.....my continued thanks to the this invaluable community; the ideas, support and guidance is amazing. Now with my dilemma. Quick description of my challenge:
2005 LR3 HSE 4.4 approximately 176K miles, Coil springs
I turn my key and nothing. Lights in the dash cycle and light up as normal (no warning indicators). I here a soft click underneath the passenger side dash....and no crank what so ever. Once I put my key in, I cannot get my key out, without disconnecting the battery. That is my current state, and this is how I arrived to this point.
- I ordered replacement set of OEM Solenoids to correct a shifting issue and transmission fault that I received. I also thought I would take this opportunity to change over the trans fluid, sleeves, and covert over the trans pan/filter. I made the switch of solenoids, and when I placed the valve body back into the vehicle, closed up the tranny pan, and went to start the car to get the trans oil up to temp specs for adding the remaining 2 quarts, I saw a big fat "E" in the dash, where I used to see a "F". The only thing that had changed was the solenoids, so I quickly went to work taking the valve body back off, and going back with my original solenoids.

-Back to my original solenoids, with fresh filter/pan & sleeves, and when I placed my key in to turn the ignition on, I noticed that the dash indicated that the car was in D, but the shifter was still in park.....? I could not get the car to shift either out of park, and turning the key did nothing for me. The big fat error code of E was gone, but the car would not crank. I implemented the gear shift manual shifter through the side of the shifter and was able to slide the shifter through the gears. I went up and down the shifter column about three times, and stopped at N (nuetral) and wallah, I saw the "D" disappear from the dash, and feverishly began to turn the key........Virrrrrooooommm!! I am in business. I felt on top of the world, and breathed as if the worst was behind me. Assuming everything was fine, I turned off the car and went to clean up my work space. Yep, the key would not come out, and I went to start the car back up, and nothing.

Fast forwarding through my moments of depression/defeat and three days of research, this is what I have ascertained and done. I noticed the key that I used had become deprogrammed, as it no longer would lock/unclock the doors remotely, so moving forward I used a spare key (odd??).
1. Checked all my fuses in the engine compartment and passenger compartment. Took my battery in for inspection, and it was bad, so swapped out a new battery, and made several attempts to start it with a new battery and with jumper cables from another car (to ensure proper voltage).
2. Disassembled the gear shift, cleaning the electrical connectors (all of them) with electric cleaning fluid. checked to see if the shifting of the gears actually corresponded with the movement capacity of the truck. Put it in reverse, and then pushed it back....put it in park and tried to push it...etc. It checked out physically, but at this point, no gear indicators show up on the dash at all (PRND....). If i put it in D and sport mode, the word "sport" does show up on the dash.
3. Clean the entire front cabin space of the truck (i mean vents and hidden cracks/spaces as well), just cause I was out of ideas and needed to feel successful.
4. Hooked up my IID Tool and flashed all the ECU's, clearing out any faults and did my best to reset the BCU. I tried to reset the transfer case and got the error code "E 0" on the IID Tool....??

I am now convinced that I must have overlooked something in placing the valve body back into the tranny housing. Is there anyone who is familiar with taking these in and out, and can extend some possibilities of what my be either not engaged or not tightened that would cause the truck not to recognize what gear it is actually in? My assumption is that the LR3 thinks it is D still, and that is why every time I put my key in, I can not pull it out. I must say that when I hooked the harness up to the valve body sleeve, it did not go as smooth as it has gone when I have done it on other LR3's. This is the first time I have every taken the valve body off, normally I would just do trans pan conversions and valve body sleeve replacements. It rained the last 20 odd hours, so I have not been able to get back under the truck. I am going to go step for step in analyzing the connectors involved with the valve body, taking careful examination of the gear linkage (although it shifts fairly smoothly) and rub a rabbits foot along the outer edge of the pan for mercy from the maintenance gods.

Is there any cables that I might have loosened, or interrupted on the valve body, to keep it in a state of D (Drive)....or is there another area I should be investigating all together....??

