Thread: Disco 1 Auto - No reverse sometimes - ideas please

G`day ,

no real idea but when you say can`t select reverse do you mean ,

The lever won`t go there .

It free revs when in reverse .

It won`t move in reverse .

Does it have engine braking when 1 and 2 are manually selected ?

Peter

Does the good service history include the gearbox?
Every 40K isnt it??

to elaborate...the box operates perfectly in all respects except that sometimes when the lever is moved into the reverse position, reverse does does not engage. It feels like it clicks into position normally but with no effect.

thanks

Originally Posted by Linds

to elaborate...the box operates perfectly in all respects except that sometimes when the lever is moved into the reverse position, reverse does does not engage. It feels like it clicks into position normally but with no effect.

thanks

Thanks for the elaberation .

Reason for 3 choices is linkage , handbrake and gearbox , firsts 2 could do , last , bit awkward .

Intermittant drive in reverse with a lack of engine braking in manually selected first and/or second gears could be a fault in a clutch pack . (F)

As i said no real idea only guessing and why the use of could be and not is .

Well, back from the gulf trip now. Covered the 8000 odd kms and home safely. The box is still temperamental with reverse and now it is behaving strangely running through the low gears depending on on how much boot it is given. Will book it in for a service and see what the verdict is. O'wise the D1 handled that country beautifully! That is my 3rd trip to that neck of the woods- really spectacular and so warm! Next time I head north I think I will start at around Borooloola and head North to the Roper and Arnhem Land. hmmmm.

Couple of ideas.
1 Vit of crap in the valve body which dislodges when the ger engages.
2 Swolen / cracked seal that swells when hot to start working again.
3 Blockage starving box of pressure?

I have had similar with mine and been told it's the valve body bot none of my contacts are keen to deal with it. I have found that once it's done 1.5-2km reverse works again when starting from cold or as you said cycle oll the gears several times and it comes good.
It's a pain not knowing if reverse will work or not So I was ensuring I could always drive on forwards and never going where reverse was required.

I now have an old box to pull apart to have the valve body can be rebuilt at some point ready for a swap.

Hi George

Mine is different to yours in that the symptoms appear as the transmission gets hot. It operates perfectly at cold startup and deteriotates from there. I do hope new oil and filter and a few adjustments will sort it out....but suspect it will be more sinister than that.

Gday

I thought I would more thorougly describe my current set of auto symptoms in the hope that someone here has had similar and can suggest courses of action. In searching the archives I havent seen symptoms exactly like mine. I have just booked the car in at the local auto specialist ( for next week) and he did not sound positive about the box at all. But I have also read here that multiple oil changes separated by a few hundred kms can often resolve things. I do want to avoid forking out for a reco box if it is not absolutely necessary.

Vehicle: 98 D1 Tdi
Trans: ZF 4 speed auto
Km: 210000
Owned: since 170k / mid 2009

Background:

As of 8000km ago the box was operating with no problems. 2 things I can think of to mention that are perhaps relevant -

1... over last summer at one stage I was pulling up a track in the victorian alps in high range when I should have been in low. The autobox temp warning light came on and I stopped immediately and let it cool down ( light went off after 5 minutes idling) and carried on in low with no further issues.

2....after the auto was serviced at about 180k it registered low ( ie below the low mark) on the stick at cold ( idling in neutral). I asked the shop and they said that it should be checked after a short run of a few minutes and if I did that it did show correct on the stick. But after the warning light incident I decided to top it up as per the book ie so that it registerd beween the marks at cold start up. It took about 300ml to do this. The color of the oil has always been red and smells normal.

Current symptoms:

At cold startup the box operates perfectly and this lasts for 20 minutes or so. As it warms the follwing issues start.

1. intermittent loss of reverse gear. Reverse can then be engaged after engaging 1 or 2. Sometimes this needs to be repeated a couple of times. First noticed about 5000k ago.

2. sluggish take off in D on gentle acceleration - it feels like it moves off in 3rd but if you give it some moderate right foot it will kick down to 1 or 2 and go through the gears normally. This appeared about 3000k ago and is becoming worse.

3. early engagement of o'drive 4th. generally mine has engaged at about 75 but in the last few thousand km it is ( on gentle acceleration) engaging at about 70-71. Under moderate to heavy acceleration it will rev normally and engage 4th anywhere from 80 to 95 as I would expect.

4. changing from D to R when cold there is no or minimal clunk but when hot there is a noticable clunk. This has always been the case for this car but just mentioning it.

I have had the car only from 170k and it has a good service record - I know it did tow a camper around australia at some stage.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this situation intelligently would be much appreciated! I want to be as informed as possible when talking to the auto trans people next week.

thanks.