I have a 1999 Discovery I with 102k miles. I have had her for about three years or so and have put on about 20 miles. I do not have records from before I bought her. Over the past 7 to 10k miles, I have been experiencing some transmission issues, a little hard shift into 4th gear. Recently, early in the morning, as the temperature here has dropped, actually below 50 degrees on occasion......, the transmission wants to stay in first gear for several minutes before it will shift properly. I have taken to letting it warm up for a few minutes as suggested in another post. That seems to have helped but not completely solved the problem. I have read that it may be a clogged tranny filter. Now this is a DI so the tranny filter is a bit of a chore to r and r. I checked with a couple of local shops and they want between $225 and $300 for the job, including the filter kit. Fair price considering the work in removing the y pipe and the cross-member. California Rover, great shop by the way if you are in the Encinitas California area, suggested that I might have a clogged valve within the tranny. I have taken to heart Disco Mike's strong suggestion that those of us with higher mileage vehicles not do a tranny flush. Other than dropping the pan and changing the filter and then refilling with fresh ATF, is there any way to "unclog" a tranny valve if that is in fact what is causing the issues?

Thanks in advance!

Phil
1999 discovery I
2001 discovery II

 

What does your fluid look like? The 4th gear you are referring to is not a gear. You have a 3 speed with a locking converter that locks at 52 MPH. Have you done anything to the intake? Your kick down cable may just need adjustment.

 

Yes you do have a 4th gear, and you also have a lock up torque converter.
When the torque converter locks up the driveline is just like a manual transmission, engine and trans are locked together to increase MPG, all cars since the mid '80's with automatic transmissions are like this.
Thats why if you look at the MPG numbers of a car that comes with a manual or auto trans the highway MPG are very very close if not the same.

I would go ahead and have the filter changed.
It is a good idea to have the fluid changed every 2 years.
You can do that yourself and will cost you about $20.

 

I am taking the Disco I to the shop in the morning for the transmission filter change. Filter, ATF and labor - $225, tough to beat that given all of the work required to drop the pan. I am hoping that a filter change will do the trick. I did a drain and fill, followed by another about two weeks later at 95k miles. The old fluid didn't seem bad, burnt or dirty. The AFT drain and fill seemed to somewhat improve the shifting but not dramatically. Here is to luck on the filter change....I have not done any intake modifications, truck is strictly stock other than slightly larger tires, surf racks and the ever popular "Nights of Arabia" drooping headliner!

On a related transmission note, has anyone changed the illumination plate around the transmission handle? The right side has gone dark, the left side still illuminates. It is on the DI, not the DII.

Thanks again, great forum, tons of info and money saving tips.

 

As for the gear shift lights...there are two small bulbs in there, one for each side.
DiscoMike has a link for the RAVE manual in his signature, download it.
That piece with the PRND321 comes off, cafefully with a small flatblade screw driver pop it loose and replace both bulbs, you dont want to be doing this again in 2 months.
Its not hard but why not save yourself some trouble later?
The RAVE tells you exactly how to do it, I did mine shortly after I bought my truck as both sides were burnt out.
Took 20 min and cost $3.