I am having a tough time getting my 2001 Disco2 to shift into 4lo. I have tried in neutral, putting it into reverse and drive back a few feet and putting it into neutral, while coasting forward at 5mph. Its just almost locked up. Is this normal? any fixes to this issue?

 

My Hi/Lo shifter is stuck too. I crawled under it and sprayed everything that looked like it could be part of the linkage with penetrating oil but it still doesn't budge. Luckily for me, I haven't needed to use it yet.

 

I have needed to use it many times, but can never get it to shift....very frustrating.

 

Are you having an issue going from high into neutral or going from neutral into low?

If you can't get out of high into neutral then the issue is probably with the shift interlock (I hope that is the right term) which is supposed to keep you from shifting the transfer case out of the selected range unless the transmission is in neutral or park. I had that issue with mine. I removed the interlock solenoid completely rather than replace it since I didn't want the next failure to be when I was in low range with a 3-hour drive back from a desert adventure. Once the solenoid is removed there is nothing to prevent you from shifting out of low or high range if you are going too fast or with the transmission in gear so be sure that you meet the criteria for changing the transfer case range before moving the lever.

Hope that helps.

-Rob

 

another thing to check is the cable, cables like these tend to seeze in the sleeves if not operated regularly.

 

Going under and spraying everything isn't really going to help much. As Drowssap mentioned it's a cable unit, and the rubber encloses the actual moving cable. It can seize in there, or at either end. Will be a pain but it's not a bad idea to remove everything and get in there.

 

x2 @ SoCalRob said, If it wasn't engaged much over the cars lifetime, they fail, I've seen a few people struggle with this. You can just pull the solenoid out and see if it shifts without it, I think you can eliminate the solenoid completely, (if that's your problem) but risk the chance of accidentally shifting your car into low at freeway speeds also.

 

Where can I find this?

 

The location of the interlock solenoid depends on the year of your Discovery. A diagram which shows the interlock solenoid locations can be found on page 40-41 (page 565 in the PDF) of the RAVE workshop manual, also attached to this post. Page 41-17 shows a close-up of the 2004 location of the interlock solenoid on the transfer case selector casting. At least for 2004, the interlock was only fitted to Discoveries sent to North America and Japan. I assume that Land Rover thought the rest of the world was smart enough to not change the transfer case from one range to another unless the conditions on the label were met so they didn't need the interlock solenoid to act as a nanny.

-Rob