What does this warning light mean?

[Buddha]

Hi, can anyone tell me what this warning light means? - Gearbox/Transfer box? Is it supposed to be a temperature or level warning?

Many thanks,

[gtomo2]

iirc its the temp warning for the gearbox. mine comes on when i apply the handbrake think that is normal.

[Buddha]

Thanks for the swift response.
First time I saw that light is when I last went laning, have left it to dry out, 'cos it did get wet, in case it's the sender. Took the car on a short local journey & that was back on before the coolant temp guage was up to 'normal'

[gtomo2]

Oh dont sound good. not sure what would make it come on apart from high temp. Have you hosed the rad and oil cooler clean after you went laning as the fins could be clogged with dirt that may course it to over heat.  or could of got water in the gearbox., or water in the connector that is coursing it to short out and light up. try giving the connectors a good spray with wd40 as thet is the easyest thing to start with. Shure someone will be along that will know better than me what would course it to come on.

[andygod]

Mine came on after driving through a ford about 8 months ago. It comes on regularly sometimes from the initial start up so I know its not a temprature related problem. I have removed the wires from the switch, sprayed it with W.D.40 and checked the oil levels etc, all to no avail. Can water damage the switch?

[gtomo2]

Can water damage the switch?

Only way i can think of it damaging the switch is if water got inside the switch itself but would of thought some heat from the gearbox would dry it out before it coursed any rust inside that would short it out.

[Buddha]

I'll change the gearbox oil, in case of water having got in. The rad & cooler fins are clear - that was the first thing I did check!

[RichardM]

Is it an auto box? When I first got my car the light used to come on.  The sender is near the front of the car in one of the pipes to/from the auto box oil cooler. The wires had been rubbing on a power steering piper and were shorting each other.

[Buddha]

Thanks Richard,  I've drained the box & replaced the fluid this afternoon, so if that hasn't sorted things, I'll make a better job of checking the sender.

[TDi90]

that should have sorted it.make sure it is sealed.

[Tony F]

The sender unit is very prone to corrosion due to its position. This is a very common problem with autos and is nearly always the switch and not a gearbox problem.

Try a new switch first and check the condition of the wires leading to it, these also corrode and I had to replace a section of wiring and the connectors when my Disco had this problem.

[muddyjames]

been there done this route on my disco. I had it come on when towing my caravan. limped to the campsite. left it over night and came on with ignition.

It is the oil temp for the auto box. I bet you 99% it is the 2 pins the wires push onto ontop of the sesnor in the pipe. The only thing stopping water getting into those is a small rubber cap. useless! It cost me about £20 for a new part and about 10mins to change it. RAC said it wasnt a job he could do without ramps!! pah :lol:

All it takes is a big spanner, undo the old one and extremely quickly put the new one in or you end up with auto fluid everywhere! The sensor is about 1-2ft ish along the pipe going front and back of the car from the radiator. Dead easy to find and most probably rusted up. Can try and take a photo of its location if you need.

[Rossko]

I'm not sure if this applies to Disco, but I think only Rangie with viscous-coupling?   There may be another identical temp sensor in the transfer box, right behind the handbrake backplate.  Well protected from damage but fair game for a dunking!  And its wires press/chafe on the backplate. It lights the same dashboard light.

Pretty sure this isn't applicable to Disco

cheers, Ross K

[Buddha]

Well cheers for all the guidance. I'll be having a roll round underneath it tomorrow, but feel a little more re-assured that it's not quite as dire a warning as I first feared.

[SnakeLogic]

I used to have troubles with mine on drives up the in the mountains in the hot Japanese summer.  The Land Rover manual says you should pull over and stop driving until the light goes out.  To prevent that from happening, I've found that switching into into 2nd (auto box) does the trick.  The transmission isn't trying to do as much work switching gears, and stays happy.

[philhunt]

Well cheers for all the guidance. I'll be having a roll round underneath it tomorrow, but feel a little more re-assured that it's not quite as dire a warning as I first feared.

Have you got this sorted yet Chris?