Thread: Auto hunting at low revs - 6 weeks in the shop with no solution

Hi All

Just thought I would throw this one out there in case others have had a similar experience.

Have a 2001 td5 auto with 250K on the clock.

This vehicle drives on the freeway with no problems.

While plodding around town the gearbox hunts up and down mainly between second and third.

Have been getting around by selecting each gear manually and keeping the revs up between changes.

If you cruise around between 1500 - 2200 rpm (even in manual) the auto goes mad hunting.

There are no Gearbox or Engine errors in the system

I had the auto serviced by a specialist who claims there were no filings in the oil.

It then went to a Landy repairer.

While in the shop they changed:

The alternator, The MAF, turbo vacuum assembly, injection loom, accelerator potentiometer, engine speed sensor and ECU.

They in turn took it to an Auto specialist who watched the computer while driving and could see the auto ecu changing the gears up and down. He claimed the Auto ecu speed sensor and the engine speed sensor were giving reasonable readings. He could not guarantee an Auto rebuild would solve the issue.

Got the car back with no solution.

Took to another Auto specialist who read no errors on the auto ecu and took it for a drive around the block and suggested a $5K removal, rebuild and refit.

Two months later the issue feels worse. Aggressive hunting in the gears.

At some times under load the engine feels like it is surging, but other times you can clearly feel the box changing up and down erratically

Is there any sense in measuring the oil pressures in the box to help confirm the auto is at fault?

If these issues ring a bell feel free to respond.

Regards

Peter A

Let me say right off the bat that im not posting this as a solution or an opinion of what your issue is, this is more about my own D2 and issues i have encountered and solved myself.

I bought a a 2000 V8 D2 with 200ks on the clock about 4 weeks ago.

Although it hand a excellent service record, and despite my detailed inspections and test before purchase in the following weeks i have encounted a number of issues inlcuding overheating, which i have solved - a constant ticking noise from the engine on idle, which i have solved and an auto hunting issue - between second and third.

The previous owner said his mechanic told him not to service the auto trans and they are better left alone. (BS i say)

I live about 60ks out of brisbane, but work in the city, and have been driving the disco into work daily. From where i live i travel at highway speed until almost in the city, and have no issue with the auto on the highway. But when i exit the highway and drive through the city (stop start) i have had an issue with the auto box hunting between second and thrid. Really annoying, and i overcome it by swithing to sport mode and manually changing gears.

Let me also say i enjoy my garage time, and the disco will never visit a mechanic - i do all the work mysellf.

I inspected all the looms and really found not issue such as oil penetration.

I first did a change of the trans oil -dropped the exisiting, took off the sump, new filter, added new trans oil, but the hunting issue was still there.

Now on reading the rave and some other google material, doing a change only really renewes about 1/3 to 1/2 the trans fluid.

So, this weekend i again dropped the trans fluid, refiilled, went for another drive for about 30 mins, then let it cool. Dropped the trans again, still came out a bit dark, and added new fluid. Repeated did another driver for about 20 mins, then let it rest overnight.

This morning dropped the trans fuild again, added new as per the instructions in rave, bit this time instead of just running the engine and selecting each gear the checking fludi levels, i held it in each gear for another 15 seconds. Then i checked level and could add another 500ml.

After 5 full changes, the trans fluid is now clear as new. (yep that cost a few $ at supercheap)

So extensive test drive after and guess what? Not more hunting between 2nd and 3rd.

Now i dont want to profess this is a cure, but it seems the D2 auto boxes respond well to a realy good flush.

You mentioned that you had the auto serviced by a professional, but did they do a full systemn flush? I know transmission experts have some sort of pump whereby they can flush out all the old trans fluid, but are you sure that was what was done?

Ill let you know how i go this week after a few trips into the city but so far, the gear changes are really smooth, and no more hunting between gears.

BTW i used castrol DEX III transmission fluid, which is what i belived LR use in the workshop. could be wrong though

Hope you find the problem - Cheers.