Hi,

I have just had a new alternator fitted and the battery was totally flat. After using another battery to get the car started, the battery was then put back in the car with the intention to charge the battery for a couple of hours. There was a new message on the dash SLOW DOWN. I was told by my mechanic that this would go away once the battery had recharged. I was advised to take the car on a long drive to recharge the battery. After two hours I returned home and reversed the car into its normal parking position. I turned off the car and put the selector in Park. I then tried to restart it but it wouldn't and a message appeared PUT IN NEUTRAL.

I put it in neutral and it started but this was followed by message TRANSFER BOX NEUTRAL and I noticed the the low gear symbol on the dash is flashing. I put it back into park and there is a strange noise, and I turned it off. Two messages appear now TRANSFER BOX NEUTRAL and APPLY HANDBRAKE even though the handbrake has been applied. I restarted the car and it starts but every time the gear selector is put back into park it makes a strange whirring noise. Flick the low/high range selector makes no difference and when I put it in either Drive or Reverse the car doesn't move and just revs.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Steve

I don't know the answer, but do know that when the battery is completely flat it closes the systems down, so perhaps some kind of reset is required when you have changed batteries back and forth, either using a diagnostic machine or by (I think, maybe someone else could verify) taking the leads off the battery and shorting them together (off the battery). The fact the car starts is however less consistent with that. I know from my current car that complete discharge can ruin a battery in that it becomes incapable of holding charge again and bad batteries can cause malfunctions. You could try the 'good' battery again and see if that helps.

My other thought is that the switchgear for the change from high to low ratio may somehow have been adversely affected, I have had problems with a car like yours getting stuck in low ratio, but fortunately not between ratios, maybe checking and cleaning the contacts might do something. The whirring noise etc might suggest the signal is getting through but some mechanical item is broken, when mine was stuck in low ratio I was told if it was just the contacts it was not expensive to fix, but otherwise it was, sorry.

Good luck. Only Range Rovers since 1988

KS,

The transfer box will only change if in neutral, not sure from reading your post you have tried this?

Worth a try if you haven't.

Cheers

Simon

The noise you hear when you engage Park is the park lock ratchet mechanism because the transmission output shaft is turning. This is because your transfer box is in neutral. I should try to reset the shift motor using Fuse 37 if I were you.

Phil

Thanks for your replies and particularly to Phil for explaining what is causing the noise when we engage park. All I have to do now if translate that into French so that I can convey it to my mechanic. The mechanic, Bruno came this morning to look at the car and according to my wife, he disconnected the battery and reconnected it but the error message stayed the same and there was the same crunching sound when the car is put into park. He then removed something from underneath to look at and then put it back. This afternoon, we have a guy coming with a diagnostic machine to try to find out what is causing the problem.

I was aware that the gearbox has to be in neutral before engaging low range as I have had to use the lower range on a few occasions. Even when the gearbox is in neutral, flicking the low/high range switch made no difference and the light continues to flash. Fingers crossed it will not be an expensive fix or too difficult.

Regarding fuse 37; I had read somewhere that fuse 37 is related to towing and several people had said that the fuse should not be there. When I looked at my fuse box under the glove box, fuse 37 is the 7th fuse along from the left and is a 5A fuse. There is a fuse in this location. There are no fuses at the 6th or 8th position and this tallies with the fuse diagram on the fuse box lid. I took the fuse out the other day and put it back but it made no difference to the messages whether it was in or out.

Regards,

Steve

The holder for fuse 37 is supposed to be vacant and a fuse is only inserted in this position to force the transfer box to engage its neutral position. This is so that the car can be towed on its wheels without causing the transmission output shaft to rotate, which would damage the transmission.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

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OK, the electrician came Road this afternoon with his diagnostic tool and plugged it in to read fault codes. There were no fault codes coming up for transfer box. He then checked the contacts underneath the vehicle on the transfer box and these were clean. He then checked the fuses in positions 33 and 37 and both were OK. He then checked the 50A fuse near the transfer box ECUand this was fine too. He then removed the transfer box ECU and found that some of the sockets were lacking a contact. After opening the ECU and checking voltages on the circuit board found that one of the capacitors were damaged. I need to order a new transfer box ECU that are available as reconditioned on eBay for between £22 to £185. He is almost 100% sure that this is the cause of the problem as the transfer box is only receiving about 5 volts and the ECU was not responding to the diagnostic machine.

I cannot carry out the manual calibration test because I only have around 20 feet of driveway before the gates and definitely not enough space to reach 6mph! I will have to wait for the ECU to arrive which will take between 4 days to 2 weeks depending on who the courier is.

Regards,

Steve

[quote="RRPhil"]The holder for fuse 37 is supposed to be vacant and a fuse is only inserted in this position to force the transfer box to engage its neutral position. This is so that the car can be towed on its wheels without causing the transmission output shaft to rotate, which would damage the transmission.

[

You need to remove this fuse and see if the manual calibration procedure for the shift motor can be followed.

[

Phil

Hi Phil,
Will this procedure be the same for the later RR(2011/2)?
Regards,
Frans 2012 TDV8 Vogue SE 4.4

Hi Frans,

The Magna Steyr DD295 transfer box fitted to the later vehicles is a more sophisticated device (http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic12404.html) and it is no longer necessary to select neutral in the transfer box to allow the vehicle to be towed on all four wheels.

Provided that the transfer box is in high range then the vehicle may be towed for a maximum of 1 hour at a maximum speed of 50km/h, by just selecting neutral on the transmission.

Under no circumstances should the vehicle be towed on two wheels (i.e. a suspended tow).

Phil

Thanks Phil,and your other writeup is exellent!!
Frans 2012 TDV8 Vogue SE 4.4

Thanks RRPhil. I thought I would try the procedure this morning and now my car is working like it should. Just need to get some better coolant so that the check coolant level message stops coming on! Now I can cancel the order for a new transfer box ECU - £22 plus £59 shipping......

Regards,

Steve

Thanks RRPhil. I thought I would try the procedure this morning and now my car is working like it should. Just need to get some better coolant so that the check coolant level message stops coming on! Now I can cancel the order for a new transfer box ECU - £22 plus £59 shipping......

Regards,

Steve

Dang! I was hoping you were going to follow through with the new/used ECU and fix your issue. I have not been able to get out of LOW range for over 5 years (not without manually winding the transfer box back in again)! Tried just about everything with lots of help from RRPhil.

Also:


The only bit missing from the calibration procedure is:

Turn on ignition
Put gearbox in Neutral
Turn off ignition

then do the rest from 10. onwards

(you can't put the gearbox in Neutral without turning on the ignition!) .
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

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