Autobox shifting woes!

[sturmy]

Hi,
Greetings from the other side of the pond.
Posting here, as there are not many L300s left on the road in the UK!
We have had our L300 delica for 10 years now and been all over the Alps, Norway and Iceland in it.
However it has suddenly decided to mess us around!

The gearbox works fine for about 20 minutes, then it will start not changing up into top gear. Occasionally it changes into second or occasionally 1st instead of going up the box. Sometimes just pulling and turning off the engine and restarting will get us a few more miles before the problem starts again. Ok for local journeys, but not for any more epic road trips!

I have cleaned out the gearbox and refilled with fresh ATF fluid about three times and cleared out the screen in the gearbox sump (pretty clean). Does any one have any ideas? I did wonder if it was a kick down switch issue rather than a tranny issue? But cannot find much info. Also am I right in thinking that the L300 does not have a gearbox ECU? This would point to mechanical gremlins rather than electric? The fact that it is intermittent also confuses me. Are there any relays or switches that could be affected by temperature?

Any ideas gratefully received. I really don't want to scrap it!

Regards

James

[Big-Bird]

Poke around here and grab the tranny sections of the L300 service manual.

http://www.delica.ca/forum/l300-shop-ma ... nloads-17/

Could be a sensor, solenoid, check balls/springs in the valve body are sticky,
Or worst.case tranny might need a rebuild

[sturmy]

Thanks Big Bird.
The manual looks pretty daunting!
Has anyone pulled the valve body off the bottom of the tranny without taking the tranny out?
I don't want springs and balls all over the driveway! But I might be prepared to give it a go if it keeps the beast alive.

[Big-Bird]

Does your delica have a throttle position sensor? These can cause shifting issues as well much like you described. At least My Nissan Xterra (suv version of Navara) acted this way when the TPS gave up on me.