While driving on the highway the car with no previous indication just started making a grinding noise hardly allowing me to pull off to the right. The dealer stated I had to replace the front differential and driveshaft.
2003 Land Rover Range Rover transmission complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 74, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Front differential failure on 2003 range rover. Failed twice once under warranty and again without warranty. Fighting with dealership for cost. Differential failed during casual driving with entire family.
I have a 2003 range rover. The front differential completely failed and broke causing the vehicle to be immobilized. I cannot drive or use reverse. This is a known technical service bulletin 540103 and the federal safety agency item 10000919, however it continues to happen again after being fixed according to some customers. The original owner had it fixed once and I am the second owner, it happened again. My vehicle was bought used last month with 44.8k miles. It now has 47k miles. This is a very important safety issue and should be considered a recall. My vehicle is sitting at the dealership. It is out of the 4 year/50k mile warranty so land rover may or may not fix it. Here is a link with more detail on this issue: http://www.rangerovers.net/rrmkiiiremedies.html#diff
The differential assembly on my 2003 range rover went out on me on the highway about 80 miles from chicago on our trip back from scottsdale az. It was towed back to chicago by range rover 24hr. Road service (it was out of warranty but they paid to have it towed to my front door).
2003 range rover with engine problems including stalling. Customer states that one day while driving the vehicle lurched forward made a grinding noise and then lost all power. *kb the mechanic informed the consumer there was a defect with the front differential. According to the dealership, the problem was with the design of the front driveshaft which had no flexible coupling at the front end, so any minor misalignment placed severe stress on the front differential input splines, leading to failure and immobilization of the vehicle.
Differential , drive shaft total failure . This has happen to me twice in june of 2007 and oct of 2007.
My 2003 land rover range rover hse had a failure of the front differential spilnes, axle shaft, differential unit and drive shaft which caused total loss of vehicle propulsion at 60 miles per hour on a busy highway during rush hour traffic. The vehicle had to be towed to land rover north scottsdale where it still sits because neither the extended warranty company nor the land rover dealership will claim responsibility for the repairs which are in excess of $4,000. I also had a failure of the retractable steering wheel which resulted in a diagnosis of having to replace the entire steering column.
I was driving my 2003 land rover range rover hse approx. 45 MPH and the car immediately became inoperable in the middle of the street. Dealership says the front differential has worn down and it is not due to my driving habits or anything related to me. This is definitely a defect and all forums say this vehicle has this problem very frequently. This is a very serious and potentially deadly defect in design and function. Must be recalled. I could've easily been in a major accident. No throttle control is possible when this problem occurs, and the car will not park while in "p." therefore, if I was on an incline, vehicle would have rolled with nothing that could be done. A major issue. Thank you for this service to the public. Something must be done to protect consumers from the lack of responsibility and accountability from these major auto corporations.
2003 range rover hse , loud knocking noise when going from reverse to drive, 5 minutes later a grinding noise happened that was very loud. The car responded with a loud grinding sound when trying to apply gas. I was lucky that I was not on a highway and could pull the car over. *tr the check engine light illuminated, there was a radiator leak and the left rear tire had a slow leak. Updated 10/11/07.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 land rover range rover. While driving 65 MPH, the vehicle lost power, but the engine was still running. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle failed to move. The vehicle was pulled over and towed to the dealer. The front differential in the drivetrain failed and was replaced. While driving 10 MPH, the contact heard a loud clunk coming from the front passenger side of the vehicle. This failure occurred before and after the previous failure. There is an open investigation number pe07019. The current mileage was 66,000 and failure mileage was 65,000.
The front driveshaft generates a loud grinding noise. The vehicle will not accelerate -- putting your foot on the gas is accompanied by more loud grinding noises. There is a total disabling of the drivetrain.
Driving 35 MPH on busy city street / heard and felt loud clunking followed by horrible grinding noise and loss of power. Managed to coast into a nearby parking lot. Towed to dealer and diagnosed with front differential failure.
I suffered a loss of drive while traveling approx. 40 MPH on a busy city street. The digital display stated "place in neutral" and I was able to coast to a turn lane. Placing the car back in drive resulted in a grinding noise with no transmission of power to the wheels. The car had to be pushed off the road into a nearby gas station. There was no warning to this sudden failure. The car was towed to the land rover dealer and the carrier diff (tbb000043e) and shaft assy (tvb500290) were replaced. Extended warranty covered 80% of the repair cost and I paid the rest. The car has 58k miles on it.
