My Range Rover Sport broke down just before heading out for a vacation

Pull out the car from parking setting out for our Winter Holiday on 24th Dec and then, out of the blue, car throws a tantrum and stops abruptly and shifts itself into Park. I had no idea what had happened

BHPian 14000rpm recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

''A Range Rover is a very good car, scratch that, awesome car...when it runs''- A 3rd time Range Rover owner from Holland.

It was Christmas vacation time. Power Down time at work and I love this time of the year. Going anywhere in Europe for a holiday is not worth it since it is cold and wet everywhere. Hence, I enjoy my time skiing or hiking in the woods with my Labrador. This is what I had planned for myself this winter too. But then, on 23rd Dec, we met a bunch of Finnish friends who invited us along to a big cottage that they had booked up in the Finnish Lapland for a few days of Skiing downhill. It seemed like a win-win since I didn't have to do any bookings. All we had to do was pack up and drive. Planned departure - 24th Dec.

Pull out the car from parking setting out for our Winter Holiday on 24th Dec and then, out of the blue, car throws a tantrum and stops abruptly and shifts itself into Park. I had no idea what had happened. I restarted the car and I now saw a Engine Check light on the dash with an error 'Gearbox Fault'. In a previous instance, restarting kinda reset the error and I was able to drive. Tried the same and set out driving but this time it was different. This time around, the car would rev high but go no more than 20 kph. I had driven less than a km away from home and I knew that was it. I had experienced my life's first Limp-Mode.

Called the roadside assistance to discuss the matter. Unsurprisingly, towing away the car and dropping it at a Service center was the best they could do.
I 'limped' back home to unload the car and waited for the truck. When it eventually arrived, the Brit Bloke had no power to drive up the flat bed in first gear.

For some reason, it had more power going backwards.

Eventually it was loaded on the Flat bed with a Winch.

While the car was being loaded, my LR Defender driving neighbor (who has been mentioned in the beginning of this thread) came by and made his expert assessment that it has to be a 'Weak Battery' situation.
The forum tends to say the same about 'Gearbox Fault'. My mind went to ease since GB Fault sounds expensive. Like very very expensive. To top it, my car is out of warranty. Enough reason to shit bricks the size of the white house. However, it couldn't be ascertained till the Service technicians ran the diagnostics and agree that it was indeed 'bad battery'.

Meanwhile, my Finnish friends, who drive XC90's and had cautioned me against a Range Rover, had started out driving already and I had to bail out. It was Xmas eve and getting a decent sized Rental car was impossible. I had no choice but to wait for the service center to open on 26th Dec to even talk to anybody. I Miss India where one can get anything done and anytime. This wait, however, turned into a bit of a nightmare. Xmas day comes and so does a shocking notification on my car's app- Theft Alert!!.

First order of the day- call Support to report 'missing car'. Here's where my complication begins - My car was originally sold to Italy and then came to Finland a few years before I bought it. God knows how I end up with out of country cars. Previous was my US Import KIA Sorento. The agent responding to the call spoke no English. It was a frustrating set of calls till an English speaking agent responded and told me that they can only Track cars within Italy. Not outside. This is shocking. I have had nightmares imagining the RRS being stolen and the Secure Tracker app couldn't tell me where it was. The Nightmare was turning out to be real. Made several calls the last of it being the Truck driver who confirmed the location of the car and that the keys are in a secure drop-box.

I literally had no choice but to wait for Service center to open to speak to the SA's. Call I did at 8am on 26th Dec. No response on that call nor on the next few calls. I called to quell my anxiety and I went out there to the service center and confirmed all was ok with the car. Next, I did my best to push them to check and ascertain if it is indeed the battery. However, this was the silly season laced with holidays b2b from 24th Dec till 6th Jan. The best I could manage to have them run Diagnostics was 29th Dec. Run they did. Unfortunately, it was not battery. A rare error was thrown up in the Diagnostics. An error that, per limited web search results, indeed related to Gearbox and more specifically, a clutch issue that ignites the Petrol engine when charge in the EV battery runs out. An error so rare that even JLR hadn't seen it.

Eventually, on the 10th Jan I get a complete diagnostic report - a busted Aux Coolant pump related to the HV battery was indeed the issue. This was eventually replaced and the Brit Bloke came back home on 15th Jan. The Brit Bloke took a vacation way longer than my own.

Why was this rare? Well, since this failure was never meant to be in normal usage. The pump failed since the power cables running up to it had an interference with a metal flange near the cooler itself and over time sleeved the casing and exposed the wire leading to power surges. In short, shoddy Manufacturing Quality which left me with a 1300 EUR part replacement bill. Since the car is out of warranty, I couldn't hold JLR responsible.

Doug De Muro has been famously stating that a Range Rover should only be owned with Bumper to Bumper Warranty. Either from Manufacturer or the dealer. Should've listened to him.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.