2003 Land Rover Discovery Sport Series II.
Automatic transmission
87,000 miles.
I bought it used 4 months ago.

DAY 1
I was driving back to the house two days ago when the engine shut off.
Sitting there on the side of the road, I disconnected the battery terminals, waited for a few minutes, reconnected the battery terminals and when I tried to start it again, the gear box indicator light lit up and indicated that the gear box was in neutral. So, after attempting to engage 4 HI several times, I was successful and the darn thing finally started.

DAY 2
Arrived back home from work in my 97 model F250. Attempted to start the Disco. Engine cranks, no start. "Gear box in neutral" indicator light is on. Played around with the gears again, but to no success. Tried disconnecting the battery to repeat what I did on day 1, but to no success. When I attempted to remove the key from the ignition, it would not budge. So, I disconnected the battery again and then I was able to remove the key from ignition.

Day 3
I was able to remove the key without disconnecting the battery because the battery was dead. I tried jumping the disco with my old ford diesel truck and the key got stuck again, damn thing thinks that the gear box is in neutral still, and the POS will turn over but will not start. Are these LR DISCOS so finicky as to say, if the voltage is not absolutely spot on, it will cause such squirrely problems?

 

"Are these LR DISCOS so finicky as to say, if the voltage is not absolutely spot on, it will cause such squirrely problems?"

Yep, afraid so. It may be a bad earth ground, battery connection etc. It also may be the gearstick link to the xyz switch is maladjusted and showing the wrong gear position for starting to the ECU.

 

It sounds like your XYZ switch may be going out. The Switch sits right under where the drivers side A/C drips. They can get water and mud in there causing shorts and poor contacts. You might be able to open it up to clean it out but I would just buy a used one on E-Bay and go from there. A new one cost over $650 for some little plastic POS, Gotta Love Land Rover. Seriously, You have to love them or be crazy.

I would check the ground connections and battery first though.

Switch Gear Position XYZ (Genuine Part # UHB100190 ) - Land Rover switches/control unit/actuators from Atlantic British

 

Mon Ami merci beaucoup!

 

Thank you, sir!

 

Before you lash out $695 big bucks I can state these switches are easily removed and serviceable. You'll need to drill out the rivets and latterly replace them with M5x12mm bolts??? check that length though and preferably use stainless stell bolts. TIP before removing the xyz switch mark and be sure of the EXACT position as it is a slotted fixing holes and can be easily put back wrongly. LR do produce a special setting tool for the xyz switch position. There is a thread on here that I posted some time ago about stripping and rebuilding the switch but you'll need to locate it via the search facility. There are 3 or 4 different switches, they all look identical, but it depends on the year and VIN# of your truck but they all do exactly the same and are interchangeable.

I have a 2003 TD5 and rebuilt my xyz switch when I saw they wanted £495 for a new one. It'll take you about 4-5 hours to jack up, remove, rebuild and refit it into the truck. Good luck.

The price has decreased since Selector XYZ Switch - ZF 4 Speed Automatic Transmission - Genuine Land Rover at www.rimmerbros.co.uk

 

Seriously. My Ford 250 3/4 ton 7.3 diesel has 378k miles on it and I have not had to do a thing to it besides routine maintenance. There is so much that is plastic and aluminum on this disco, its a wonder that it has made it past 50k. Nothing tough about these Land/range rovers. Might have been once upon a time, but not anymore.

 

Thanks again, Offroadfrance.

 

You're welcome but this might also help you ............

Rebuild D2 ZF Selector Switch UHB100190 - Australian Land Rover Owners

 

I thought you were talking about the transmission being in "N". Since it's the T-Case not the Transmission then I don't think the XYZ switch is your issue.

If the computer says the T-Case is still in "N" then I would check 2 things.

1) I would go under the truck and follow the Hi/Lo cable back to the lever it connects to on the top of the T-Case. Sometimes the cable can snap or become loose and it won't fully shift the T-Case into gear. You can try and reach up there with pliers or something and manually make sure the lever is engaged all the way. The Hi/Lo lever is circled in the picture below.

2) The other thing you might want to look at is the "Neutral Warning Switch". It may be damaged, not be plugged in all the way, or dead. It is part #27 in the picture below.



And just to make sure you are switching the T-Case correctly, here are the instructions for that. You had the transmission in "N" when you were trying to move the hi/lo gears right?