Differential Unit problems of the 2003 Land Rover Range Rover - part 1

While driving on the new jersey turnpike traveling at a speed of approximately 65-70 miles an hour my truck suddenly made a loud noise and it felt like the brakes locked up and melt grinding sounds. I had it towed to a repair shop and was told it was front differential failure.

The contact owns a 2003 Land Rover Range Rover. While driving 55 mph, the contact heard a loud grinding noise. When he depressed the accelerator pedal, the noise recurred. The sound occurred when the vehicle was shifted into any gear. The contact pulled over and the transmission failure light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they stated that the front differential was stripped out. The current and failure mileages were 68,000.

I was on the 405 highway driving south bound when my new 2003 Range Rover hse lost all of its acceleration. The front differential of the car had given out. When it happened it was a total surprise. A couple of weeks prior the front wheels began to squeak as if I needed new front breaks which I did and thought that was the issue. But now I found myself swerving through 5 lanes of traffic with no acceleration to go from the hov lane over to the far right lane and onto the shoulder. A very dangerous maneuver to make with very little vehicle control. I took my car to a certified rover repair shop and they said to have a front differential kit that will never break or snap and if it does it's 100% lifetime warranty. Now I ask, why can't Land Rover use the same kit? why can't they develop a stronger and safer differential shaft for its vehicles?.

Front differential went out. I was on an incline, truck made a loud noise, display read put truck in neutral and it stopped, though the emergency brake worked little if at all.

Driving 2003 Land Rover, Range Rover. Driving 60 mph on a highway and felt a strange thump. I started to smell burying and the car felt different. I drove on for another 30 miles and started to hear a low grinding when accelerating. I parked my car at home that evening, planning to take the car to the dealer the next morning. In the morning I started the 5 mile drive to the dealer and the grinding was worse. Coming down from speed at a stop light, at around 5 mph, my front wheels locked up and I screeched to a stop in the middle of the road. The car could not be moved from where it was. The flatbed had to deag it up onto the truck. When I reached the dealer by tow they told it was the front differential that locked up and that it was fairly common. I was lucky I was not involved in a crash the way the vehicle suddenly locked up.

My 2003 Range Rover hse differential died without warning. I had to be towed home ($200) + $1500 to fix it with an after market differential.

My 2003 Range Rover with 36k miles has a defective front end differential which is a known problem in models from 2003-2005, yet no recall. Orig my extended warranty refused to cover claim.

Front differential failed on my 2003 Land Rover Range Rover while driving which caused an emergency stop that could have resulted in injury to myself and others on the road. Apparently this is a recurring problem with 2003 and 2004 Range Rovers and yet no recall has been done. The dealership replaced the front differential as my vehicle was under warranty but at great cost of time to myself.

While driving home from work late at night my 2003 Range Rover stop and the indicator directed me to put my car in neutral. When I stepped on the gas I heard a loud grinding sound. I was stranded at 1am on a week night waiting for a tow truck Range Rover should recall this problem with the differential especially if so many people are having this issue and we paid over 80,000 for our cars.

Front differential and drive shaft failed while driving at 65 miles per hour.

Driving at 55 miles an hour and car started making loud searing noises and could not press on the accelerator, sounded like the engine was going to fall out. Car said to slip it into neutral, which I did, then it came to an abrupt stop. Pretty scary going 55 miles an hour. Had no prior warning just happened within seconds.

On 02/04/2008 my shaft/differential broke in my vehicle for the third time. Twice in the past it was fix under warranty and this occurrence it was not.

Driving at 80mph passing a tractor trailer on interstate 380 north, my front axle and drive shaft gave out almost causing me to loose control of vehicle and run into the truck. Luckily I was able to get control and guide vehicle to the side of the road. Vehicle was inoperable and had to be towed. This is the second time this part has failed on this vehicle as it was repaired by previous owner only 10k miles ago.

While driving my 2003 Range Rover on the freeway, the front differential suddenly failed with no advance warning. Lost all propulsion. Was barely able to glide onto the shoulder. This is a known, significant safety defect that should have been addressed already. Only have 50,000 miles on the car. It is well maintained. Requires total replacement of the front differential by the dealer. There is a 2 week delay in getting replacement parts; this is a well known, too-commonly-occurring defect. Range rover should be protecting their reputation better.

At traffic light I heard a grinding sound in transmission, moved gear from drive to n to hear it again. As light changed the driveshaft disengaged from the transmission, coasted across traffic to service station, but unable to move rear of vehicle out of traffic. Passersby helped push me and my child out of the intersection. I believe this is the 2nd differential failure for this vehicle.

(1)excessive noise and vibration at front end of vehicle (2)front differential failure/front driveshaft spline misaligned with input spline on differential. (3)front drive shaft and differential replaced.

