Hello all,

I got a 2003MY TD6 a week ago, 204 000 km on the clock and a rebuilt gearbox at 195 000 km.
I have been driving my first FFRR on a daily basis (700km so far) and I have been very happy with it. However, today after driving 185 km on a “highway”, non-stop at speeds of 90-110 kph, I stopped at the traffic lights, the gear on D and my foot on the brake. It took a while for the light to change and as soon as I lifted my foot, the car started reversing at a high speed. I immediately slam the brakes but the car was still trying to reverse. Then I quickly shuffled the gear selector from D to P and back after which the car was functioning normal again. Fortunately I did not hit the car which was standing behind me, but it was really close. My friends in the car noticed the reversing but had no clue what could have caused it.

I have already contacted the garage from where I purchased the car for a solution/explanation. The owner has been extremely helpful and I am waiting to hear from him tomorrow at the latest. As I was searching the internet, I could not find anything close to my case which happened today. Therefore I would be very interested to know if any of the forum members have experienced anything similar to this?

The gearbox shifts smoothly and silently (almost hard to notice any gear shift), there are no errors or whatsoever. The only thing that comes to my mind is that when I first started the car today before the long trip, I did it unintentionally with the selector on R (the car started fine, I had my foot on the brake). Could this have something to do with it?

For starters you need to check your gear selector is tight and well greased (this is under the car offside/right side gearbox). If all OK there lift the gear lever panel surround and check all is connected properly there. More likely to be mechanical than electronic, though you never know.....

Check wiki for more .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

the car should not start at all if a gear is selected,only with park or nutral selected should the car start,

In my old RR Classic I had the accelerator cable get stuck in the engine bay resulting in the car trying to drive off when my foot was on the brake but I think the L322 is now all electrical. I have never heard of a Range Rover gearbox changing from forward to reverse gear though. Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

As Joe90 suggests, check the linkage on the side of the gearbox. Needs lubricating ?

Strange...... 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

Thanks for the tips! Especially on the cable. Will check this later on.

The garage owner from whom I purchased the car from, told me that he has never heard of anything like that. He also consulted the guys that repair automatic gearboxes and this issue was all new to them. The garage owner asked me to carry out a few tests on an open parking lot.

Test 1: Shut off the engine while R is engaged and restart on R without the foot on the brake: The motor fired up and the car started reversing.

Test 2: Shut off the engine while D is engaged and restart on D without the foot on the brake: The motor fired up and the car started rolling forwards right away.

I wasn't able to replicate the reverse problem on D.

I called the garage owner who is going to have another garage in Tallinn to read the fault codes. Prior to purchasing the car, I did a comprehensive test drive, I checked car from underneath (on a lift) and read all the fault codes on a professional tool (can't remember the make, but it was a huge orange one with a touch screen). There was only one fault and it related to low voltage on ignition (which was cleared).

New one to me!

Yep, something wrong if it will start in gear  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

Definitely should not start in gear. Maybe when they did the rebuild the sensor or selector cog was not calibrated or connected back properly. Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

So one more feature to test prior to buying a FFRR

To my knowledge the gearbox was rebuilt less than a year ago. I will consult the seller (who is a LR indie BTW) on what would be the best solution to this strange issue. My greatest fear at the moment is that the box needs to be taken out for the fix. The car does not move on P or N, so at least those positions seem to work (the P also "parks" the car, so it does not roll on its own).

What still bothers me the most is that I don't know what caused the car to switch to reverse on its own. And could this happen again while driving (not standing still)? There was absolutely no noises whatsoever when this "gear change" happened.

AS said above the CAR SHOULD NOT START OR ENGINE TURNOVER with the Gear Selector in anything but Park

PS; I always start an auto with my foot on the brake pedal. Just habit.

I paid a visit to an indie in Tallinn. They did confirm that there is a problem (surprise!) but it can't be resolved with a diagnostic tool. Asked me to call back on Monday as they need to do some research. The problem is almost certainly in the electronics but can't say for sure.

To put this another way, if I really wanted to start the car on D or R, what would I have to modify in the car?

You would have to by-pass the inhibitor switch in the sump

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Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

According to the garage in Tallinn, the problem appears to be located in the speedo/cluster/instrument binnacle. The garage was able to gather all sorts of data with the diagnostics from the speedo, except in which position the gear selector was. The correct engaged gear does light up in the cluster, but the speedo does not "understand" the position. So the gear indicator provides the info only for the driver. The diagnostics tool can read from the speedo, when the parking brake is engaged. There were no other problems. My own conclusion is that the reversing issue was most likely caused by the cable, but I will look at that later on.

I was told, that the possible causes for this malfunction could be a) the cluster or its connections have broken on their own, b) something went wrong when the pixels were repaired c) someone has tampered with the cluster and something went wrong unexpectedly (such as mileage clocking). The pixels were fixed by the previous owner. The service history does have gaps, so I don't expect the current mileage to be correct. However, taken the car's otherwise great condition, the mileage is plausable.

The only solution would be to swap the cluster, which would have to be ordered from LR to my cars specification (VIN). Is this so? I have done quite a lot of reading, and to my understanding the only problem would be the possibly incorrect mileage?

Should I try another cluster with the car, what would the parts cost (salvage parts) and what possible problems would I encounter?

Thanks!

The cluster is a VIN locked unit and can't (to my knowledge) be reprogrammed to another vehicle... So, your only choice would be a new unit if yours is un-repairable...

Sorry...