2nd Gear Drama

[mike_beecham]

Hi All,
My 02 Defender is very difficult to get into 2nd gear when cold.
Once the oils are warm - all is great. No issues. Changes perfectly.

Any ideas? Change oils? A LR thing?


Thanks,
Mike

[steveG]

What oil are you running in it now?

Steve

[mike_beecham]

I couldnt tell you. I could chase up the Invoice though.
It had its 180,000kms service at a Land Rover Dealer (previous owner). So l assume it has the right oil......hmmm.

Mike

[rick130]

Hi All,
My 02 Defender is very difficult to get into 2nd gear when cold.
Once the oils are warm - all is great. No issues. Changes perfectly.

Any ideas? Change oils? A LR thing?


Thanks,
Mike

What fluid are you using Mike ?

It can make the world of difference, or if it's near 20,000km on that fluid, change it anyway.
Even the best syn fluids are past their best at that stage in an R380 IME.

An ATF or an MTF that's around an ATF viscosity (eg. a light 70W-80) have better shift characteristics when cold when compared to say, Castrol Syntrans 75W-85, but the lighter fluids have much more gear and bearing rattle at high ambients/loads and the shifting deteriorates IME so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

[mike_beecham]

I couldnt tell you. I could chase up the Invoice though.
It had its 180,000kms service at a Land Rover Dealer (previous owner). So l assume it has the right oil......hmmm.

Mike

[BilboBoggles]

My MY03 TD5 defender has done this since new, despite 2 gearbox rebuilds under warranty and variety of different oils.

You know the only thing that made a difference was the clutch switch disconnection. It's much smoother to change into second now that I can control the revs myself.
Also you can try double clutching - that makes a difference too.