Thread: How can you hold a gear when gearbox automatically wants to change?

Thanks for the replies everyone, appreciate everyone's experiences.

I had in sand mode with DSC off but clearly low range is the way to go, there seems to be a bit to learn on now to use the systems/settings, so will get Gordon's book plus will be going on one of his drive days soon.

Originally Posted by discotwinturbo

I had all sorts of problems trying to travel up Australia's biggest sand dunes on the Warren River. It would change gears even in manual. It would also jump back when I did not want it to occur. Dsc would kick in and had no control of gears. Was ready to dump it in the surf.

I had a chat to Gordon.

I now travel up in low, dsc off, sand mode, and only need about 10-15% throttle percentage. The D4 does not need to rev hard to fly up these dunes, as torque is the key in these cars. I now have to slow at the top.

The D4 now does it effortlessly once I learnt how to drive it on soft, steep, long dunes.

Brett.....

Thanks Brett, good to hear someone else's personal experiences. So once set right you could climb long soft sand dunes?

I think you might be near me, do you travel down Canning Hwy in the mornings?

In 2011 I upgraded from a 2007 D3 V6 petrol to a D4 TDV6 2.7. My first experience in the D4 on sand (Fraser Is) was a shocker with it running out of grunt, stopping and generally being a frustrating car to keep the momentum up.

Needless to say it is all about knowing how to drive it. Sand mode, manual shift, DSC off and 2nd low as required. Keep an eye on the revs to maintain about 2000 (to make sure that turbo is engaged) and it'll go anywhere. In the D3 V6 you could ring its neck rev wise and it'd go anywhere (until you ran out of fuel ) but with the D4 the aim is to keep the revs consistent.

I'm sure the 3.0 is a different beast again but the principle will be the same.