Any ideas??

if its holding gears and its from a hotter car than a rover it may be tuned to change up later....

just a thought.

So its holding on to gears the whole time.
As you say its a 94 Disco, I assume the transmission is a ZF 4HP22 with kickdown cable .
If its from a BMW then it would have to be an old 5 or 7 BMW as they went electronic long before Rover.
Then one would have to wonder where they got a 6K transmission.

Anyway, have a look to see whether your kickdown cable is not jamming on, as someone else has suggested. When this happens it has these exact symptoms.
If not I also go for the filter/oil change etc.
Unless they changed over the valve body, the change points will be different , and if they did then there is the possibility of dirt etc .
I also seem to vaguely recall that if a little return spring breaks on the kickdown spindle inside the pan, that this can happen.
Regards Philip A

I would be very suprised if the internals like the filter would be different, since it was identical externally BUT Mr Murphy and me have a very colse relationship if it is possible for a more costly anything to fit then I will end up with it:o

Thinking about everything that has been written and getting the grey matter working it could be that it has sat for extended periods so any gunk could have dropped down to the filter instead of being in suspension in the oil, blocking it a bit more than normal as sonce it is warn it changes not a problem. Tacho off the clock this morning to get it to make the change from first to second so it still goes over 6000rpm without blowing up.

Only answer I guess is to humbug someone with a hoist into letting me use it, drop the oil and pull the cover off and look at it.

I am not suggesting that the filter etc would be different, but the springs on the valves etc could be.

But that is not really relevent. If it's behaviour CHANGED, then something made it change. If you were happy with it at first , then it went bad, then something has gone wrong, irrespective of whether the valving is wrong.
My impression is still that it does it on first start up. Is it only the first change(governor) or all 1/2 changes.
Have you tried starting in 1 then manually changing to 2. If so what happens.
Regards Philip A

www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/

I have a 4 speed ZF Auto and it sticks in first gear in the morning or when cold and is reluctant to change up from 1st gear. Once the gearbox has warmed up it shifts normally. Why?
The governor valve is sticking, which can be caused by contamination. i.e. clutch plates or other parts disintegrating. The fine debris finds its way past the filter and tends to accumulate in the governor, causing it to stick. A temporary solution is to remove and clean the governor. The problem will often recur as debris from damaged parts continues to build up in the governor. If the problem continues after cleaning the governor then it may be necessary it replace your Autobox.
We have noticed many customers reporting this fault starting a few days after an oil and filter change and after researching this using our experience and the expertise of others in the trade we have come to the conclusion that as ATF oil is a detergent type oil, when the oil is changed this will dislodge and stir up settled debris in the autobox which in turn jams the governor valve. In light of this although it sounds controversial it is debateable if changing the oil and filter is a good idea, some say if the box it going to fail it will fail if the oil is good or bad and their advice is leave it alone. I am still undecided but the truth is I get a lot of calls from customers thinking they are looking after the autobox by servicing it and a few days later this fault occurs.

See how to attached

You don't need a hoist to do the job, there is loads of room under the car as it is.

Thanks for all the advise guys, I will change the oil and filter and see how it goes.

My reply is a bit late as I have had to fly to Sydney to get new legs made
(amputee)

Cheers all
Blythe

Er, I am pretty sure that a Disco 1 is the same as a Range Rover Classic.
The manual just omits a couple of tiny little details.
1 You have to remove the exhaust system because
2 You have to remove the cross member
In order to get the sump low enough to move aside.
And 3 , I think you have to remove the LH mount to get to one of the retainers for the sump.
To remove the crossmember you have to have a porta power (or a bloody great lump hammer.)
This is why I was surprised when a tranny shop charged me over $200 for what I thought was a 1/2 hour job. I think it best to leave it to them.
Regards Philip A

Goodo

I'll climb under her when I get back to Darwin and have a look. I cant remember from when I replaced it (I remember it being a ***** of a job though)

Hmm best of british designing

umm better not start going down that road

:o :o ;) :D :D