P38 Gearbox issue

[Rangie fan]

Hi Rangie owners ,
As a owner of numerous P38’s over the past 15 years I have never had this gearbox issue .
Has any one ever came across issue where they have lost gears out of the blue with no symptoms.
On a outing 2 weeks ago pulled up behind a vehicle and put into park to tell them to move up..put back into drive weirdly no gears .
I tried put into park again and started making weird noises ..put into drive nothing
Same in Low and high gears ..like it’s in neutral.And when try put into park makes weird noises .
Had it towed backed to the ranch as I could nt get it going.
I have had mixed responses by certain rangie owners and mechanics .
Is this a gear selector issue on the side of the gearbox or ecm issue .
It seems like the computer not telling the car to go into drive .
I would like to know if any p38 owners have ever experienced this and what the diagnosis was .

[p38arover]

It's possible it is the XYZ switch on the side of the box. They're known to fail.

Or maybe the transfer case is in neutral - why that should happen I have no idea.

What happens if you shift into sport mode?

[Rangie fan]

Ok ! I Have not tried putting into sports mode yet ,don’t think it will make any difference .
A credible mechanic from Wodonga that works on rangies suggested it’s the switch on the side of the box .
It makes a weird noise when putting into park ,doesn’t sound like the chain is grinding or snapped in the transfer case .
Honestly it’s the most bizzare thing that’s happened !! To top things off I have a back up that’s done exactly the same thing a week later .
Curious to know if the battery has caused the issue ,as I used the same battery in the second car.
Or just plain bad luck ..dieing to know if any other p38 owners have ever had this happen to them.

[p38arover]

In 13 years ownership of a P38A, it never happened to me.

Ivan in Wodonga might be right.

The P38A never seemed to be as voltage sensitive as the L322 (which I now drive) but it's easy to try another battery on the P38A.

[Tins]

Does it work in reverse?

[prelude]

Unless the battery is literally sapping all the juice from the alternator I should think that that is not the problem. Once the engine is running it should produce enough energy to power everything, mind you, most of our rangie pressurize the ABS (a 70 amp pump) and the EAS compressor will run as well most of the time after starting up, together they drain quite a lot and still the auto boxes on our P38's have little to no issue such as you described.

Not impossible mind you, but it would be a strange thing indeed.

Cheers,
-P

[Tins]

Does it work, that is move, in reverse??

[PhilipA]

Have you had a look in the access hole under the bell housing to see if the flex plate has broken?
Regards PhilipA

[Rangie fan]

No reverse ,it’s virtually in neutral .
No have not looked in bell housing yet.

[Tins]

No reverse ,it’s virtually in neutral .
No have not looked in bell housing yet.

OK, I it had worked in reverse the auto would be shot. Now I'm with Phillip about checking the flex plate. If it's that it's a PITA but not huge $$$ you get a HD one to replace it...

[Rangie fan]

To have 2 x of my 1995 P38 to have the same prob in a week gotta be the strangest thing possible .
Only ever gear box issue I ever had on p38 was on 1 that had the sprag clutch go.
So really weird

[Rangie fan]

Not the flex plate .
putting in sports mode makes no difference
Gonna check the selector box

[Rangie fan]

Fuse 22 was the culprit 2 Range Rovers fixed for 50 cents.

[Rangie fan]

5 or 6 mechanics I rang did not mention this .
p38 owners !!! fuses should be first thing to check when experiencing weird problems .
And make sure fuses are new as I tried fuse 22 off a spare p38 previously but was blown but not obvious[bighmmm]which put me off as I know of the fuse 22 issue.
How I solved the problem was by accident and between swapping fuses between the 2 cars ,I misplaced fuse 22 in blank spot on second car .which is how I lost gears on that in the first place.
So on the weekend attempting to diagnose the problem once and for all.
When firing up the spare Rangie quickly on the dash fuse 22 message came up ,Pull off fuse cover check fuse 22 slot and realised fuse 22 was not inserted. But in the slot below it
I thought has to be it ..got a new pack of fuses ..bingo
Inserted into original p38 .. bingo ..both Rangie s have gears.

[Saulman1010]

Yey, good feedback. Please you solved it.
Another one to try to remember in my (somewhat faulty) brain....hey, I wonder if I have a fuse22??

Mjs