Hi all,

I was hopefully seeking some advice / results of other people experiences please. Apologies in advance for the long message below.

My '13 plate SD4 has had a rough downshift (I believe from 3rd to 2nd) for quite some time. It has never caused me a problem and mainly happens when coasting and slowing down. Its more an irritation as it feels like the shift happens too early so you get a jerk as the engine braking kicks in.

Had the oil changed by an autobox specialist about 18 months ago and the issue was not resolved

So... although the issue has never gotten any worse, I decided to take it to a Land Rover specialist (that have a very good reputation) as I have a warranty on the vehicle that will run out in a few months so thought I'd get it looked at in case anything big needed doing.

They did some diagnostics and £95 later told me that the wrong oil was in the box and that the adaptations had not been reset. They reset the adaptations before I left and booked me in to have the oil changed a week later. When driving home the box felt immediately a lot less smooth with rough changes and jolting when engaging reverse. Bear in mind that at this point, no work has been done, just the adaptations reset. Over the course of a few days, this seemed to settle I'm guessing due to the box re-learning stuff?

Fast forward a week and it goes in for the gearbox oil change (at my expense as the warranty doesn't cover oil) and the adaptations are reset again. Now however, although the shifts in general feel smooth, I have a new and very worrying issue that has never, ever happened before.

Lets say I'm in 3rd at between 30-40mph at around 1500rpm and I start to go up an incline, the revs start to drop and the box then starts to struggle and eventually starts the shudder but it doesn't change down unless I press the throttle (which you can't do if you're stuck up the backside of a lorry!!!). Normally it would drop a gear as soon as it started to struggle a little. It feels exactly the same as if you were driving a manual and forgot to change down and it started to struggle in that gear.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this before and what solved the issue for you?

I can see that I'm starting to go down a rabbit hole and I don't want to just throwing money at it on the advice of the garage. I've been there with my L322 that I eventually got rid of and I really don't want to go there again!!!

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

The shuddering with my FL at around 1800 rpm, most noticeable when under load was cured by a replacement recon Torque Convertor.

I think that it is a natural 'characteristic' of the FL2 auto gearbox.

Mine does it sometimes on slight inclines, around 30mph, on a light throttle.
It seems to want to give me a demonstration of how much torque is available at very low RPMs.

I normally force a gearchange by lifting the accelerator, to slow slightly, and then reapplying to pick up original speed.

Quite often the experience is accompanied by under bonnet noises that I take to be the variable turbo vanes or something trying to adjust to the extreme engine conditions.

I must stress though that it doesn't occur very often for me and only then in 3 or 4 specific places within 50 miles of my home. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)