Evoque major transmission problem but just 26k miles

MrGrumpyOldMan

I've got a Range Rover Evoque from new. 5 years old (in June) and just 26k mile. Regularly serviced. Yesterday a major transmission problem occurred. Don't know about cars but AA told me differential broken and propshaft. This should not happen to a car of that age and mileage.
Land Rover said I have to pay £200 something to diagnose the problem and then it's £225 per hour for repairs. The propshaft is about £1000. I'm looking at a cost of well over £5k.
I know it's outside of warranty but due to the low mileage/age of the car I would have hoped that Land Rover would have helped? Any ideas how to get some help from them?

Goudy

You might get some "help" towards repair from JLR if you have had it serviced regularly by their dealers, but JLR aren't well known for "helping".

Before you give it to the dealers to fix, give a few Land Rover specialists a ring, there's usually plenty about.  
Bell Engineering refurbish and supply all Land Rover transmission parts for a fraction of what the dealers charge and they are probably better built.
Freelander, Evoque & Discovery Transmission Repair | Bell Engineering

The diff is a common Evoque problem and Bell sell refurbished ones, they'll even fit it while you wait.

MrGrumpyOldMan

Thanks.
JLR were not interested other than wanting over £200 to diagnose the problem which should take 2 minutes. Waiting for the AA to take it to an independent LR specialist. Hope the propshaft which is now not connected one end isn't broken :-(

Goudy

Hopefully your Land Rover indie will be more helpful, they should certainly be more reasonably priced.

Generally speaking, there are lots of aftermarket parts suppliers for this brand and plenty of specialist engineering companies that specialise in parts like transmissions, propshafts and the likes for them.

I know you don't want to hear this right now but a JLR product out of warranty is just a ticking timebomb. 

My last dabble with them didn't end well either.
I was in love with my Discoveries at one point, had 200 TDi's, 300 TDi's, even a V8 and a TD5, but my love ended with a rather shoddy (a normal one really) L319.
They scavenged all the wrong parts from the likes of Ford, then fitted them with a lot of electronics they just didn't understand. MOST-Bus they called it, that was closer to the mark than they would ever admit too, as I spent months on a bloody bus while they tried to fix it.

daveyjp

If this is 4wd the diff can be affected if tyre wear is uneven.  Have tyres been swapped across or around axles regularly?

MrGrumpyOldMan

no tyres have been swapped - had the lemon of car since new

facade

I think Daveyjp is suggesting that if the tyres haven't been regularly swapped round front to back, the fronts wear quicker and the part time 4wd activates all the time, breaking something, most likely the 90 degree drive dangling off the gearbox. 

There is no centre differential like on an Olden Days Proper Rangerover, just an on/off clutch that bangs the back axle in when the front wheels try to go faster than the back ones.

silverfox777

We had a Discovery sport for 3 years from new. 3 days out of warranty auto gearbox started slipping so called JLR. They were really unhelpful and disinterested so would definitely not purchase another. 18000 miles and fully serviced by JLR on a service plan.

Goudy

daveyjp said:

If this is 4wd the diff can be affected if tyre wear is uneven.  Have tyres been swapped across or around axles regularly?

If it can break the diff if the tyres are worn differently and their diameters are millimetres off.

How does the thing go arounds corners without exploding the diff when wheels are expected to turn differently by in some cases, metres.
Turn a 90 degree corner and the outside wheels will turn far more than the inside, yet a couple of mm difference in tyre wear ruins the diff?

Seems like an poor excuse to put the blame back on the owner.

baser999

Would suggest you check out an Evoque Owners Forum to see if others have reported similar issues. Should also be able to pick up recommendations for independent repair shops near you; paying main dealer hourly rates out of warranty is ridiculous. 

daveyjp

Goudy said:

daveyjp said:

If this is 4wd the diff can be affected if tyre wear is uneven.  Have tyres been swapped across or around axles regularly?

If it can break the diff if the tyres are worn differently and their diameters are millimetres off.

How does the thing go arounds corners without exploding the diff when wheels are expected to turn differently by in some cases, metres.
Turn a 90 degree corner and the outside wheels will turn far more than the inside, yet a couple of mm difference in tyre wear ruins the diff?

Seems like an poor excuse to put the blame back on the owner.

As above.  The lower end Land and Range Rovers use a Haldex clutch for 4wd operation.  The car is predominantly FWD, but when traction on FWD is poor the clutch is  engaged to operate the drive shaft to the rear wheels.

With significant tread depth difference between front and back there can be a speed mismatch.  The Haldex can be engaged far more than expected and at higher speeds.

From an owners experience

This also leads me on to mention the other important way of protecting your drivetrain, tyres. Make sure they are all the same make, model, size, have the same tread depth remaining and the same air pressure. If you imagine a low tyre on one side which makes the Haldex computer think the tyre is moving faster than the others, and therefore it believes a wheel is slipping and it will engage the four wheel drive system to compensate the difference in the rotational radius’. What you end up with is a strain on the drivetrain. 

Our change of tyres had been what caused all the damage. The larger tyres on the front made the system think our rear wheels were constantly slipping. This had caused the splines to go on the transfer box – caused by the sudden demand from the Haldex to engage the 4×4 system at a higher speed than you would ever being doing in an offload situation where you would require the 4×4 facility – and, yes, there is still more to come, it also caused a bearing to collapse in the rear differential causing it to make a humming noise as we drove – not that we could hear this over the noise of the transfer box damage.