L322 TDV8 Transmission or park brake or electrics, or, or??

[vbrab]

SWMBO was driving 07 TDV8 and got all dash lights on and motor dying with "transmission overheating" message on dash.
Pulls over, calls me and reports burnt smell" outside of car and that now no ignition and no start.
Also says that when she pulled up, warning light for park brake came on. Calls RAC for roadside assist/pick up.
After waiting an hour she finds that car will start, motor runs as per usual, no park brake light on dash, but although selector moves, car will not move forward or backwards.
(When tow truck arrives and winches it aboard, vehicle rolls happily all wheels turn.) Reports lots of brown dust on rear rims, and rims usually washed clean (But is was late at night and wet, so could be anything perhaps.)
Car to city LR workshop. Still waiting on their assessment.
There have been no fluid leaks (such as trans fluid), trans is regularly fully flushed by trans people and done only 30,000k since last flush. Trans has been changing smoothly all along.
SWMBO reports that park brake was slow to release that morning (Had to give it a couple of tries before release) and we have had very heavy wet weather all past week.

Additionally
12 months ago had an issue with adaptive light module that eventually caused lot of electrical system failure including ignition and lots of weird dash messages, and recently have had fault code saying issue with adaptive light system. Twice in past fortnight car has needed RAC jump start after battery draining down to 5% in 8 hours of work day. Battery is less than a month old.
Once re-started, the car charges immediately and no issue for 2 weeks until it again goes totally flat. Car was booked to go to workshop to have that leakage checked the day after it decided to stop altogether.
Must be a heavy drain on battery to run it down to 5% in under 8 hours, but only twice in 2 weeks(??)

I am thinking electrical gremlins and maybe the park brake has somehow decided to come on or stay on without giving warning and SWMBO just didn't notice the drag until it overheated. (??)
My query is, is it possible for park brake to be on and not register on dash, which could explain extra work for trans and "burnt smell" (of park brakes).
The electrical gremlins might be a totally separate issue.
Has anybody had anything similar? I would be very surprised if it was actually transmission.

[vbrab]

So car is with service centre in city (and they are good), and so far it arrived with dead flat battery.
So something draining battery at will in short time.
They haven't been able to get a code reader on to it and when I came through it was still being charged.
Suggestions so far have been that when alternator is starting to fail (or failed) that can often make everything else go haywire, and might explain the "burnt smell" SWMBO reported.
!8 months ago it did something similar with "adaptive light unit" issue, and then alternator died.
We think that was from a so called auto electrician wiring in tow controller incorrectly, which eventually dominoed into lots of electronic failings.
So, until a code reader can get on and it can be fired up, no clues.

[harlie]

My first suspect is Alternator

[vbrab]

Service people could not get any definitive codes, so checked fluid in box and report immediate "burnt/cooked" smell, so seems that trans is cooked.
As trans has always been serviced every 40K and had full flush only 25K ago, it seems that something in the box has decided to have a catastrophic failure.
Of course the trans bloke is full with jobs and cannot look at it until at least 6 weeks. (waiting on that).
Meanwhile there is the problem of the battery doing sudden going flat and then no problem for another fortnight, then will do it again.
Service guys have been checking and report no drain from battery by vehicle systems and battery remains charged(??).
I am inclined to agree with Harlie's comment that alternator might be in the mix somewhere, and I think the transmission was just something else that decided go at the same time.
looks like it will be weeks before anything further can be checked anyway.

[vbrab]

have booked car for new(rebuilt) transmission, to be done when it arrives at front of the queue.
I'm wondering what sort of prices anybody else might have been charged for a full new trans repair.
last time I had a HP6 done it was $5500, now prices seem to be ranging from $7-8000.
Since it is the same pretty much same gearbox that that goes in a Falcon, I am surprised at the increase.
So has anybody else had to go down the replace transmission path recently and what sort of $'s was the exercise?

[Bradtot]

Hi Can I ask who you getting to do the rebuild?
is it Transmissions R Us?

[vbrab]

Funny you should ask who is doing the rebuild.
My usual go to trans place was Trans R us for last rebuild (6 years back) and complete power flushes, but had a chat with somebody in the trade who cited some good examples of where they appear to have perhaps changed the way they deal with customer "complaints/claims", so back to place I have previously used with good outcome and I know their work, which is reassuring when having to front up for a whole new trans rebuild.

It appears that the issue was the torque convertor imploded and detritus from the convertor went into the box, blocked lines (whatever), which cooked the rest of it.
Torque convertor so bad it cannot be repaired, so had to fork out $800 for a used V8 convertor.
The convertor will be modified for handle extra torque and the also the box will have the "Aussie pack" installed.
Seems that Ford Australia and perhaps the HP28 6 speed that some D4's got (until the 8 speed was added) had a similar "package" installed which handled bigger torques. (Had same done on my D3.)
So despite regular services, little towing and careful driving, the outcome of a failed box is still the result.
Not something you could see coming, it just "happens".