Sudden failure of the transfer case causing instant loss of power. This is a known design flaw with 2003, 2004 and 2005 range rovers. This can be a very dangerous flaw when pulling out into traffic or crossing and intersection. I don't believe they have re-engineered a permanent fix for this issue they are just putting the old faulty design back on when one fails. This is a very dangerous problem that someone has to make them redesign a permanent fix for.
Read diff and driveshaft.
Front diff assembly replaced.
2003 range rover hse. Approximately 46,000 miles. Within the 50,000 mile warranty but out of time warranty by about 6 months. Were taking a freeway exit when the splines on the front driveshaft stripped and failed. Range rover would not cover the problem and did not let us know that this was a known problem. We took the vehicle to tricounty transmission in clackamas oregon for repair where they had another range rover on the hoist with the same problem. They ordered a drive shaft and told us that the yoke had slight wear from the stripped driveshaft but did not need replacing. The total was between $700 and $800. On april 14th, 2007 ot stripped out again. We were then told of the new custom driveshafts for solving this problem.
I have a range rover. I was in new jersey on the approach highway to the lincoln tunnel traveling around 50 miles per hour when I noticed a bumping noise and rhythmic pulling sensation as if I had a flat tire or had picked up something that was dragging against the wheel. Then the car slowed and an "engage neutral" signal flashed on the display. I managed to pull onto the shoulder and when I tried to engage drive again I got a whining noise and the car tried to do a nose dive. Because of the volume and speed of the traffic, I was lucky not to cause, and be in the middle of, a major pile-up. The car was towed to the manhattan land rover dealership. I was told the next day that they were replacing the differential and the drive shaft. There was no charge because the car was still under warranty.
Without any warning, I started to hear a "metal-on-metal" loud grinding noise coming from underneath the vehicle while it was moving forward, regardless of whether the brakes were applied or whether it was in drive or neutral. This was immediately reported to my land rover dealership in warwick, ri. Land rover advised that the car was not safe to drive. So, it was brought to the dealership to be diagnosed. It had front differential and drive shaft failure. Previously, land rover had inspected this front drive shaft and differential under a land rover technical service bulletin, to prevent the drive shaft and differential failure. This occurred when the vehicle was under warranty. When the failure ultimately occurred, the vehicle could not be driven and it was out of warranty. Cost to fix by the dealership was $2,700. The dealership and land rover north america (including appeals board) refused to provide out of warranty assistance even though they are all well-aware of this systematic failure for 2003 range rovers. The tsb delayed the failure long enough so that it was no longer covered under the vehicle's warranty. The failure could have lead to injury if we were traveling at a higher rate of speed.
I was driving and all of a sudden the car stops running. My safety was not jeopardized because I was driving slowly but if it would have happened on a highway very bad things would have surely occurred. I am in the processed of fixing the problem. Problem is the differential and driveshaft problems on 2003 range rover.
Dt*: the contact stated while traveling 70 MPH, there was a loud noise and the vehicle rolled to a stop. After being towed to the dealership, it was determined the front differential failed and the differential was replaced. This occurred a second time four months later and the vehicle was again towed to the dealership. The dealership determined the front differential failed.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 55 MPH on the highway, there was grinding noise followed by the illumination of the neutral light on the instrument cluster panel. The contact managed to pull the vehicle over without incident. It was towed to a dealer who determined the front differential was fractured and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not contacted. Updated 10/18/2006 - the consumer was told by the dealer that the design of the front driveshaft, which has no flexible coupling at the front end, so any minor misaligned puts severe stress on the front differential input splines, leading to failure and immobilization of the vehicle. *nm updated 10/25/2006 -
There were no events leading up to this failure. I was driving in los angeles on the very busy 405 fwy during the labor day holiday weekend. I was going almost 70 MPH when all of a sudden the car lost its power and began to make a metal to metal grinding noise. Fortunately I was able to exit the fwy without causing an accident. Once safe from traffic, I called my roadside assistance which dispatched a tow truck. The truck was towed to my mechanic who directed the problem to be the front differential. He notified me that this was a common occurrence on this vehicle and that this part was recalled. Although my truck has 55k miles and the warranty has just expired, I called land rover USA and spoke with a customer care rep. Named dennis @ ext. 2127 who said that there was nothing the land rover can do once the car is out of warranty. Thanks range rover for caring sooo much about my safety!!!