 

Af face value it seems like a simple issue, your shift linkage is off. Did you verify its position?

 

I was thinking the very same thing. w The only way I thought to verify its position was to put it in the various gears, and physically push it in the corresponding directions. I would need someone to shift through the gears, while I was underneath to ensure that the gear linkage is responding appropriately....unfortunately my 8 year old tech intern tells me he is still on holiday break at the moment..(geesh).

How can I verify its position? would I need to take the valve body completely off to ensure this? Does the outer valve body harness have any direct affect to this linkage alignment. Everything in my gut is telling me its a simple solution, just not exactly sure what component to narrow down in on. The rain will be subsiding tomorrow, and I am going to look more closely at the gear linkage assembly on the underside. I will do a GAP Tool Scan tonight and post any codes that come back as well.

 

No, the valve body can stay. I am just talking about the exterior linkage from the shifter cable to the transmission. Its adjustable and sounds out of whack. Just start there for now before panic sets in. Also keep in mind that the issues you had could also have been related to the linkage if your shifter feels stiff when shifting. It should be smooth and fairly light. But the linkage can bind up and cause problems. They make kits to replace the small bits.

 

I will certainly report out my findings tomorrow. I am familiar with the linkage, and the kits to address stiff/rough shifting....I have one in my cart currently, and will wait until I get a good visual inspection before placing the purchase. Thank you for your commentary, and I'm hopeful this will have a simple end.

 

I have had my kit a couple years now but never installed it, a quick spray with some lubricant took care of it. You can try that to see if it helps or helps with fine adjusting.

 

I was able to get a look at the Gear Linkage Switch and it was moving fine and smooth with the movement of the gear ****. Looking around the valve body from a glance, I couldn't see anything that was pinched and/or unplugged. It seems as if I will need to saddle in and take the tranny pan off again and do a step-for-step look at all the valve body connectors...? The gear shift will move through the gears, but still no indication on the dash, unless i go in command mode, and then "D Sport" will appear.

Here are some quick codes that came up from the IID Tool:
B1D14-15 (2F) Interior lamps 2 circuit - general electrical failure - circuit short to battery or open.

With the IID Tool, I attempted to reset/recallibrate the position senor on the TCCM, and for some reason I kept getting an error message from the IID Tool, Operation Failed E 07. I will be contacting GAP Tool to see what this error code refers to.

 

The gear shifter and transmission need to be in agreement on the desired position. You need to try to adjust your linkage.

 

Update on the valve block attempt..........vvarrrooooommmm!!! is the the end result, and your suggestion of the Gear Shift Linkage was very much connected to the issue. In the pictures below, you can see a latch that has to be engaged before tightening down the bolts to the valve body. I looked back at a reference installation guide, and it had stated in red lettering the exact precaution.

It has been a very labor-some three days, but I certainly have gained some valuable insight and understanding of the valve body, and the crossbars underneath that influence the solenoid shifting. I hope this thread is valuable to anyone who looks to perform a solenoid swapping (which I am still left to complete), and offers guidance to make sure the "position bar is engaged with both latches before fully mounting down the valve body.

The moment I laid eyes on this, I knew what the issue was....


This is a page from a manual/guide I got from the internet, and I remember reading over this section, but certainly did not use it as reference when I was doing the actual work on the valve body....lesson learned...!!


I am putting in some photos to help anyone who is doing this service. I know having a bit more imaging would have helped me with some understanding and careful review of the various latches. There isn't a whole lot of reference available on the internet for this service repair.



This photo shows the valve body removed and the BLUE arrow identifies the cross bar that is connected directly to the Gear Shift Linkage assembly on the outer casing. The RED arrow is the metal pin that has to be engaged to the latch on the Valve Body, as indicated in the previous photos.

 

What a pain! Glad I could sorta guide you into the right direction but you ultimately found the issue. I was hoping it was an external adjustment. But, you found the problem and got it done. I am sure this will help others in the future.