P38 Gearbox issue

**Rangie fan** · 2nd April 2021, 09:36 PM

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** · 2nd April 2021, 09:48 PM

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** · 2nd April 2021, 10:10 PM

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** · 2nd April 2021, 10:59 PM

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** · 3rd April 2021, 05:38 PM

Does it work in reverse?

**prelude** · 3rd April 2021, 07:06 PM

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** · 3rd April 2021, 08:37 PM

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

**PhilipA** · 3rd April 2021, 09:27 PM

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** · 3rd April 2021, 10:10 PM

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

**Tins** · 3rd April 2021, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Rangie fan

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...

Thread: P38 Gearbox issue

Thread Tools

P38 Gearbox issue

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions