by Desert Brewer on Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:44 am
Hi all, just got back from a pretty eventful easter camp. Had the 2011 GLX Manual engaged in H4 for about 70 km of slow two wheel track and about 25km of riverbed traversing - deep sand, rocks & pebbles, up embankments, unbogging a few people etc , anyway, on the way home yesterday arvo we came to the final gate where i stopped to take the car out of H4 and into H2, selector stick wouldnt budge - OK transfers a bit wound up, reversed for 30 - 40 m, still wouldnt budge, moving forward at 15kph, took foot of accelorator - not moving. Repeated this a couple of times - stick not moving.
Up until this point i have only been applying sideways pressure - so i try pushing down on the selector and moving it - no - still not budging. I try lifting up and moving down into H2 - selector moved alright - all the way up and out of what ever arrangement holds it in place. Selector stick now swinging in the breeze not attached to anything, i try putting it back into where ever it just came from - no joy. Ok stuck in H4 with about 100km of blacktop ahead.
Shouldnt be to difficult to fix, I was thinking along the lines of some osf the contributions above - some small little cup or pin has let go,no biggie. I will just drive home with 2 wheels on the dirt shoulder to reduce excessive strain on vehicles other moving parts.
Drive the 100km home at 60kph, pulled in the drive - why can i smell gear oil ? Look under the car - bottom of the car is covered in a fine film of gear oil - WTF. So the discovery of the gear oil has me thinking that it wont be a simple fix and that something else may have let go. Im not 100% sure on how the selector stick is mounted to the transfer case - but i assumed that if whatever coupling/cup/pin let go, enabaling the stick to detach, that it wouldnt allow gear oil to escape.
I have just had the motor replaced under warranty (cooling issue) and at the same time the techs addressed the 2-3 gear shifting issue. Im not sure if they need to muck around with the gearbox and transfer case in this process?
For what its worth - the car ran and performed very well, easily holdling its own against,Hilux's, prados, troope carriers and Range Rovers over the weekend, possibly outperforming some in certain areas. But.........a trip for me in this car wouldnt be complete without something failing.
Any advice, info, ideas all greatly recived before i ring the dealers tomorrow and let them know whats going on and what needs to happen to get it fixed.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
DB