Husband had 2003 ranger rover hse vehicle in drive & waiting to go at a 4-way intersection. Suddenly, he hears a loud noise and vehicle is stuck (motionless), no acceleration. There was no forewarning noise or indication previously to be aware of such a potential incident. Vehicles has approx. 56k miles vehicle was towed to vacant housing parking lot(to get out of traffic) then had to towed to Land Rover dealership(same day). Service department has diagnosed vehicle to have front differential failure.

My son was driving on the 105 freeway in the carpool lane when my 2003 Range Rover suddenly made metal noises and failed. He narrowly avoided being hit and was able to pull to the side. Front drive shaft and differential or slip differential was to blame. This was supposed to have been fixed by Land Rover during my service in may 2004 due to many complaints of failure and vehicle suddenly stopping even at high freeway speed. With the help of police and aaa, my car was towed to nearest Range Rover authorized mechanic in culver city, California. Since my car only recently crossed 40,000 miles, it was no longer under warranty. Cost to fix was $2700. We called Land Rover to complain that this should not have happened if it was already fixed. They wanted my car to be towed to thousand oaks dealer since that's where the original fix took place in may 2004. Land rover of north America informed us they would pay for a portion of the repairs and the balance of $600 would be our responsibility. After much investigation on the internet and discussions with other Range Rover owners, I discovered that the so-called fix was just a modified fix so it would last till after 40,000 miles and no longer under warranty. This could have been a very serious accident and my son could have been badly injured as he had no control over the vehicle on the freeway. This problem needs to be addressed before anyone gets seriously hurt or even die. It is a well known issue of front differential failure among mechanics that I have talked to.

Front differential total failure.

Landrover rangerover hse 2003 we broke down in this car twice, the differential failed. 4/19/08 12/20/07.

First occurrence - driving in residential neighborhood about 10-15mph. My 2003 rr made a big clunking noise then immediately followed and awful screeching noise. I was unable to drive, truck instantly stopped and screen stated put in neutral. I was stranded on side of road waiting for a tow truck with my 3 children, the youngest was 4 months. Second occurrence - less than 1 year later, I was on vacation in cleveland ohio thanksgiving time. Driving about 30 mph and the same exact noise happened and instantly the truck stopped, I knew exactly what it was. It was 11:30 pm, I called my insurance company and there were no tow companies open. Finally someone came to assist me and pushed my 7000lb truck into an empty lot until the next day. When the help arrived they parked about 3 feet behind my truck, not knowing the truck was not safe in park my truck drifted back and hit his new BMW truck. Both times the differential went up I had to pay for it! over $2500 both times not to mention the cost to tow my truck back to MD from ohio $1600. I must say that when my truck arrived at the shop all of the mechanics knew about the issue with rr's and their differentials. This is so sad, there is no warning it just happens. I expected so much more from Range Rover, the name to me means quality but this vehicle has not lived up to its name. Not to mention that the company has not acknowledged that this is a common issue with these vehicles and they still will not take ownership of this defect. There are many more stories like this, coincidental as it seems my good friend with a 2004 rr differential went up the same day as mine, luckily she was still covered under warranty.

Front differential catastrophic failure while driving 65 mph on us 290. 1 adult driver, 1 3 month old boy, 1 4 yr old girl no warning signs. Front wheels locked up for a moment almost causing an accident on moderately busy freeway, then was able to have vehicle coast to a stop following loud noise.

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.

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 NHTSA 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. . Read more...

I purchased this 2003 Range Rover with 19,000 miles February 2007. It currently has 36,008 miles and the transfer case differential and drive shaft needed to be replaced. The car had a catastrophic failure stopped at a traffic light, and was in gear at the time. They had to replace the drive shaft and differential. Time in service is not the issue with the low miles on this vehicle. The only wear and tear that could occur would be through usage. The warranty is 50,000 miles or 4 years. This vehicle is not even close to the mileage limitation.

Differential , drive shaft total failure . This has happen to me twice in June of 2007 and oct of 2007.

Front differential failure.

While driving on the expressway the front differential went out on my 2003 Range Rover with only 52,000 miles. I was driving 60mph when the vehicle lost power from the transmission and I almost lost control of the vehicle in traffic. I was almost rear-ended and was unable to steer vehicle to side of the road.

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.

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).

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. The check engine light illuminated, there was a radiator leak and the left rear tire had a slow leak. Updated 10/11/07.

2-9-05-driving on the highway. Veichle shut down on motorway, vehicle making loud grinding noise will not move in any gear. Had to wait to be towed back to dealership. It was a faulty front fif assemby. Replace front fiff and align. Replace drive shaft. 8-23-07-driving on a highway. Veicle making grinding noise while on the highway. Had to pull over the car would not accelerate. Car was towed into shop after 4 hours of waiting on the highway and being towed. Front diff and drive shaft splines stripped. Replced front diff and driveshaft.

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.

Differential failure on my 2003 Land Rover Range Rover. Almost got killed while traveling on the freeway at 65 mph when all of a sudden complete loss of power. Stopped and put in park and vehicle still moved!! finally used handbrake to stabilize and called a tow truck.