The Dreaded Transmission Failsafe

Hi there, i am new to this site having only recently becoming a Range Rover owner for the first time a few months ago which is a 2004 4.4 V8 Autobiography. I love the car after previously owning a 05 3.0TDi Touareg( never broke) but the cars faults bug the hell out of me. I recently had the alternator fail so my local Land Rover specialist in Swansea had the car in for repair, whilst in the garage they told me the rad was leaking slightly and advised me to change which i did as aparently they clog over time and start to cause cooling problems with the transmission. Work was completed and car was running fine. A few weeks later i noticed transmission fluid was dripping onto the floor overnight, so in she went again and the problem was located to a leaky trasmission sump gasket, new gasket and fresh oil and filter in the transmission and of we went again. Now a few days ago i noticed that when the car has been parked for a few hours i.e overnight for the first mile or so of driving there is slight dry squealing noise under light acceleration as if a bearing or somthing is running dry. The car is due for a service in a few days so i thought i would point it out when it went in. Then the other day following towing a car trailer whilst parked with the engine running the car went into TRANSMISSION FAILSAFE. After removing the trailer and driving on the motoway i turned the ignition of and back on and the problem disapeared for a couple of days. Now the car goes into failsafe after driving locally for a couple of miles, once on th motorway after a few miles i pull over ignition of and back on and the problem disapears. When its working gear changes are smooth and it reverses up hill fine. My question is does this point to a blocked oil cooler or somthing more expensive. Sorry its long winded for my first post but i thought i would put all the facts.

Assuming it's an automatic check the fluid level; Check when cold, start engine, move selector from P thru to 1 and back, check fluid level whilst running. If top-up needed, do it slowly, DO NOT overfill!

Send a PM to Bremble - he loves those L322 auto's - I hate them.....
Checking the fluid level "Should" be done while hooked up to Testbook to check the oil temp,from memory it should be at 40c.
All another reason why L322's have let LR down.

Well the other problem is it is a BMW with a range rover skirt on
I diagnosed one the other day with loss of drive the guy had the torque convector changed and it cured it? Not sure myself after seeing what does fail
I recommend to my customers change them every 2 years

A blocked oil cooler would be more likely to signal the TRANSMISSION OVERHEAT message rather than TRANS. FAILSAFE PROG and the transmission would shift at much higher revs (i.e. ECU selects cooling strategy mode).

When you say ‘the car went in to TRANSMISSION FAILSAFE’ do you mean that it locked in 4th gear or just that the message appeared?

The first thing I would do is get the codes read at a stealer using Testbook/T4 (and not at an Independent using Autologic) to check that it’s not a faulty transfer box shift motor potentiometer signal. I’ve stripped three L322 5HP24s in the past few months which turned out to be in perfect condition because the fault lay with the shift motor potentiometer and had nothing to do with the transmission.

Oh, and you can’t overfill the 5HP24 because the filler plug is also the level plug.

Thanks for your replies, yes the transmission does lock into 4th once i get the message. I have had a meesage this evening saying transfer box neutral which is a completly new one.

In for repair and the transfer box motor is seized, could this cause these fault codes.? £700.00 for a new motor.

Do you have to get your car back on the road immediately? If not, I could probably fix your transfer box motor if you posted it to me (no charge - it's a hobby). I could test the rotary potentiometer and see if it was giving a faulty voltage/angle signal to the ECU.

Thanks for your kind offer but i do need the car back on the road and the new motor has been ordered. However i will get the old one from the garage so you can repair it, some one else may then be able to benifit from being able to use it. I will keep you posted on the new one being fitted and hopefully the problem going away.

There are sensors that are part of the gearstick mechanism that can cause "Trans Failsafe Prog" to appear if they are faulty or have mucky connections - does it on mine occasionally.

First time it happened the Main Stealers said it was transfer motor and would cost £1500 to fix.

Now, the fix is to waggle the gear lever about from park all the way to drive and back a few times - you can do this with the engine off but with igntion on.

Try it, it might save you a few quid.

My mechanic allready tested for loose connections and took the ecu's out to check for any sign's of water ingress but they were fine, he has removed the old motor and says it is no longer functioning which i belive is quiet common. ( what ever happend to the old second selector stick for high/low box was much more reliable) New motor being fitted tomorrow so will keep you posted.

How many miles has your car covered out of interest?

New transfer box motor fitted and all is well. The moral of this story is dont change your transmission just because you get the Failsafe Program Warning. Check your transfer box motor first. Its not cheap to replace, but its a lot cheaper than a transmission.

