Hi guys I drove down to Devon on the weekend which from where I live is a 230 mile 6 hour journey with about 100 miles of motorway and the remaining journey taking the scenic A roads through the lovely countryside. On the journey after about 4 hours driving the gearbox stopped changing up to a higher gear than 2nd which I noticed straight away so I pulled over and let the car rest for 10 mins at which point I was able to continue with all gears engaging fine.

As you will know Devon has some really steep roads with upto 25% inclines, after the initial issue the same fault recurred about 30 mins later, again a 10 minute engine off break sorted the problem and I was able to drive on to complete my journey.

Basically the car drove fine all weekend while I was in Devon doing short journeys etc but when driving home today again via the scenic constant uphill/downhill for 80 miles route after about an hour the same fault occurred. This time I parked up, waited 10 mins then when I drove off I changed manually avoiding unnecessary gear changes (keeping in 3rd/4th) and once on the motorway I popped into automatic mode and the car drove back the remaining 140 miles fine.

I'm guessing the extreme driving and long and demanding journey caused the gearbox to get hot (no fault messages on display btw), however since then I have driven the car normally around town and it's driving fine. Is this something I need to be worried about or should I put it down to the old girl getting on (147k miles) and the extreme journey being a bit much for her in one go?

Thanks in advance for any advice. 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 v8 LPG, Java Black, 22' Hawke Alloys, Black Beast

Sounds like the fluid is overheating, and putting the box into a safe mode.

Could be a blocked transmission cooler? There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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Do you know if gearbox temperature is related to the number of gear changes being made or does it overheat the same amount whether it is in one gear for the same amount of time? The reason I ask is this problem only seemed to happen when on hilly roads with the auto box constantly changing up and down - when on the motorway in 5th for long periods it was fine? 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 v8 LPG, Java Black, 22' Hawke Alloys, Black Beast

On the motorway it would have had nice fast air through the cooler and didn't have to work very had. On the hills it does more work with much less cooling air, so I'd def look at the gearbox oil cooler first, as above.

 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

Bottom of the rad can get sludged up too which is where the gearbox oil cooler gets its coolant from I believe. New rad required?

I'd be checking the oil level as first port of call. Too little oil in the box means that whats left will heat up more...

Hi so from the looks of it the issue is most likely to be either a clogged up radiator or a poor working gearbox oil cooler - how should I go about trouble shooting to find out which of the 2 it is - is the oil cooler something i can check from underneath the car (say by checking the pipes coming and going from the cooler)? 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 v8 LPG, Java Black, 22' Hawke Alloys, Black Beast

Having been through all of this a few years ago my money is on a blocked inlet pipe on your trans oil cooler.Changing the rad will solve the problem for a short while but it will come back.There was a a Technical Service Bulletin issued for this fault.To identify the problem,you might be lucky by disconnecting pipe work and having a look, unless you can get some sort of Boroscope style camera up and into the pipe work.I wasted money on changing fluid and the rad addressing this problem prior to changing the trans oil cooler,don't waste yours doing same.The problem has not come back since doing it,check out this thread for more info and my posting on it



http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic20037....rathbranv8

+1 above.

Best change both rad and cooler if you can afford to . Save a lot of grief in the long term!

Hi rathbranv8 thanks for your post and yes our symptoms are pretty much identical apart from my car not having any coolant leak and having a good concentration of coolant/water. Does anyone know how difficult it is to replace the transmission oil cooler - does the oil have to be drained from the gearbox first or can it be changed without draining? Also do i need to replace the pipes or just the cooler?

Also does anyone know what gearbox oil temperature the safe more is triggered at, would the oil have gotten hot enough for it to have been damaged? I didn't get any dashboard warning lights I only had the car not wanting to shift above 2nd gear? 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 v8 LPG, Java Black, 22' Hawke Alloys, Black Beast

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic19859.html

Check out the WIKI link above,one of our colleagues changed the unit and did a write up.I got mechanic to do the work a few years ago but I believe you could change the unit without draining the fluid first and you do not require to change the lines,you might lose a bit in process.

My understanding is that the gearbox employs the cooling strategy ie locking into gear and using high revs for cooling when oil temp exceeds 140c,and if the fluid got above 160c it has been effectively cooked and needs replacing.The car doesn't throw up any warning lights during this process...