Hi all,

I have a 2020 Range Rover Sport P400 HST (3L petrol). Three times in the last couple of months I’ve had a “Gearbox Not in Park” error, which prevents the car from starting.

When it happens, the dash still shows “P” and the car is physically in Park (can’t be pushed).

However, the gear stick has no illumination (P/D/N) and neither do the buttons next to it.

The error clears itself after a few days while the car is parked.

Timeline / Background:

Bought in April → fitted Ghost immobiliser straight away.

June → installed rear entertainment screens (hard-wired to rear cig lighter).

Since then → covered ~2k miles, car not driven daily.

Two weeks ago → removed rear screens and fitted new battery when the error occurred again (old one tested at 79%). Error made no difference, but it cleared itself after 4 days before going to main dealer.

Main dealer found “communication errors” in logs and advised removing Ghost to monitor.

Ghost now disconnected → car drives fine, but I’m anxious if the issue will return.

Question:
Has anyone else experienced the “Gearbox Not in Park” error on the L494, or any issues after installing a Ghost immobiliser?

Thanks in advance!

Not helpful I'm afraid, but no. Mine is fine with a ghost (had it since early June and installed the Ghost the next day). I could see where a faulty ghost unit might cause this issue though so you may well be on the right track.
Did you get the double indicator flash? 2021 L494 D300MHEV Autobiography
2019 Discovery Sport D180 HSE

When I get the error, it doesn’t go as far me to put the Ghost code. So
When I press start button, all I get on dash is “Gearbox not in Park”. I can’t upload any videos here I think but I will attach a photo.

I guess the proof will be if it does it again now the ghost has been disconnected.

The ghost can cause a number of errors when it intervenes so if it's kicking in early (on start rather than when put in gear) then it's possible I imagine.
My wife has one in her Discovery Sport. I found that a pain to put the code in. Sometimes, especially first thing, I would put the code in repeatedly and it wouldn't accept it. Tried all sorts. Starting the engine and waiting 60s before trying. Nothing seemed to work. Sometimes it was perfect, others, didn't want to know. Often, the only way to 'wake it up' was to trigger it, so I'd put it in D, it would then intervene and put it back into P (and the dash would throw a number of errors). Turn it all off, back on, code in and we're away, though often one or two of the errors remained until the next restart.

n the end, I bought a couple of Ghost dongles, which work great. No code, just sees the dongle and disengages instantly.
I didn't bother trying the code in the RRS, just bought 2 more. I've never actually tried the code, though I do have a note of it in my phone. 2021 L494 D300MHEV Autobiography
2019 Discovery Sport D180 HSE