P38 Gearbox Fault

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peter the cleaner

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Goodafternoon all.....

I am currently running a 99 P38 2.5DTI and "gearbox fault" keeps being delayed on the dash, this then makes the vehicle sluggish and the gear selection is not displayed on the dash when this happens. It feels like its setting of in 2nd or 3rd. It has shuddered and stalled a couple of times and stalled. This started about 3 months ago and happened may be no more than 3 times all I did was stop turn it of and back on and hey presto it was fine for a while. Now it is happening on 9 out of 10 journeys, i can tell when its going to start as the sport light/switch flashes and flickers.

I have looked through all the previous threads to try and resolve my problem but to no avail and i wanted to know if anybody else could possibly help.

To give you an idea i have so far......

Checked the big round connector under the header tank for water and wear - Nothing
Stripped the fuse box down completly to see if any of it was burnt out.
Checked for loose connections under both passenger and driver seat.

Are there any other connections anywhere that could be causing this.

I pray somebody has a positive answer that will make her work again.

Thanks in advance

Peter
 
I've topped up the transmission oil, 2 days ago, but not changed it or the filter.. Could it be something electrical or does it sound like the filter etc if so where would I find this filter and how do I go about changing it etc???

Thanks
 
electical? i dunno, but id change the filter and oil first me mate had some strange gear changes in his 4.6 and the filter/oil change put it right , u gotta take the gearbox sump off to change the filter its eaily seen after removal, 1hrs work all in...if that
 
Ok so I've changed the transmission oil and I'm still getting the gearbox fault warning on the dash, the sluggish drive and gear selection has dissapeared of the dash!!! Any ideas anyone??? I run my own business and without her working I am trully stuck!!!

Thanks
 
Sorry no the gear selection has dissapeared on the dash but it is still sluggish as though its in a higher gear. Same as before really. Its also taking about 15 seconds turning it over to get started even if i start it and then stop and try again.

Completly confused.com now.....
 
sorry to hear it, my knowledge is very limited any trouble i have with autos i change the oil and filter but other than that its pay sum1 to do it, did you change the filter?
 
Couldnt actually locate the filter and the garage I went to doesnt stock them and being Sunday morning struggle to get one, i thought if i could find it I could rinse it through with some new oil....Spoke a mechanic pal of mine and he didnt think they had one, so when I couldnt see it I went with that option....

I could be bald before my 32 birthday at this rate through pulling my hair out!!!!!

Thanks for your help this far.....
 
I`ve no expertise for you, sorry... RAVE seems to say that with any number of faults the system will select a `limp home` mode keeping the vehicle in 3rd gear. I`m not any expert, but sounds like a job needing proper reading of the stored faults.
 
Before you get to carried away stripping gearboxes, have you checked the condition of the battery ? If as you say you have the obligitory diesel starting fault then its a good chance your battery is way down and this will throw up the gearbox fault message you keep getting.

The starting issue can be down to general wear in the injection pump which can be worked around by fitting a timed relay/resistor combination that fools the engine into thinking it is cooler than it actually is. An enterprising chap on Ebay is selling kits for this. Otherwise you may have leaking leak off pipes, which are cheap enough to replace and finally the lift pump in the fuel tank is prone to cracking letting air into the system.This can be worked around by always keeping the tank topped up.

But first off, check the battery........... You should have about 14.XX volts when running and 12.5 + when not. Any less than this then you are asking for trouble.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the help there.....

The battery is about 6 months old and so yesterday I went to the garage I bought it from and they tested it....every thing ok there.

You say air in the fuel. There is a clear pipe running from the the fuel filter to the block and there appears to be air in that, is that normal??? Could this also be related to the gearbox fault if its taking so long to turnover and this drains the battery???

Looking forward to your expert answers.....

thanks
 
have the ecu read as it could be a transfere box of gearbox ecu problem.
the filter is in the gold pan on the pan on the bottom of the autobox held in place by three tx27 bit screws
 
no its not normal, do as rewmer said and keep the tank topped up, me mates dse had the same starting problem but had no mess on dash
 
Last edited:
You shouldnt have air in the clear pipe. Start with changinging the leak off pipes on the injectors. These get porous and allow fuel to drain back drawing air into the system. The battery may seem OK, but did the garage perform a drop test on it? If you drove over to them and they just stuck a meter across the terminals then there is a good chance it will read OK as its just had a good charge.Get yourself a multimeter and measure the voltage whilst turning it over. I bet it drops right down. The real test is when it is under load, like cranking the air out of your system. This will lead to a voltage drop and presto! Gearbox fault.
 
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