This will be a bit of a story but I'll try to put some cliff notes in. Bought our LR3 back in December and have had a few problems since, but the three persisting problems are:

• Trouble going up a steep hill, around an 8% grade
• Hard downshift from 5-4
• Vibration under load, but I think this is from the rear driveshaft bearing support, already plan to tackle this

I brought the car into a specialist who drove it around but were unable to get the vehicle to struggle going uphill. In the car i left them all the receipts of the work I've had done and I think they got focused on an over heat event I had a few months back. What happened there was a coolant hose blew off around 8,000' while going uphill and I pulled over quickly, but the car did lose some power right before I shut the engine off. They used a gas analyzer and the PPM for hydrocarbons went from around 20 PPM to 130 PPM over the course of 10 minutes while at idle. They came to the conclusion that the head gaskets are toast and need to be replaced, but I do not think this is what is causing my lack of power uphill. For the head gasket to be leaking so badly that I lose a significant amount of power uphill, wouldn't I see a lot of white smoke out of the back and smell coolant when I stop? I have no white smoke and no coolant smell that I can discern. Also I can drive at 80 on the highway over flat ground without any issue.

To make matters more fun, I have no codes, CEL or transmission faults. And haven't thrown a code since I've owned it.

I spoke to another specialist who also agreed that the head gasket seemed unlikely to be causing the power loss and thought it could be as simple as a fuel pump, dirty throttle body or the transmission. The vehicle had the mechatronics service prior to my purchase and I just did it again, but the hard downshifts and power loss persist. With the mechatronics service I used ZF fluid and reset the adaptations using a GAP tool, and since then it seemed to do better uphill, but the car also down shifted to first and rev'd fairly high.

Has anyone else experienced a similar issue?

Also for reference here is what I have already done to the vehicle.

• Replaced t-stat, water pump, bleeder tee, coolant bottle, leaking hoses (I think I had 3)
• Replaced heater core, it was completely clogged and I have heat again yay!
• Replaced front diff, it was grinding and upon disassembly the bearings were shot
• Transfer case
• Spark plugs
• PCV valve
• All fluids, diffs, coolant, oil, brake, trans, etc.
• Serp belts
• Cabin and engine air filter

 

Could your thermostat be junk?

 

What was done during the mechatronic service, new solenoids etc ?

 

Yea new solenoids from California Transmission and I cross referenced them with to the transmission sticker on the side. I also replaced the pan and filter, bridge seal, connector seal and those 4 other seals (B clutch, C clutch, D1, D2).

And hopefully the thermostat isn't bad. I'd be surprised if it was since the vehicle doesn't overheat after driving for an hour on the highway. Also the part I purchased was from the OE supplier on FCP and came with the t-stat and a new sensor installed.