L322 Gearbox Troubles 2003 4.4 Petrol

A few months back I was recovered by the RAC as water pump bearings had gone, the idiot recovery bloke tried to winch the rangy onto low loader with it in park and handbrake still on, when he and I realised this he released handbrake and put car into neutral but did not release tension on the winch cable first, there was a bang which I thought was the winch cable easing on the release of the pressure so I thought no more of it.

Now to the problem, after replacing the water pump and rad I took it for a test drive which resulted in a loud thud then a squeal and trans failsafe program.

I assumed it was a broken gear box ( stupidly I know) so I replaced it, I have also replaced the torque converter and a complete oil and filter change on gear box but still have the problem.

Could it be the transfer box as as when you go from high to low and low to hi you can feel it struggle to change and it moves the car back and forth.
Not sure where to look from hear, any pointers in the right direction would be great
cheers in advance

Presumably your car has the uprated front propshaft mod. from the Q041 Service Action? I suggest you get the suspension on the highest setting and ask someone to look under the vehicle to see if either propshaft is turning when you’re stationary in Drive.





Phil

Hi
Just checked , I have the the upgraded front prop .
Neither of the props move when in drive and stationary, also forgot to say the only fault code that comes up when it goes into trans failsafe is P0730 incorrect gear ratio.

Cheers Les

So what’s the current situation? Does the failsafe message reset so that when you next start the engine there’s no failsafe message displayed? What happens when you select Drive? Does the car set off in 1st gear and upshift through any gears or does the failsafe message immediately appear and the transmission selects 4th gear? Or will the car not even move in Drive or Reverse?

Phil

Hi
I have to clear the fault to reset the message
Everything as normal when I select drive or reverse, she will move forward and reverse no problem it’s only when you try to pull away as with normal driving and the revs go above about 1500ish (I can check exact revs if needed) you get the thud as she go’s into 4th and you get the squeal


Les

So this is the exact same issue that you had with the previous transmission installed?

Clearly we’re still trying to establish if it’s a transmission fault or something else in the driveline like the transfer box. As long as you aren’t trying to tow anything or need to climb any steep hills I wondered if you should try temporarily disconnecting the 16-pin connector at the back of the transmission (tie it up out of the way so that it can’t get wrapped around the propshaft).



This will put your transmission into failsafe mode so that you drive around locked in 4th gear with the torque converter open. Reverse should also work fine, but the system pressures aren’t modulated at all, so Drive and Reverse might engage with a bit of a thump. You should be able to drive around all day like this (a guy on another forum drove his L322 around like this for 9 months!) to see if the issue reoccurs.

Phil

Oil filled correctly?

Hi Phil
Yes exactly the same issue as was with the original transmission fitted
I will try this the weekend and report back what happens

myfirstl322,
Oil was filled as per ZF & Land Rover manuals, issues arose before any changes were done

Hi Phil
Sorry for late update, been quite busy.
Right situation so far:-
The car will drive in falesfe mode with plug removed as advised (plug now back in)
As in previous posts I have a new torque converter fitted, a known working gearbox fitted (complete fluid and filter change(fluid twice))
I have now replaced the transfer box (oil change at same time) and the shift motor (shift motor striped brushes and variable resister checked all working as shood)
I am now realy scratching my head as still have same isue ,only the two ecu's left to replace
also did the reset procedure when fitting replacement shift motor

Silly question.. why is the RAC not fixing this?

What happens if you select Manual mode when stationary and then manually upshift through the gears as you accelerate?

Phil

Hi
As before go to pull away in first starts to move at about 2000rpm then straight into 5th failsafe mode.