I lumbered back the five miles from the MOT tester in low ratio.

Once home and with the message centre asking for neutral in spite of it being in neutral I replaced the new neutral switch with another new neutral switch that actually worked and on pressing the change ratio button no select neutral message but no change of ratio just flashing light.

Went underneath to look at the motor and having freed off the four bolts it tried, strongly, to rotate clockwise. Is that normal or has got stuck in low ratio somehow?

If the motor is trying to turn (if you unbolt it completely does it turn fully?) but not changing range, it sounds like something is stuck, probably due to lack of use, in the transfer case. With the motor off, you'll see a triangular shaped bit of metal that the motor engages on. See if you can persuade it to turn with a pair of Mole grips. It turns a cylinder with a cam groove cut into it to change the rotation into a forward and back movement which slides a dog to engage high or low ratio..

Thanks Richard.

it is a strong spring so I'll have to take the temperatiure sensor off too to get it off. I'll check the drive shaft once it is off.

I drove mine with the motor removed (long story) and as I lifted off the throttle the revs dropped to tickover and I found myself coasting with no drive. It had put itself into transfer neutral......

Maybe that would free it off? Although mine was in high at the time.

I've seen in the manual something about putting in fuse 11 to get it into neutral.

DavidAll wrote:

I've seen in the manual something about putting in fuse 11 to get it into neutral.

pop a 5amp fuse in to slot 11 under the driver seat of the RR then turn the engine on it will put transfer box in nuteral so it thinks it being towed

You can try it, that will prove if the motor has enough grunt to move the range change spindle.

All sorted now. Took the motor off and checked the spindle which seemed quite movable and just switched it over to face the other way. The motor went back on without any spring loading. Refilled with fully synthetic ATF. New neutral sensor wriggled into place on the gearbox remote housing.
Sat in, clutch down, in neutral and motor switched from high to low without hesitation.
One less thing to deal with!