Guessing this is an easy one ...

2003 4.4 Vogue, drives fine on the average small journey up to say 150 miles. But any longer than this and won't select 5th gear, happy in 4th at quite high revs. Then 20 minutes later same happens with 3rd.

In sport mode you can normally get it into 4th at high speed.

Then 20 minutes later get "Transmission overheat" on the LCD.

Ok, ok, so the transmission is overheating - got that bit !

How do i fix it and what should it cost me at my local independant ?

Thank you in advance ! 2003 Vogue 4.4
2005 BMW 330d
Gone - 2002 TD6 HSE

The manufacturer of the gearbox specifies that the oil is changed every 50,000 miles, any time the g/box is overheated the useful life of the oil is halved too as ATF breaks down much faster if it heats beyond it's tolerance.

Old sludgy oil with a partially blocked filter could be causing your overheat problem.

Additionally the oil cooler is a known weak point, so couple this with old oil and you'll get a problem in no time. When was the last time it had a coolant change/flush? Is the correct coolant being used? Has anyone ever mixed red and green/blue etc? As this then reacts and causes loads of sludge.

Dan 

Last edited by dan_uk_1984 on 30th Jun 2010 8:05am. Edited 1 time in total

I've heard this can be due to a partially blocked radiator as the bottom few tubes cool the gearbox or something?, quite a common issue on them, definatly change the gearbox oil and worst scenario might be a new rad too.

Nappler - same problem as you ! sorry for a duplicate thread !

All,

Had the gearbox oil changed by my local independant on Friday - fyi, cost £131.60 ... think I am happy with that !

Anyway, yesterday the problem was still happening. Obviously needed doing since garage said that the oil that was drained wasn't pretty !

What is the next thing to try guys ?

Regards

Scorchio ! 2003 Vogue 4.4
2005 BMW 330d
Gone - 2002 TD6 HSE

Scorchio did you change the rad too?, I have and the only thing I can think of now is either an airlock or it's got to be an iffy gearbox sensor.
In the last week my car has had a new rad,new water pump,new alternator(this suddenly went too),new gearbox oil,new coolant, it's starting to get more than a little irritating!.

Does yours come up with the transmission overheat message still?, as mine doesn't it just seems to go into the gearbox setting for it now and then, although once turned off then on it's ok.

Nappler - optimistically thought the oil change would fix it ... so no - haven't done anything else as yet ...

No, didn't get the overheat message yesterday, but don't normally until a good half hour of driving after the gearbox has gone whappy - by which time I was home yesterday. 2003 Vogue 4.4
2005 BMW 330d
Gone - 2002 TD6 HSE

I had the same symptoms, changed the oil and the filter, still had the problem. Then changed the radiator and the heat exchanger, problem went away. Filter was black, radiator was blocked on the bottom few tubes.

Bearing in mind that when you drain the oil, you only get less than half the total volume the box uses, out. The rest is in the torque converter etc. Not sure how the garages "flush" (or if they do).

It is fairly easy to check the colour of the oil - if it is still dary after the change, I'd do it again. I'd also confirm with the garage that they did the filter and cleaned the sump out.

It is possible to flush the box, it involves taking a hose off somewhere and letting it pump the new oil in and the old oil out.

Not exactly sure on the procedure and never liked the idea of doing it! 

I'm sitting in a petrol station at the moment after the car has done it again, guess I must have a blocked oil cooler, it's all I can think of now, since I've owned the car it's been off the road more than on!, and I thought a TVR was unreliable.

Nappler wrote:

I'm sitting in a petrol station at the moment after the car has done it again, guess I must have a blocked oil cooler, it's all I can think of now, since I've owned the car it's been off the road more than on!, and I thought a TVR was unreliable.

Problems caused by poor maintenance (by previous owner) can't really be blamed on reliability...

I'm just having a flick around online to see if there is any way to read the emperature of the box without T4 and I can't find anything. I know my OBDC software doesn't read g'box codes or temps. 

ok, excuse my complete incompetence ...

So I'll change the filter but realistically this is unlikely to fix ?

What sort of cost for a new rad including fitting from an independant would you say ?

thanks guys - I am clueless 2003 Vogue 4.4
2005 BMW 330d
Gone - 2002 TD6 HSE

I'm confused now as to who in this thread needs the help!

Scorchio - when they changed the fluid, did they change the filter too? If not then when the oil overheats it can start to sludge up, when this happens the filter starts to block which in turn causes slower oil flow = overheat.

I'd be amazed if they did an oil change without changing the filter.... 

dan_uk_1984 wrote:

Nappler wrote:

I'm sitting in a petrol station at the moment after the car has done it again, guess I must have a blocked oil cooler, it's all I can think of now, since I've owned the car it's been off the road more than on!, and I thought a TVR was unreliable.

Problems caused by poor maintenance (by previous owner) can't really be blamed on reliability...

I'm just having a flick around online to see if there is any way to read the emperature of the box without T4 and I can't find anything. I know my OBDC software doesn't read g'box codes or temps.

Scorchio wrote:

ok, excuse my complete incompetence ...

So I'll change the filter but realistically this is unlikely to fix ?

What sort of cost for a new rad including fitting from an independant would you say ?

thanks guys - I am clueless

The oil cooler was blocked, the car sat in traffic for 30 mins yesterday and was fine, it seems the problem has been fixed.
Now I can finally start enjoying my RR without worrying about it going into cooling mode.