Not a happy chappy, my car suffered major gearbox component failure yesterday afternoon and is on a recovery vehicle on its way back to the dealer. My wife was driving the car and had only driven about three hundred metres from our house when there was a loud explosion and then the car would not drive. Lubricant was all over the road. Land Rover mechanic couldn't believe what he saw, fragments of metal on the road and in the engine bay. Awaiting dealers mechanical inspection and damage assessment report. The car has only done 4400 miles from new, another fine advert for British engineering. I think I made a big mistake purchasing this vehicle after having owned German and Japanese vehicles without problems for the last twenty years. Will be interesting to see what the dealer has to say because I will not be accepting a repair on this car. Has anyone else heard of this type of failure on the new FL2?? Or am I just the chosen one??

Grimbo, are you sure that is was the gearbox which "exploded"?
I have heard from occasional engine failures due to sudden loss of motor oil, and what has sounded like an explosion may have been the mechanical blockage of the engine components due to over heating.
But this has been very rare (1 or 2 reported cases in Germany), and the reason has been to my knowledge an air lump in the motor block.

YF

Hi there YF,
Yes 100% sure it's the gearbox. The LR assistance mechanic told my wife he had never seen anything like it before. The engine was still cold, driven only 300 metres from our house after being stood all night and most of the day.

Nasty ! never heard of that happening before even worse with the wife driving hope the Dealer does the decent thing full money back or a brand new replacement !!

Good Luck

Grimbo wrote:

My wife was driving the car

Ah that explains everything!!

For a gearbox to explode I would say the most likely reason would be something being left loose inside the box during assembly......and no matter who the manufacturer is this would be a very rare occurance.

Believe me, I can well appreciate your frustrations. But it may be a bit hasty to blame British/LR engineering - isn't the auto gearbox of german design and manufacture?

Nightfox,
I don't think it is relevant who manufactures the seperate components of the vehicle. As far as I'm concerned it is marketed and sold as a British product - end of story as far as I'm concerned.
4400 miles on the clock and major component failure is poor engineering.
It will be interesting to find out what has happened and the reasons for it. Let's hope it's a one off.

Grimbo, sorry to hear those bad news. At least you are lucky at the end of the day since your wife did not get injured. We are talking about a safety issue here, my friend. With 4000 on the clock I'll agree with the rest of the members, full refund or replacement it should be.

Yes, that is a truly shocking mechanical failure; hopefully a one off though!  Life is not a dress rehearsal!

Grimbo wrote:

Nightfox,
I don't think it is relevant who manufactures the seperate components of the vehicle. As far as I'm concerned it is marketed and sold as a British product - end of story as far as I'm concerned.
4400 miles on the clock and major component failure is poor engineering.
It will be interesting to find out what has happened and the reasons for it. Let's hope it's a one off.

OUCH Grimbo sorry for delayed acknowledgement, As Defkalion says Firstly no injuries so

It does sound like you have been the chosen one though. I suppose things are never always perfect. Castings can have a fracture or anything. My Potterton Boiler was knackered after 4 years, the block corroded and ruined the whole boiler, asnd my bathroom ceiling. Potterton basically said tuff !! never seen that before... A few choice letters and a deal was struck on a new one. That should have lasted 10 - 15 years. At least with the car it is in warranty and will be dealt with. If it is the gear box I would suspect you will be offered a new box, not a new car. If you have recurring issues, or high volume then thats when you get into the replacement car discussions. So money back or new car you may be pushing your luck this early, unless you have aschedule of other faults that the car has had.

Sorry to hear about this Grimbo, there's no getting away from the disappointment you must be feeling. Hope the dealer gets it fixed ASAP and in the mean time provides you with a suitable replacement vehicle. I'm sure LR stand to learn a lot from this so they must look after you in the mean time. I'm sure if we trawled the owners forums for certain German manufacturers we'd find evidence of similar failures (in very small proportions). As the gearbox is not a LR device they are in the hands of their suppliers, I know that doesn't help you today, but if the dealer takes care of you and there is an effective first time repair then I hope you'll be able to continue with reasonable confidence in the car ...

As strange as it may sound I'm almost tempted to think that a catastrophic failure such as the gearbox is easier to live with than some of the apparently smaller niggles; these lesser problems are a function of assembly quality which is an LR in house problem. Where the gearbox problem is more likely to be a supplier problem.

Trying to be the optimist here !!!

Sorry to hear about your misfortune on the new car.

Though I wish you success in a new car, I feel you will have it repaired on the warranty.

I know what your feeling my Vectra Sri 2.2 Dti through a major wobbler with the engine just after receiving it (not gear box) and they just kept it a while whilst fixing it and I got on with the courtesy car.

Unfortunately everything is not 100% reliable, as much as you and we all wish it was.

I think the gear box is from ZF who are German I believe.

Not that helps.. and good luck with getting a speedy fix. I would hope LR treat you right here as this would be a rare occurrence indeed.

Many thanks to all of you for your kind thoughts and replies. My wife informs me she has now got a replacement vehicle to use whilst ours is with the dealer. I will keep you all informed as soon as I have more information.
Many thanks