Oh yeah, well worth changing the oil again and checking the magnets etc... mine didn't have too much on them, just a small amount of meal bits....

It was just general wear in mine, looked like whoever rebuilt it before did the minimum necessary to get the box going OK but that was it, lots of wear on the clutches and general damage, TC was OK....

You maybe lucky and find it's the solenoids, I sent my valve block to Phil and he checked it and found multiple issues with it but the state of the rest of the box was really appalling...

I was lucky and found a cheap second hand box that had been rebuilt less than 6 months prior and came with a new TC, oil cooler and lines, I took the pan off that one and the difference between how the boxes had been rebuilt was like chalk and cheese...

I suspect your box was rebuilt by monkeys just out to make a few quid...

Managed to get mine to last about 10,000 miles before the gear changes got so vicious I decided to do something, I never totally lost drive but that will vary box to box I would think...

 Pete
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Is there any obvious thing to look at on the block aside from cracks etc?

Only the colour of your solenoid connectors, which will tell you whether the oil has been overheating or not.

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Hi all - did this at the weekend - realised that when the gearbox was rebuilt the filter fitted was non genuine - tut tut so we will add this to the cherry oil incident. I have drained and replace just over 11 litres now with both changes - do you think this is still effective? Gearbox seems much more effective on short runs as mentioned but on a long run (2hrs +) it's not as bad but a little jerky when pulling away and stopping. Not sure if I should expect a bit of this? Anyway I think we will live with it for now as 90% of our journeys are short which seems great now - also those connectors were a tad more brown than those pictured... should I worry? I couldn't see any crack in the unit either

Well it "should" work perfectly hot or cold, short or long trips so it's not right....

Then again it will probably soldier on for a while before you get too off with it and get a new one... start saving and go and see Phil when you've had enough...  Pete
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

TBH I've done 7k in it now and it's better than when I got it rather than worse after correcting everything so hopefully I'll start saving and this will give me some life yet!

ZF trans is the best in the world no question.
Any abnormal trans operation is just more noticeable in the L333 because its just such a lame quiet ride......all the faults stand out like a sore thumb.
Most likely it will soldier on for quite some time.