I do not think it would drive at all if the fuses for the transmission controls were pulled. See if the message shows up again and update us on the progress.

 

Went to the dealer today because I found blueish color fluid under the truck Monday and Tuesday morning. Of course they didn't find a leak. Pressured tested the system 3 times and nothing. So I also asked them to check into the "transferbox neutral" message while they had it in the shop. They told me an electrical connector to the transfer box had partially worked it's self loose and some times the current wasn't transferring thru the pins. So they greased it (not sure why) and reconnected it and told me if the message comes up again to bring it back and/or if the fluid leak reappears. So we will see!

 

I do not know the fluid but they probably put some dielectric grease on the connecter and then reconnected it. The grease is for electrical connections that may get water inside, it will keep it protected.

Good Luck.

 

Blue? I don't know of a fluid in a rover that is blue.

 

OH... DUHH!!! lol Washer fluid!

 

The coolant is blue-ish also

 

I see that this post is about a year old but if you see this will you let me know if cleaning/greasing the pin connector fixed the problem? I am having the EXACT same problem out of my 2004 RR. At random times it will beep and tell me the transfer box is in neutral and it will also not shift into low range. Sometimes just stopping and turning the vehicle off then restarting will clear it up, but not always. There doesn't seem to be any specific pattern which leads me to believe it is an electrical connection problem. I checked the harness connection going into the side of the transfer case motor and it was solidly connected, but I didn't pull it off (b/c i couldn't immediately figure out how to and didn't want to break anything) to check for corrosion, etc.

any advice?

 

It has been working so far. I also had the ecu rest at the dealer when i was getting some other work done. But it would happen alot when it was cold outaside, so this winter will be the true test. Someone else had this problem and they got there transfer case motor replaced, that's about 1500 or so and they also didn't have the problem again. i will update if i get the message again.

 

I slid underneath our Rover a couple weeks ago and unplugged the wiring harness that runs into the transfer case range selecting motor. I was expecting to see some corrosion but was surprised to see it was clean as a whistle. I reconnected the harness and made sure it was tight. After that we didn't have a single warning message pop up until we were on our way home from church Sunday and I told my wife, "You know, knock on wood (knocked on faux plastic wood inserts) we haven't had a single error message since I messed with that harness connection." I dropped her off at the house and ran to the parts store and on my way the error message came back up. Since then I have climbed back underneath and repeated the process and we have to gotten the error message. Not sure if this means there is just not a good pin connection within the harness connector or that the motor is going bad.

On another note, before I messed with the harness connection the transfer case would not shift into low range. Now it does but the light on the instrument cluster (mountain sign) continues to blink even after low range is selected. It never turns solid even though you are driving in low range and it won't switch back to High because it thinks it is still switching to Low unless you shut the engine down and restart. Then you can switch back to high but the light continues to blink until you shut it off and restart again! Frustration nation. Any thoughts?

 

*after I proof read what I wrote I noticed the below typo.

I dropped her off at the house and ran to the parts store and on my way the error message came back up. Since then I have climbed back underneath and repeated the process and we have NOT gotten the error message.