Hi,
I am a new member and first-time poster, so please excuse any unintended breaches of etiquette...
I have an 0303 4.4V8 that has done 80k, so not excessive mileage for age. Apart from (lots of) niggles such as rear wiper motor, battery, recent new rad and air suspension compressor the old thing has run pretty well.
The gearbox is displaying all of tell-tale symptoms of terminality recorded in this forum and elsewhere and it could sh*t itself any time soon.
Does anyone have any positive experience with RR transmission specialists to the south or west of London, or in Surrey, who are more sensible than the mindless main agent in Surbiton who simply says "computer says new gearbox - £5k, sir"?
The only specialists I have located are all up north and I'm reluctant to drive it that far in case it lets go during the journey.
The other thing is the appalling economy (what was I expecting?). Usual driving is round town, school/shopping runs etc, if we're lucky about 13mpg. On longer runs at an (indicated) 85mph on cruise we'll see 20mpg, so the blended average lands at 14.7mpg for the last 17k miles/two years. Is this hideously bad, or about right for a car of this age?
All/any comments gratefully received!
Cheers

MPG is about right for a V8 in and around London...

We are site sponsors and are 100miles down the M4 (just north of Bristol) and have plenty of experience with your gearbox... And would be happy to quote you for a replacement and happy to have the car collected if that would help...

If you would like further information please send me a PM

Craig
cam-tech-landrover.co.uk

I used JT Automatics in Erith just off M25 Dartford side for my TD6, they were spot on and very reasonable, i paid £1830 inc vat with a 2 year warrenty to fully rebuild my current transmission......give them a call

What symptoms is your box showing? RRPhil is a ZF box wizard and will probably help you diagnose the fault and how to fix with a bit of info. [img]http://www.fuelly.com/driver/rob2529/range-rover[img/]
04, 4.4V8, Vogue Oslo Blue with LPG.
"You can sleep in your car, BUT you can't race your house!!!!"

If something can't be fixed with a hammer....... You have yourself an electrical fault!

Many thanks for the various replies.
The 'box faults include:

- regularly going into 'Trans failsafe mode' (putting it into Park and switching car on and off again clears that through)
- poor pick up of drive even when throttle is open a bit (or a lot!)
- jolty delivery of drive, often accompanied by a screeching sound
- slow shifting
- a very notchy feel to the gear selector
- occasionally very hard to get the selector in/out of Drive or Reverse
- constant rumbling noise/feeling, especially at low speed and with lots of steering lock on

All of these faults are intermittent, but pulling away from a standstill on a slight incline seems to make them happen more often than not.

Cheers

Fergus I'm no expert but you can do a gearbox reset that it will then learn your style of driving and settings needed. If the prev owner booted it everywhere if might have learned that style. If you haven't done it already unlock the car, get in and push the accelerator to the floor (remember to go through the kick down), key in ignition with foot still hard down, turn to position 2, hold the acc down for 30-40 sec then release, take keys out and restart.
The rumbling could be something linked to the steering/suspension. How many miles has it covered? [img]http://www.fuelly.com/driver/rob2529/range-rover[img/]
04, 4.4V8, Vogue Oslo Blue with LPG.
"You can sleep in your car, BUT you can't race your house!!!!"

If something can't be fixed with a hammer....... You have yourself an electrical fault!

Thanks Rob, that's good chat - I'll try that reset routine tomorrow.
The car has done 80, 63k when I got it in Aug '10. Has been driven "like Miss Daisy" by the missus and kids' nanny since and I drive it like there's an egg stuck to the throttle pedal to try and getter better fuel mileage; best I've achieved on a run is 22mpg at 3,000rpm max - more like low teens on school runs etc. Lucky we don't do more miles.
Have learned to live with the idiosyncratic 'box behaviour, but surely only a matter of time before it lets go in a big way...
Despite all the problems it's a lovely old thing and I really don't know how 'civilians' manage with lesser cars!
Cheers

Have a look at the gear linkage threads as well, some of your problems could be related to the gear linkage being "out of lube". MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!