Thread: 2000 Disco 2 TD5 Auto Stuck In Low Range

Hi all,

We have a 2000 Discovery 2 TD5 Auto. If you saw my other recent thread (here) and are wondering what happened, we replaced the XYZ switch and can now reverse. I'll post pictures and more details in that thread later today when I get home from work.

Since replacing the XYZ switch, we can't get it out of low range. We put it in low range while trying to roll it backwards into the carport (while reverse wasn't working) so that it would be easier to rock back and forth to get it rolling. It then sat for about a week, but now that it's going again we can't get it to switch to high range. The lever just won't move. It's normally a bit stiff, but I put a fair amount of force into it and it's definitely stuck.

What we've tried:

- Driving for a while along the road. Still stuck.
- Driving forwards then while still rolling switching to neutral and attempting to get high range. Still stuck.
- Driving backwards (a fair way) then doing the same. Still stuck.
- Switching between all the gears a few times, then back to neutral. Still stuck.
- Slightly sliding the gear selector back and forth in case it wasn't exactly in neutral. Still stuck.
- Googled for ages. Still stuck.

The red lights on the console and the letter on the odo indicating the selected gear all light up exactly in the middle of the selected gear, and stay lit even when wobbling the gear lever slightly. This suggests to me the XYZ switch is properly aligned. How exact does the alignment of the switch need to be? I heard there is a lockout solenoid for the hi-lo selector that activates when not in neutral (and presumably when moving too fast as well).

Additional Note: We replaced the compressor as well because the old one was dead. The new one is installed, but not pumping. I'm guessing it should pump up regardless of low or high range so it's probably unrelated. I did notice when installing the new XYZ switch that the compressor was making a small "pumping" noise, as if it was trying to pump a tiny bit. It was very quiet, only audible from under the car, but consistent and didn't stop. Honestly sounded like a miniscule, baby pump was going inside it. Either way we'll work on getting high range first, then figure out the compressor issue.

Get underneath and lubricate the mechanism..