P38 Transmission High low Change Over Motor

Hey guys,

My p38 (manual) isnt changing from high to low. When i push the magic button it just flashes at me and then stops after a few seconds...

I had a look under at the motor and doesnt seem to be any visual signs of damage to the exterior.

Any ideas?

Cheers, G

only one of two things to go wrong really, stepper motor or transfer box ecu. normally in my experiance its the ecu, you can check the stepper motor, whip it of and power it, you can also take the the ecu out and check it for dry joints. if your lucky you can re soldier the joints and it will live again if not then your gonna have to but a new one. luckily there not dear.

arron beast unleashed said:

only one of two things to go wrong really, stepper motor or transfer box ecu. normally in my experiance its the ecu, you can check the stepper motor, whip it of and power it, you can also take the the ecu out and check it for dry joints. if your lucky you can re soldier the joints and it will live again if not then your gonna have to but a new one. luckily there not dear.

Click to expand...

Is this the same for an P38 automatic with the same problem??

I had the same problem when I had a DSE manual. It was the neutral switch. You have two switches on the main gearbox - one for reverse and one for neutral. The neutral one is the uppermost (ie most difficult to get at) I think. On mine, the switch was OK but the plastic bit inside the gearbox remote housing had broken so it wasn't actuating the switch. Easiest way to check is to pull the plug off the switch and short it out. If you can then get low, you know what it is.

elmo said:

Hey guys,

My p38 (manual) isnt changing from high to low. When i push the magic button it just flashes at me and then stops after a few seconds...

I had a look under at the motor and doesnt seem to be any visual signs of damage to the exterior.

Any ideas?

Cheers, G

Click to expand...

Did you depress the clutch with the engine running, while pressing the magic button to change ratio???

I screwed my range change motor by not using the clutch!!!

zzr1200 said:

Did you depress the clutch with the engine running, while pressing the magic button to change ratio???

I screwed my range change motor by not using the clutch!!!

Click to expand...

If the gearbox has to be in neutral to shift from high to low, I don't see what difference pressing the clutch could possibly make since there is no drive to the gearbox output shaft and thus the transfer box when neutral is selected

It's a while ago since I had it but you definitely had to select neutral. Thinking more about it, I seem to remember a dash warning message 'Select Neutral' coming up but perhaps someone with a manual can confirm that?
Also, just reading on Rave:
"A shift between ranges is possible when the transmission is in Neutral. The control unit senses this via either a clutch switch or a lever neutral switch"
There you go - never heard of a clutch switch before for this.

i have a manual, mine insists on neutral on the message centre.
i normally come to a halt before doing it

once pressed the button in error instead of the cruise control, but nothing happened

Low works fine on mine, have used a bit on the farm...and the snow

i have a p38 dhse manual, it wont select low range just by pressing the button and selecting neutral, i have to depress the clutch as well,

if you dont presss the clutch i get the message to select neutral,

i did this on mine but no im screwed i can get it back to hi any help would be great i need it done asap