Had same issue with my 2004 Range Rover. I had a trans failsafe prog message and I replaced radiator and battery. I turned out it was the gearbox ECU that was the problem. Took it to UK to have it repaired (they wanted USD 3K to replace it here in south africa) but ended up replacing it with a BMW X5 ECU had it programmed at Land Rover and had ZF repairing the gearbox. The gearbox now works 100% but the trans failsafe prog message now comes up when revving the engine (still shifting and driving properly). Will try to see if it is the connectors in the gearstick.

This post suddenly stopped, I wonder what the outcome was. I have an 03 L322 with the same trans failsafe prog. It can be good for a week and then start going off again, The message is, "T Box sensor short circuit to battery" and in fact something seems to be drawing down the battery, anyone have similiar. Thanks.

bonnettoboot said:

This post suddenly stopped, I wonder what the outcome was. I have an 03 L322 with the same trans failsafe prog. It can be good for a week and then start going off again, The message is, "T Box sensor short circuit to battery" and in fact something seems to be drawing down the battery, anyone have similiar. Thanks.

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Could be the Transfer Box Shift Motor potentiometer (? Spelling) as these have been known to fail....trouble is they are not available as a seperate item and have to be bought with the transfer motor which is £££....

There was a chap on rangerovers.net trying to make the casing for the pot, to house the gubbins in as a cheaper replacement...as the pot is no doubt a few pence/quid whereas the TB motor is ridiculous money.....

Bemble said:

Do you have to get your car back on the road immediately? If not, I could probably fix your transfer box motor if you posted it to me (no charge - it's a hobby). I could test the rotary potentiometer and see if it was giving a faulty voltage/angle signal to the ECU.

Click to expand...

Hi, I'm having the same issues with my L322. have you any ideas and if you can check the Motor potentiometer if i posted it to you. I'm happy to pay for your time as i would feel better if you would take payment.

Bemble said:

A blocked oil cooler would be more likely to signal the TRANSMISSION OVERHEAT message rather than TRANS. FAILSAFE PROG and the transmission would shift at much higher revs (i.e. ECU selects cooling strategy mode).

When you say ‘the car went in to TRANSMISSION FAILSAFE’ do you mean that it locked in 4th gear or just that the message appeared?

The first thing I would do is get the codes read at a stealer using Testbook/T4 (and not at an Independent using Autologic) to check that it’s not a faulty transfer box shift motor potentiometer signal. I’ve stripped three L322 5HP24s in the past few months which turned out to be in perfect condition because the fault lay with the shift motor potentiometer and had nothing to do with the transmission.

Oh, and you can’t overfill the 5HP24 because the filler plug is also the level plug.

Click to expand...

Hi Bemble

I saw a lot of posts from you and I am sure that you will help me as I am new to this and bit worried with my RR Vogue 54 3.0TD6. I am experincing the same issue and it just started recently. I also started a new thread related to the same. As I can see that you replied with different suggestions related to the same but with different issues.
Can you please help me and suggest me what to do, thanks
Hi all,
I am not that new to this forum as I following this since last 2 years, even before I bought my RR Vogue, but just registered my self recently. I am bit lost here with my car as it throws an "trans failsafe program" yesterday. I am experiencing loss of power on my car since long now but yesterday suddenly I got the above error on display. It went off when I turned off the engine at parking and when I turned it on again, it was not there. Today when I left for work and felt the same less power, I tried to put the sports mode, but it went to manual and after getting it back to auto, the error appears again. Here are the following issues on which I need help:

1. RPM is increasing, but speed stays less (espicially on moving upwards) and usually makes a lot of noise too.
2. trans failsafe program getting this error on display since yesterday.(it happened twice since yesterday but will update it again tomorrow if it happen in evening too).

few details:
had the service in October and still 10700 miles left for next service. Daily runner (45-50 miles)
advisories:
1. little leak from turbo pipe
2. since service I can see oil patch under the car bonnet and probably the advisory was right, but before service I never had this patch forming or even the oil drop sighting under bonnet.
Mileage (125612)

Hi all
today again in the morning I got the same error "trans failsafe program" and gear was stuck in 4th (if i am not wrong). i turned off the engine twice at traffic lights and error went off, and car started driving again. I have something to share here related to the issue. I had my car battery drained day before yesterday and got the car started again with jump lead. is there is any possibility that the old battery is playing around or should i just change the transfer box motor as advised by Bemble (with all due respect mate). I am really worried as like you all I love my car and try my level best to keep it as good as I can but these RR are expensive to buy and maintain.
any help and advise is appreciated, thanks.

Have you had it on diagnostics to find out what fault codes are logged regards why it went into failsafe mode?

The TB shift motor is expensive and throwing one at it and it turns out not to be that is false economy.....

The GM5 box on the Td6 is a major weak point, and are known to lunch themselves with grave regularity, the chief cause is the valve block that wears out due to soft materials.

The first thing is to get it on diagnostics as it may point you in a direction of what to check next....guess work is fool-hardy.