Yesterday afternoon I began to lose power on dual carriageway and a message appeared on the dash to say "transmission fault - limited gears available". With my foot right down on the accelerator that car was moving at around 15 mph as I made my way to a layby. As I came into the layby the steering was getting progressively heavier until I managed to park up and turn off the engine. There were no mechanical noises and a look under the car showed there was nothing leaking or amissthere - similarly when I lifted the bonnet, everything looked OK there. After waiting a couple of minutes, I restarted it. It started and the dashboard lights cleared but then the engine light, battery light and oil light reappeared and despite pressing the accelerator, the revs didn't rise and I suspect it had stalled but due to the traffic noise and a truck that was parked in front of me, it was difficult to hear anything.

I summoned my breakdown service and they plugged in a diagnostic machine that returned two error codes. One was a problem with 3-4 shift and the other was a fuel rail low fuel pressure. The guy checked the codes on another forum and the evidence pointed to a failed solenoid. He didn't check the other code as he knew that he would be unable to effect a roadside repair and so the recovery vehicle was called. The car will be delivered to "my" garage on Monday.

I had already bought the service kit and was planning to add gearbox oil change and filter to the service but will now have to add solenoid to the service list. Does anyone know which solenoid is likely to be the culprit and what the fuel rail low fuel pressure will be? The recovery guy suggested that the low fuel pressure may have affected the power to the vehicle and subsequently to the gearbox which would have hindered its ability to change gear.

Regards,

Steve

The solenoid I think you're referring to is a gearbox one and will be contained within the valve body of the gearbox, I would strongly advise you to seek professional help i.e. gearbox specialist... It is a real minefield inside an auto gearbox, and without the necessary tools, computers, dynos, it is almost impossible to effect a repair. Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

I went to the garage on Monday afternoon after receiving a call from them to say that their diagnostic machine had picked up low fuel pressure and that I required a new fuel pump. I took with me, 8 litres of Castrol Stop-Start 5W30 engine oil for them to complete the service and then discussed the problem of the car with the garage owner/mechanic. I mentioned that the recovery guy had found two fault codes; the low fuel pressure and 3-4 shift. According to feedback on another Range Rover forum the 3-4 shift fault code had pointed to a solenoid problem. He said that he had not run the diagnostics on the gearbox but only the engine. His thinking was that he would get the engine running properly first and would then see to any other problems. The recovery guy had also suggested that the 3-4 shift fault code might have been linked to the low fuel pressure because the gearbox might not have had enough power to change gear and that would have led to the "limited gears available" message. I had previously received a "transmission fault" message soon after buying the car and this had been sorted out when I upgraded the battery from a 100 amp battery to a 110 amp one. I am hoping that the replacement fuel pump might clear up the 3-4 shift fault code.

If it doesn't and either way, I will have the gearbox oil changed and a new filter fitted. This will cost around £112 for filter and oil (excluding labour). I may have to add the cost of a solenoid to that as well. I have asked the garage to use the diagnostic machine to find out which parking sensor is not working - I suspect one of the front ones - and then I will get that sorted. My final "big" job will be to remove the rear camera to open it up to clean the lens as there is some crud that is ruining the view.....

I also have to replace one of the CV boots but can do this in slower time but before the next MOT in August 2018. I also have a small oil leak from the front diff that also needs some investigation. Hopefully by December, we will have a sorted Range Rover.

Regards,

Steve

You really need to find a gearbox specialist, even a LR main agent will have problems with gearbox faults, all a dealer would offer you is an oil change and a gearbox change... a specialist gearbox repairer would be able to refurbish / repair individual gearbox components, test the gearbox and set it up. Modern Automatic ECU controlled gearboxes are normally tested on a test rig off the car, plus gearbox surgery requires an almost sterile environment, not the sort of thing that you find in most garages.

I would either do a search on here for recommended gearbox specialists in your area, or contact ZF to find a service centre near you  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

On Friday I went to the garage to pay my £584.83 bill which included £50 for diagnostics and £250 for labour and £97 for spark plugs (!!!). However, there is still a problem because the fuel gauge is showing empty despite being full to the brim. The garage claims that their mechanic is capable and blame a faulty fuel pump and the supplier of the part claims that it is not faulty and that he mechanic has upset electric in the fuel tank. They will not replace it unless they have it back for testing but that is impossible because if they remove it, i cannot drive my vehicle to return it. A catch 22 situation. However, the supplier would trust the opinion of the local Land Rover specialist and so I need to make an appointment with him. The rear view camera, which was working before I took it to the garage and that has worked once since returning from the garage, doesn't work now! They suggest that I have a loose connection but I think they must have snagged the wire when they removed the fuel tank and replaced it after fitting the new fuel pump. Anyway, another task for the specialist plus sorting out the parking sensors and recommending someone to replace the shift solenoid in the gearbox. I should have just gone to the specialist in the first place.

SWMBO is not happy at the money that has been spent on this vehicle in the 6 weeks that we have had it and further problems are reducing the pleasure of owning a Supercharged Range Rover. £195 to get an MOT, £432 on tyre's because it had been fitted with wrong speed rated tyres, £120 for a new battery because the one fitted was underpowered and now £585 for a fuel pump and service which has not been rectified and has produced a rear camera problem. I have the fuel pump problem, rear camera problem, parking sensor problem and shift solenoid problem to sort out to hopefully have a functioning car. The question now is, do we pay out more to get it sorted or trade it in for another Range Rover? We'll see what the specialist has to say.

Regards,

Steve

You got any further updates pal?
Ive got a 2005 RR so just keeping an eye on things lol Current Cars -
FFRR L322 4.2 Supercharged 'Bonatti Grey'
Mercedes C270cdi

I appreciate this is an old post Steve, and you look to have moved onto another Range, but did you ever find a solution to this?

My 4.2 has the exact same symptoms in regards to the jolt, but also a slight rough idle on first start of the day, as well as not starting on the first attempt perhaps a few times a month.

I’ve booked in for a gearbox flush, but then was wondering whether it was perhaps all related to the fuel delivery issue and a new fuel pump may solve all the issues. Unfortunately there are no codes to guide me in the right direction.

Thanks

Dan 2012 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography
2005 4.2 V8 SC
2003 4.4 V8

You are best sending Steve a PM, he hasn't posted on here for 18months now...  Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your message. I went to a gearbox specialist and was dismayed to hear that I needed a new gearbox or a gearbox strip down. This was going to cost £4500-8000! I decided to do a straight swop with a garage for my 55 plate Range Rover for a BMW 535d touring on an 05 plate. After 2 years and having spent £9.5K maintaining the BMW I sold it in 2020 for £3,200. I then bought another Range Rover, an 08 plated TDV8 for £8.5K. A year later, having spent a fortune on replacing a cracked inlet manifold, leak valves and a host of other things that drained my bank account, in September 2021 it broke down.

I was told that I needed two new turbos and the cost from Land Rover was £8K! I couldn’t afford this and so I sold it as broken and only got £2K for it! In September we bought a 53 plate Honda Accord Tourer for £900 to use until the Range Rover was fixed and this has been reliability personified. Normal annual servicing and the usual sundries has meant we only need to fill it with petrol and never have to fear any bing bongs and a message on the dashboard. Having had three L322s; 4.4 BMW engine, 4.2 Jaguar engine and 3.6 Ford/Peugeot engine my love of the L322 is well and truly over!

Good luck with getting yours fixed but if you don’t want to pay out, best thing is to px it for a Honda or Toyota and get trouble free motoring….

Regards,

Steve