I was driving round Bath yesterday, up and down lots of steep hills with sharp corners. As a result I was using the manual gears a lot to control descents and to hold gears etc.

When I stopped I got TFP on the dash, locked in what felt like 3rd gear and no manual shift available. I turned off the engine when I got to some traffic lights and the problem went away. Until I got home then the message pinged up again as I turned the ign’ off.

I left the car for about 30 minutes then took it out for a hard drive (very hard, brakes were smoking as I pulled up) there was no message and she shifted fine, even under a lot of abuse. When I turned off, there was no message.

My drive to work this morning was uneventful.

Now do you think this could be a “one off” just the car reminding me it’s a Range Rover? I’m leaning (mainly because I want to) that way over imminent mechanical/electrical failure.

About 15K ago I had the trans oil and filter changed, the garage reported no chunks of metal in the old fluid etc. Could the many hills just have made the trans ecu think there was excessive slippage?

Dan 

Dan,
How old is the radiator? If you are still on the original, I'd pop a new one in it.

The "oil cooler" is really a heat exchanger between the radiator water and oil. If the radiator is original, its likely that the lower tubes are not as efficient as they should be so its not permitting enough cooler water to get through the exchanger.

I was cynical until I looked at the positioning of the intake & discharge outlets on the radiator, and the little piep which goes to the exchanger.

New radiator and hoses, about £150, replace the coolant (or not). About an hour to fit, once you get the LH threaded fan off!

finding out what 'tfp' stands for would help to diagnose the problem

Clue is in the title...

Trans Failsafe Program - Recent Experience

It's when the FFRR alters the gearbox settings to protect it from something.

i see that now....[hangs head in shame.]


in the manaul on page 153, its states that ''IN HIGH AMBIENT TEMPERATURES, DURING EXTREME LOAD CONDITIONS, THE TRANSMISSION WILL SELECT A GEAR CHANGE PATTERN DESIGNED TO AID THE COOLING PROCESS, WHILST ENABLING THE GEARBOX TO CONTINUE PERFORMING NORMALLY''....

could this have happened..

Dan, sounds like you need to buy my RR for 13K  2005 Audi A8 W12
1978 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9
1986 Mercedes 420 SL 4.2

Trans Failsafe Prog on the BMW E38 7 series could indicate a faulty camshaft sensor,knackered gearbox, misfire, VANOS unit issue, replacement gearbox oil filter incorrect type, plus a few other permutations.

It is there to make the thing limp home on the E38, given the parentage of the L322 I would not be surprised if the genetics are similar. Certainly when you speak to BMW about Lifetime Gearbox oil they insist lifetime, when you speak to a ZF specialist in the States like Kirt Koeller then he says a definite no-no, you need to change it more often. The Glasgow, Scotland ZF specialist agrees completely with this as well.

I had my E38 gearbox done at 100k miles a full tranny flush and genuine Filtran filter, maybe this needs doing on the FFRR as well at regular intervals? I know my E38s better right now having owned the same one since March 2000, do not know as much about the RR (so far)

Sounds more like a one off glitch to me, espeically as it hasn't done it again even when provoked.

It's not heat related, I've ruled that out by driving it hard and forcing TC slippage (by appying brake whilst driving). It also wasn't the overheat shift pattern, it was 3rd gear or above only which is the limp home no other gears will work mode. When they overheat they come up with "Trans Overheat".

Also as I said, I've done an oil and filter change so the oil is in good condition etc.

Hopefully it is just a random thing that'll never come back! I got home ok today with no messages either. All very odd.

The WSM says that if the ECU detects an error you will get TFP Message when the fault appears so the fact I've mainly got it when shutting down makes me think its an electrical gremlin.

I'm going to check battery and alt voltages this eve... 

Can you get the fault code read?

Mine had exactly the same with an intermitent TFP on the display.

Code was:

P0705 - TRANSMISSION RANGE SENSOR CIRCUIT MALFUNCTION (PRNDL INPUT)

I changed the inhibitor switch (i paid £90 for part) and fault has never come back?

Yeah, I'm going to drop it in for a code session at LR, trouble is I just dont trust them not to try and rape me... 

If you're ever near the Dartford tunnel in Kent, pop over to my work & I'll diagnose for you - don't do LR bits so no hard sell

If it does show as the above code, which I beleive is a common fault with RR and BMW, then have a read of the following, part was quite straight forward to fit in the end?

http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/viewtopic...p;start=30

dan, by any chance have you been messing with your ibus interface before you had the fault.
i was with my one the other day and today when i went out i started getting the message pop up LIMIT 4 MPH keep flashing up.
daveo V8 facelift Range Rover Autobiography 22" wheels.
1976 Harley Davidson Iron Head Sportster

Hadn't been fiddling with the iBus that eve, not messed around for a while actually...

Not had it since that eve, so i'm pretending like it never happened!

D