Dt*: the contact stated while traveling 70 MPH, the front end made a grinding noise and the vehicle would not accelerate. After coasting at an idle off the road, the vehicle was towed to an independent repair shop who determined the front differential was stripped causing the failure. There was a recall for this, landrover #b121f, regarding the differential, prior to ownership. The manufacturer stated the vehicle was oiled and aligned, but the differential was not replaced.
Vehicle shut off while driving and the front wheels locked causing me to come to a full stop. Had to take the key out of the ignition, put it in park and then try to restart. It seems that range rovers 03' and above have a problem with the differentials that fail and cut off the vehicle's computer. I was fortunate that I was traveling at a low speed. Dealer in houston, tx finally acknowledged the problem and I have scheduled an appointment to get it fixed.
Truck stopped abruptly in the middle of the road traveling at approximately 40 MPH. I was unable to move the vehicle once it stopped in the middle of a busy intersection. The truck was immobile and made a severe grinding noise. A cab driver had to push my truck to the side of the road for safety. There was no warning light until the truck died which said "select neutral" truck had to be towed and differential assembly had to be replaced.
No events leading up to the complete failure of the front differential on a 2003 range rover. I thought this was very unusually for a vehicle with only 23k miles so I did a quick search on the internet to find this a known issue as a result of a bad design on 2003+ newer range rover's so the problem will happen again. The dealership said it was $2,700 repair if off warranty. Land rover should have to do a redesign of this problem instead of screwing the owners who will have to pay for the repair of this issue in the future. It also sounds like this is a major safety issue if the problem happens at high speeds. It left me stranded in the middle of the road during a rain downpour.
The first time the front differential went I was pulling onto my street. All of a sudden, out of no where, there was a loud metal on metal grinding noise. I immediately stepped on the brake, but by that time the truck wasn't going anywhere anyway. I put the truck into park, and walked to the house extremely annoyed that this could happen to a new vehicle. I went back out and started the truck and put it into drive, which yielded a loud grinding noise. I had no clue what was wrong, but it was obvious that I wasn't driving anywhere. When the tow truck came for it, it was immovable on it's own. There was no pre-warning to this event, the truck was still under warranty, and land rover, I thought, fixed the problem. However, the same problem occurred again last week in tucson, arizona. (may 06) the truck now has 55,000 miles and is not under warranty. The land rover dealership in tucson wants me to pay $800 to cover the labor to fix it, and they brought that price down from $1400. I am appealing to land rover headquarters, as this is a dangerous problem that was not fixed with the installation of a new differential and driveshaft the first time. If I had been on a highway or stuck in the middle of no where with an infant, this situation could have had serious ramifications. If you would like the old part, please let me know, and I will request it from the auto mall range rover dealership in tucson. However, I cannot promise their cooperation.
I was driving in an area where two freeways merge with my seven year old daughter in the back seat of my 2003 range rover. I was taking her to the doctor as she was feeling ill. All of a sudden, without any warning, the differential broke. I was barely able to get to the side of the freeway. I had to call 911. Apparently range rover knows about this defect, but has not issued product recalls. It was an extremely scary event for me and my daughter.
On two occasions my drive shaft and front differential separated. I was driving on the highway in january of 2004 and had 26,000 miles on my car when I experienced a loud grinding noise and lost power to the vehicles. The message center told me to put the car in neutral. I was on a hill and the transmission did not hold . I rolled back into traffic on the off ramp until I came to a somewhat flat part of road and was able to get the emergency brake to hold. It took over two week to have the vehicle fixed land rover would not release the parts to fix my vehicle. The second time happened one week after my 60,000 mile service. I did this service early. The car had 58,000 miles the second time the drive shaft and front differential did the same thing. I experienced a loud grinding noise like the bottom was falling out of the car. I was once again traveling at about 60 miles per hour. I was able to stop with the emergency brake on the side of the highway. I have read many reports of this happening to others twice. I do not understand why their is not a recall for this or a check at each service to detect this defect. Both times I was traveling on the highway and put in a potentially dangerous position with my daughter in the car. Something needs to be done to prevent others from this experience and the potential dangerous consequences.
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