
does it slam into gear when cold? when hot?
Does it slam into gear if you manually change gear at the right time?
Did the oil that came out smell burnt or look brown?

Gear slamming can be caused by low oil. I assume you checked the auto oil level as per the investigation we did some years ago, so it will be ok. When mine started slamming into gear the oil was low but I didn't know as it dripped out onto the under tray, then jumped off at speed. Hence no oil stains under my hippo. This was all before I knew how to check the oil level.

come on hippo if anybody can help him its you

Hippo said:

jedi,
does it slam into gear when cold? when hot?
Both, and sometimes its ok and drives fine, then it starts with th 1-2 shift then they all get gradually worse.
Does it slam into gear if you manually change gear at the right time?
Yes,
Did the oil that came out smell burnt or look brown?
Not really, a tad dull as you would expect, but its had 20 liters through it in around 40k miles..(i had 20 liters of the N402 stuff)

Gear slamming can be caused by low oil. I assume you checked the auto oil level as per the investigation we did some years ago, so it will be ok. When mine started slamming into gear the oil was low but I didn't know as it dripped out onto the under tray, then jumped off at speed. Hence no oil stains under my hippo. This was all before I knew how to check the oil level.

Yes im confident the levels are ok nothing leaks from my hippo its all seal tight, ive even but a half liter more in but makes no difference.

Click to expand...

have also been looking at the vw's that use the same box this video on solinoid changes is very interesting.

@Hippo

just been reading this thread, did you ever get to the bottom of it? Sounds similar to my problem
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/jatco-auto-gearbox-problem.223565/

jedi said:

@Hippo

just been reading this thread, did you ever get to the bottom of it? Sounds similar to my problem
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/jatco-auto-gearbox-problem.223565/

Click to expand...

Sorry I missed this. I don't think my bump fault in the link you posted is the same issue you have.

When I refer to my auto slamming into gear above in post 9, it felt like someone driving into you at 2mph when you were stationary. It was violent and noticeable. This was caused by an oil leak, main dealer not telling me it was leaking (they knew at the time) and further damage to the torque converter because of low oil (caused by the leak). One auto gearbox case seal leaking became 3 case seals leaking as the leak continued and £ was spent to replace the auto. £ I wouldn't have needed to spend if the main dealer had told me it was leaking and how to check the auto oil level is correct.

The link you posted above to my fred (I will update with a conclusion when I have more time) refers to my bump, not the slamming into gear oil leak problem. The bump was a later problem on the replacement auto gear box. This was only a minor bump compared to the previous slamming. The bump was caused by a volt drop in the electrical circuit which powers many items from a certain point. This at first seemed to happen randomly but I noticed it would happen when the air con was running, when slowing down and it changed from 3rd to 2nd at about 8mph, at the same time the engine rev's drop and the VIS motors move position. My VIS were mucky and covered in oil. When all of these items (and many more powered from the same location in the electrical wiring) suddenly consumed power at the same time my bump would occur.

If your slamming into gear is happening aross all gears up and down the box then the issue is caused by a pressure problem. The solenoids not switching correctly is a prime cause of this. Also wiring problems in the electrical connection to the auto gearbox via the barrel connectors. could be the sensors. If it were mine I would try the resistance test again. The fault may be intermittent. It may not be the coil side of the solenoid (normally is). It could be the solenoid itself sticking.

Well finally got round to this job and so far so good...I bought some 2nd hand solinoids and just replaced the 3 duty ones, pdc,tcc and 2/4 brake duty. As for the ones I took out i cannot find anything wrong with them, they all test the same as the 2nd hand ones, same resistance, same current draw etc...I can only think one if not all 3 are failing under load somehow, or just the fact I unplugged all the connectors may have fixed it.im still not 100% it was a faulty solinoid but only time will tell..could have been a dead spot on the internal connectors and reseting them has cured it...I may try and make up some sort of variable 12v square wave voltage generator to see if I can get the sols to fail.

Good news. The resistance test is only checking the coil side of the solenoid, not the switching/movement side. Normally the resistance goes open circuit (so no control over the solenoid) or high so it limits the current through it and therefore doesn't have enough energy to move the solenoid. They can also go short circuit if they fail and won't switch at all but this is rare. If the coil is ok then it can only be down to a poor connection as you say which measures ok on resistance but creates a volt drop when there's normal operating current flowing across it or the solenoid was sticking. It's often the case the solenoid seems ok once taken out. Either way it's good to know it's betterer now. Keep us updated.

Yep seems ok so far, the 3 duty solinoids click solidly using a 9v battery and seal/release OK with air blown up them. The other 6 on /off solinoids just seem to close when energised and open with some resistance when air blow up them...At 1st I thought they were sticking but they all seem to do the same so I presume that's how the are.

Using ohms law the current draw seems right. The 2x low homage ones draw around 3 amps the 12ish ohms one draws around 2amps and the rest around 0.5 amp. (tested at 12v)

All seems ok now let's hope it lasts as getting all those bolts out of the oil pan is a right fiddly job. I didnt have to drain the oil as nothing came out when i removed the oil pan, probably cos the front end was up on ramps.

Some report oil comes out when they remove the solenoid cover and others don't. If on ramps at the front only I think it's just enough to tip it back so none comes out. If level then a bit will come out. Thanks for the feedback on measuring. It's always a bit of a risk when measuring doesn't show up a fault to follow but on this occasion hopefully it will be resolved for good.

http://shop.ukrtrans.biz/wp-content/uploads/catalogs/JF506E.pdf

This was a good help too

Found this are regards the oil specs for different autos.its in Spanish I think but still legible.


Also as regards to the myth of the n402 jatco super oil.it seems that synthetic oils are very hydroscopic (they absorb water) and mineral oils do not (n402 is mineral). I read this on the net somewhere. ..

jedi said:

Found this are regards the oil specs for different autos.its in Spanish I think but still legible.


Also as regards to the myth of the n402 jatco super oil.it seems that synthetic oils are very hydroscopic (they absorb water) and mineral oils do not (n402 is mineral). I read this on the net somewhere. ..

Click to expand...

I use Carlube ATF-U for the Jatco box. It's a fully synthetic N402 replacement, which works well and far exceeds the original LR spec fluid. The fact that synthetic fluids potentially being hygroscopic is pretty irrelevant, as the trany fluid exceeds the boiling point of water by quite a margin.
I've never seen any evidence of ATF-U being hygroscopic however.