Early vehicles can experience problems with the sensor in the rear Haldex drive system. This gives rise to 'Transmission Fault, Traction Reduced' and 'Special (terrain response) Programs Off' warnings. These disappear on restart but come back after a few minutes. On my car, after a few days, I also got 'HDC Off' warnings and a DSC warning light which appears to be due to these systems receiving spurious information from the transmission.

The fault is apparently due to excessive application of sealant on production which increases the sensor gap so that it gives incorrect readings. Quite why this took time to appear (my car has done over 10,000 miles) is not explained.

There is a software download available at the dealer which increases the tolerance on the sensor reading to make up for the excessive gap. On my vehicle however this didn't fix the fault and interrogation of the system also showed a control module fault and it then started blowing the fuse in the Haldex system, diagnosed as being the auxiliary pump (internal electrical fault). I am told that a revised sensor is needed for a lasting cure which is at present unavailable.

It looks like I'm unlucky in needing all this work - others will hopefully get away with the software fix. I'm told that the rear axle drive will still work to keep the car mobile although with reduced capability.

...and you are happy to accept that madmonk????

Got the Freelander back this afternoon and all apparently appears to be fixed. At least I got no failure warnings on the way back from the dealer!

Hi madmonk,
This is very interesting information. My rear differential failed on my two month old TD4 diesel automatic and the outer casing shattered / exploded when the crown wheel became detached. So far LR have not been able to offer me any explanation why this happened and I am very concerned with the safety aspects and future reliability of my car.
What is confusing me is when this breakdown happened the car was stationary waiting to pull out from a T junction on a dry road. Therefore when the car slowly pulled away from a standing start the transmission on my car should have been driving the front wheels only.
The electronically controlled centre differential should only kick in to shift more torque to the rear wheels when the front wheels start slipping, which in this instance was not the case.
So the information you have regarding the requirement for a revised sensor in the Haldex system, (which is presently unavailable), is music to my ears. This could be a valid reason why my car suffered this very serious premature component failure if the sensor sent an incorrect signal to the rear differential.
I will certainly be mentioning this to the dealer principle of the garage where I purchased my car from when I get home from work and meet with him next week.

Hi Grimbo

To me your crown wheel failure sounds like a metalurgical problem. The pre-loading on the Land Rover version of the Haldex system means that the rear axle drive kicks in within 1/15th of a rotation of a wheel once slip is detected. It could have caused some kind of shock loading on the rear differential which caused it to fail. I wouldn't rule out the sensor problem as a cause of failure but it seems less likely than some problem with the heat treatment of the components involved.

With the vehicles still being early in their service lives there will be all sorts of odd sporadic problems until a pattern establishes itself.

It appears that there are several quality actions to be done by the dealer when they see the cars for repair or service. Mine has had the handbrake adjusted and there is evidence of extra sealant being applied here and there.

Went on a long run today and the vehicle was back to its previous excellent performance. Hope you get yours fixed soon.

Hy Madmonk,

It seems like I have all the typical problems of the first cars:

- creaking sounds in the back (suspension ?). The dealer did the fix (rubber) but that didn't help much, the creaks are still there.

- non starting problem, in the beginning this happened a dozen times ( together with "transmission default-traction reduced" warning). After a software upgrade this was temporarily better

However, the car now has 20.000 miles and all of a sudden I receive again on a regular basis the warning "transmission default-traction reduced". This always happens after restarting the car when the engine is warmed up and after driving a few hundred meters. The dealer did a software upgrade but this did not solve the problem.

Any tips ?

Luckily it's a lease car so I don't have to worry about the resale value...

As we all know, the car drives great but these issues must be resolved by Landrover.

Sometimes the software fix doesn't work - you may need the control module changed and probably the sensor too. The sensor seems to be in short supply at present. My vehicle has just completed a very long trip faultlessly (although I checked the oil (first time at 10,000 miles) and found the sump almost empty so had to add 1.5 litres to bring it up to the mark).

The creaking rear suspension was fixed temporarily but simply spraying silicone around the top of the spring on the rear strut. Since then, not a sound.

Hope you get it fixed soon and continue to enjoy its excellent qualities.

Hi Guys. I have a FL2, just over two years old with 29K miles. Had the dreaded error for a while, transmission failure. Dealer swapped to new sensor yesterday and not cured. They are now saying its the clutch, but the gear shift is fine. They are also saying if the clutch is worn it's my bill @ £900- not impressed. Reading through the site it seems more like the sensor, control unit, software upgrade issue. Personally I think the dealer is talking crap...............what do you think?? Think I will print this info off and take to the dealer or find a second opinion.........

would be a good idea to take the thread to a dealer, or take the car to another dealer for a second opinion

£900 for a clutch ouch Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Grimbo wrote:

Therefore when the car slowly pulled away from a standing start the transmission on my car should have been driving the front wheels only.
The electronically controlled centre differential should only kick in to shift more torque to the rear wheels when the front wheels start slipping, which in this instance was not the case.

I had this problem, it was fixed by replacement of the sensor.

I thought the default distribution was in the order of 95 front /05 rear, with the computer able to modify this in milliseconds with appropriate input from the various sensors. Stornoway Grey GS ... What a fine motor ... but not any more ... ... psst look at my gallery!
Company cars ... a thing of the past - May 2013.

I also had this problem and it was cured by replacing the sensor

I have the same problem - dealer updated the software and problem is still there...obviously this transmission fault is a very common problem. I am going to ask them to replace the sensor.

Hi Madmonk,

It sucks when I got the 'Transmission Fault, Traction Reduced' warning only after clocking 160km and the day I got it new from the dealer. Really frustrating. The realibility of the car is now in question. Now the car is with the dealer and reprogramming the software by the dealer here doesnt help. So the dealer is getting technical support from manufacturer in UK. Is Land Rover award of this problem? So what is the caused of the fault warning? Until the dealer gets the instruction from Land Rover, can the car be driven? Your experience is reaquired.

We are assuming that the Haldex generates the problem / error.
Then, be aware that Madmonk's FL2 is a 2007MY car which is equipped with Generation 3 of Haldex controller.
Yours, because is 2009MY is equipped with Generation 4 of Haldex controller which is quite different.
For example it doesn't have the sensor that generates the errors on pre 2009 cars.
Haldex 4 is equipped only with a pressure regulating solenoid valve. There is no need of the sensor because the controlling strategy is different and the regulated pressure is much lower.
I've had this error (I also have a 2009MY FL2) and after interogating the Haldex's error memory the problem was diagnosed to be that valve.
It was changed on warranty, but the factory also says that the Haldex controller needs to be changed.
So the kit is compossed of both the controller and the valve.
It is important to put the tester on the car because it can save you a lot of trouble and guessing.

As for the second question, yes, the car can be driven without problems. When the error appears, the traction on the rear axle is disabled totally.
So be careful to not drive the car too hard because you'll be surprissed by its reactions when only front axle gets all the power. It is not designed to be driven only on front axle especially on quick and sudden variations of the power.
This also because the TD4 engine can put a lot of torque on road.