I have a 2003 Disco II that was running fine until the little red light that shows what gear you are in started flickering and going out and then on again quite randomly. At the same time, the LED that indicated what gear you are in on the dash would also go out, but just the indicator that showed what gear you are in. The mileage part of the screen still worked fine.. When the light was out, it seemed like it was not always automatically shifting into a higher gear, but when the light came back on it would work fine again. Sometimes wiggling the selector level would get both the red light and Dash Led gear indicator to come back on again. In all of the other gears the light goes on fine, and the correct gear was shown on the Dash LED. I was worried there was something wrong with the transmission, and took it to a local mechanic (as there is no Land Rover dealer in my town and did not want to drive it very far). He did a diagnostic report which indicated that the "Position Switch" was defective but everything else was fine. He said this defect also causes the ABS warning light and others to remain on, which I noticed before but didn't know the reason. He said this rather unimpressive looking part part costs over $700.00 from a Land Rover dealer and the mechanic couldn't find a cheaper, non OEM replacement part on the internet. I do have a 'donor' 2000 Disco II that I could probably swap out the part with assuming they are compatible. I could not find anything on the internet about fixing this and not even sure how I would reach this part and how difficult it would be to replace the defective part. I am not a very good mechanic, but have fixed things like replacing the brake booster, crankcase sensor, brakes, etc. and able to use the Fort Campbell auto craft shop with lots of good equipment and experience mechanics to help you so I am willing to try. Has anyone here experienced this same problem and could give me some advice? Also a cheaper source for the part? Until I can get if fixed would it be safe to drive it in low speeds in 3d gear? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

 

This is really going around. Find a good used one on eBay, and the swap will take an hour or so. You can try rebuilding your own as well.

If u search google there is a write up.

I has to file the post to get some pieces to slide off, noting major, just the corrosion.

it’s not bad, and I didn’t even lift the truck.

 

the piece is usually referred to on here as the "xyz switch." there are a number of threads on how to tackle this problem, including how to align it after you install the replacement.
the part from your 2000 truck will fit -- i installed the one from my 1999 truck into my 2003 just a couple of weekends ago.
refurbishing the problematic one is pretty straightforward, but it's probably best to switch in the known-good one first.

 

Many thanks! I didn't know they called this an "XYZ switch". With that knowledge I have found a YouTube video on how to fix it, just like with the crankcase sensor that saved me about $500 bucks. If the one in my old 2000 disco doesn't fix it and I can't repair them I see several guaranteed ones on eBay for under $150.00. What a relief to know it wasn't something wrong inside the transmission, which is what 'killed' my first Rover, (though it lived to over 240,000 miles, and I transferred all of my expensive accessories to the newer one.)

 

Many thanks for the information!