I recently fitted a new rad to my 3.9 v8 R.R. The rad had water and 2 x oil coolers. However, since fitting, the auto gearbox doesn't seem right. It seems to change gear at higher revs and seems to 'search' for a gear at certain low speeds. The main problem occured tonight, I started it up put it into drive and nothing happened. I went all thro' the box and low ratio as well, but nothing. After sitting in the car park for about 10minutes, with the engine running, 'D' took hold and we drove home. I remember sometime back putting in Dexron III in the box instead of Dexron IID, would this make a difference? I was told then that it would be OK to use. Any advice appreciated, Thanks.
It seems to me like your transmission fluid is at to low a level or is too thin. The change in fluid (from IID to III) should have shown itself as a problem fairly quickly so I doubt that is the problem although, it may be exacerbating it.
On or around Fri, 19 Dec 2003 01:12:08 -0000, "Bill Payer" enlightened us thusly:
dunno which Dexron III is. if it's synthetic, then it shouldn't be mixed with older mineral stuff, probably, and this might cause problems. Having said that, some say that the whole ATF thing is bollox anyway and that it doesn't matter which you use. I suspect that rather depends on the gearbox
- some may be more critical than others. Dexron II is what the book says. Check the fluid level, idling with the box cold.
This may complete way off the mark but my Dad had a Oil cooler on his Granada which was cooled by the water system rather than air. I don't know if Rangies have the same set up but hope not.
Anyway the water leaked into the ATF and for ages Dad couldn't work out why the ATF level kept on rising.
Needless to say eventually the gearbox needed replacement when it failed.
Just thought it worthy of mention on the off chance.
And while I think on I had a similar problem with My Granada just recently when the same symtpoms (as yours) occured.This time it was due to a chaffed dip stick tube leaking out ATF... fixed the tube and refilled and It's been ok since.
I wrongly assumed, as you do, that the increasingly large pool of fluid on the drive ras from one of the Landie fleet ..... just shows even Fords leak...which is perhaphs why Ford felt at home buying Landrover.
Lee D
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usually ALL automatic transmission fluid is designed to be mixed with each other and work .
you are most likely suffering from a low level of fluid.
you need to put handbrake on and choc the wheels or get someone sit inside vehicle,with engine running at idle and in drive . check auto fluid level and top up if necessary , it seems almost certain you are low in fluid but may have not checked the level properly as mentioned above .
make sure you have no leaks from the oil cooler , you might have lost fluid over a period of time .
Dark atf = hight temperature in box, this usually means trouble,slipping clutches /or summat.If there is a filter in the box sump ,if clogged this can restrict flow to pick up not giving proper pressures
Make certain you are checking the fluid level by the book. Check it when cold, in neutral, and only when you have cycled it through all the gear positions a few times.
Dark fluid is a very bad sign in most circumstances as what you are seeing in the oil is bits of the brake/clutch material that the gerarbox relies on. This will also clog the oil filter and jam the valves up after a while.
You say drive is bad, what about reverse ?
A common fault is caused by drive clutch A which is used for all forward gears. The clutch slips causing a loss of forward drive, gradually getting worse. Reverse is unaffected, hence the question above.
Too much fluid will burn out the clutches. If you had too much fluid in the gearbox it is probable that the box was overfilled after the radiator was changed and that has damaged the box.
The A clutch is the easiest to fix though so if reverse is good and you are prepared to do the work yourself it'll cost you around fifty quid in parts plus oil to replace the plates in the A clutch. (takes about half an hour to do once the gearbox is out of the vehicle.)
On or around Fri, 19 Dec 2003 23:58:37 +0000 (UTC), Dave White enlightened us thusly:
2 things about that:
1) you can't change the oil completely - you can however change the better part of it by draining it - what remains is the contents of the torque converter; and
2) you need to change the filter in the gearbox, at the same time, or you're wasting the price of the oil, really. The filter costs about 25 quid and you have to drop the 'box sump to change it - if you have time constraints, get a sump seal at the same time in case it needs changing - if not, pull it and examine the seal - if it looks sound, it'll probably seal OK anyway, and if not you can get a new one before re-assembling it. This is why the commments about time contraints.
been there done that, eventually it stops altogether... however, a slipping A clutch is not an on-off fault - once it's slipping, it's slipping and it don't take long to fail completely IME, about 100 miles I think it was on mine.
heheh.
I was wondering about this on the one I have here with a burnt-out A clutch. But my thought was that the rest of the clutches are probably suspect, and that the whole box is contaminated with dirty oil, so the only sensible thing would be to do a complete recon. at which point, I left it in the shed.
Final point to the OP: if the clutches etc. are dodgy, consider a second-hand box instead.
Recon boxes run from about 600 quid upwards, according to my research not long ago; I got a 'box and BW transfer box from a reliable local source for
450, he'd have sold the box without the transfer for 250.
On or around Sat, 20 Dec 2003 12:13:17 -0000, "Bill Payer" enlightened us thusly:
hehe. or waterproof overalls.
I wish you luck with it - by the time I got to changing the filters etc on mine, it was past recovery and failed shortly afterwards anyway.
I did however retrieve the recently-fitted filter, and after thorough cleaning of same I now have one to fit to the replacement box when I get around to an oil change on that. drained and refilled it when I had it.
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