What's going on with my gearbox...

Hi

After a short trip down the motorway the other day I noticed that my gear change had gone extremely stiff (K reg 200TDI with 5 speed manual LT77 I believe?). No horrid noises or anything like that. Changed gear ok just really stiff.

So when I got home I was concerned and decided to check the oil level. No problems there.

So as the next resort I decided on an oil change. The ATF was black when I drained it - suggesting an overheating problem.

I refilled with oil and made another short motorway journey. Same thing stiff gear change whilst on the motorway but after a few miles of urban driving gear change back to normal. Dropped the oil again and its as black as the last lot :-(

What on earth is causing my gearbox to over heat like this?

I get no horrid noises from it and the gear change in every gear is smooth. It only does it after a journey down the motorway.

Just how concerned about this should I be and is there anything I can do about it? My inclination is to just keep driving it until the gearbox starts to die properly and then consider swapping it.

What should I be doing to prolong its life?

I had a K-reg and the gearbox seized in third. My local LR indie specialist asked if I had been doing any high speed towing (I had). He said it was a common fault with this box and the only solution was a recon box. I wonder if the same could be happening to your box, but even so I suppose I'm not helping much.

Cheers!

I've not been towing anything so I'm hoping this is not the case.

Maybe its all the extra weight its carrying around?

discopinky said:

Hi

After a short trip down the motorway the other day I noticed that my gear change had gone extremely stiff (K reg 200TDI with 5 speed manual LT77 I believe?). No horrid noises or anything like that. Changed gear ok just really stiff.

So when I got home I was concerned and decided to check the oil level. No problems there.

So as the next resort I decided on an oil change. The ATF was black when I drained it - suggesting an overheating problem.

Just how concerned about this should I be and is there anything I can do about it? My inclination is to just keep driving it until the gearbox starts to die properly and then consider swapping it.

What should I be doing to prolong its life?

Click to expand...

If I were you, I would drop the oil again, make a mental note of it's condition and then refill with this stuff, it did wonders for my wifes box:
Difflock EVO2 - not cheap but very effective.

Cheers
Dave

Hi just to let you know mine does the same thing and has done for the last two years. I have not had to change it and is working fine other than that. I will be trying the difflock stuff on my next oil change though i have been told of good reports of that stuff.

my advice leave alone until it dies

Thats encouraging to know.

Does intrigue me though to know what the cause is...

I had 1st -2nd gear change problem on 300tdi.
Changed to Difflock evo2 ,18000 miles later no issues at all.