the saga continues, auto limp, second and fifth not completing

[Ghost_2008]

Some of you may have recently seen another tread of mine regarding fitting a manual ecu in an auto vr4. I recently had trouble following a drained battery reset all the shift patterns.

Essentially I had a new engine fitted last summer, been driving sensibly for the first few thousand miles and thought I would try the manual ecu. Everything remained fine until the battery drained. Shifts between 2-3 and 4-5 were not great, initially thought the asc or tcl was cutting in. So I replaced my original ecu.

After a week or so while driving a boost pipe came off during a 4-5 gear change which sent the box into safe mode. This was later replicated in second gear.

I did the flashy dash thing and I got two codes, 42 and 45 from the N flashes. Both simply imply that the gearbox didn't complete the change into second or into fifth respectively.

I have visually inspected, fuses, ecu connections, plugs in the cabin and in the engine bay, boost pipe work (replacing a fair bit around the throttle body) checked the tps, checked the plugs on the gearbox and removed and cleaned the input and output sensors.

And still the problem persists.

I am sure that the traction control and asc are not cutting in. It feels like the gears are slipping consistently. Also no error codes to reflect that the ecu's are not communicating. No lights on dash during issue.

The gearbox was flushed and amsoil'd when the engine was swapped. I have checked the level and it's on the button.

In the years I have had the car I have maintained it to club standards, I have replaced the rear diff, gearbox and engin, with all the work being carried out by eurospec, the engine was fully rebuilt before fitted. It has cost a fortune, I'm sure I could have bought two more vr4 for the money I've spent.

I can't afford major work right now......

I have had a good search and I have found a couple of threads but the solution is often missing... I thought as the issues has evolved it really needed a new thread.

Any help and advice is always appreciated, all I want is to just drive the f**cking thing.......

[Nick Mann]

So are you on the original tcu now? Can you get the part number from the tcu and the gearbox number from the top of the gearbox?

[Ghost_2008]

Hi nick, where about is the gearbox number located?

[Ghost_2008]

I had the gearbox changed years ago, I believe I had the tcu from the donor but I'll grab the serial numbers....

I'm thinking it's a fault with the input and output sensors....

[Nick Mann]

When I have seen a car with a bad input shaft speed sensor it very quickly did a flashy N and stayed in 3rd gear.

The gearbox number is close to the external oil filter (or where the filter would be) and starts W5A51.

[Davezj]

here is a simple question have you done a bettery disconnet since the ecu went into limp mode after the boost pipe blow off twice.
it might be a case of the TCU is just confused by the 2 issues you had with the boost pipe.

but answer nick question as ithink he will take you through all the possibilities after getting a baseline of information as to where your car is at the moment, and then once he has all the info you canstart the diagnosis.
i will just listen in on this thread and see what comes to light.

[Ghost_2008]

The battery has been disconnected resetting the ecu's are few times since the initial limp home. It changes smoothly, but if you apply power in second or fifth the revs climb, speedo doesn't and this induces limp home every time. I can drive around the issue but it's far from ideal and I probably should not be driving it.

I will hopefully get all the ecu's and gearbox numbers listed tomorrow....

If the gearbox is fubar'd I will probably cry like a big girl.....

[Davezj]

What i meant was and i have to be really careful here the way a say it. i don't want to offend you i just want to get a answer. so i can get things straight in my own mind.

rather than answering the question i was going to ask, i would suggest you do another battery disconnect to veryify if you can stop the issue. when you do the reset on the ecu, just drive carefully for 50miles or so to let things settle down. to see if this clears. i am not saying it will but it would be nice if it did. from what you have said above i am not sure you have done the rest since you had the boost pipe blow off and the failed gear changes. i am hoping you haven't.

it is a free thing to do and free things are the best.

[Ghost_2008]

Hi Dave, no offence taken, I have disconnected the battery and driven very carefully for a few miles without change.... I don't think I've hit 50, last week I avoided using full throttle, to be honest probably used less than a third throttle. But as soon as you need some speed it will engage third and flashy dash n.

In response to Nick....

The gearbox and ecu were purchased from Davezj in October 2010, it was a matching set as recommended in the thread from that time..

All work completed by Eurospec...

I couldn't find the gearbox serial number but it is a pretty face lift with external filter.

The tcu: 1988 G1T18275F1 (side sticker) MD761988 6913 (top sticker)

The auto ecu: 0289. E2T66886 (side sticker) MD340289 6913 F1 (top sticker)

The returned manual ecu: 0289. E2T66886 (side sticker) MD340289 7116 F1.

I hope this helps but I can't see it being the ecu 4 years after being installed..... All suggestions welcome...

[Ghost_2008]

The tuned ecu is marked as kanji 006.....

[Davezj]

Hi Dave, no offence taken, I have disconnected the battery and driven very carefully for a few miles without change.... I don't think I've hit 50, last week I avoided using full throttle, to be honest probably used less than a third throttle. But as soon as you need some speed it will engage third and flashy dash n.

In response to Nick....

The gearbox and ecu were purchased from Davezj in October 2010, it was a matching set as recommended in the thread from that time..

All work completed by Eurospec...

I couldn't find the gearbox serial number but it is a pretty face lift with external filter.

The tcu: 1988 G1T18275F1 (side sticker) MD761988 6913 (top sticker)

The auto ecu: 0289. E2T66886 (side sticker) MD340289 6913 F1 (top sticker)

The returned manual ecu: 0289. E2T66886 (side sticker) MD340289 7116 F1.

I hope this helps but I can't see it being the ecu 4 years after being installed..... All suggestions welcome...

that is the one Ben collected off me out of my old P reg black VR4 when I broke it after my minor front end prang, I wondered who got that box.
The auto box is a 1st gen box with external filter out of a pre face lift and I am pretty sure it did not have a OWC.
I remember after a battery disconnect it used to take about 300 miles to fully settle down and go back to silky smooth shifts.

if you have already done the battery disconnect after the event and there was no change then it sounds like something has failed.
I might have a set of sensors from my old auto box I trashed after launching it and decimating the 1,2,3 planetary gears, that was a OWC box but I don't think that should make any difference. I don't want to get rid of the sensors I want to keep them for diagnostic purposes so I can swap them out on my auto box in the future. I as long as I can find them, you can borrow them to swap out with your auto box sensors to work out which one has failed if it is a sensor that has failed.
I will have a look in the sheds tonight to see if I can locate them.
how many sensors are on the outside of the auto box, just so I know how many to look for.
speedo at the back left, one on the top middle, one at the back right I think, one at the front middle and the gear selector.
i stripped my old auto box and i think i put the sensors in a zip lock bag for safe keeping, but where did i put the bag....... Hmmm.

[Ghost_2008]

Hi Dave that would be awesome, at least I'll be able to rule out the sensors.... The box has been absolutely fine for the last four years, not faults. Although saying that neither did the last one until it went bang.....

I think there's an input, output and speed sensor plus the selector...

Both ecu's are currently sitting in the kitchen. I'll stick email back in and give her a test drive probably at the weekend. Other than testing I'm not driving it for the next couple of weeks which give me enough time to diagnose and repair or sadly move on.....

[Davezj]

Hi adam,
i have checked the sheds and found the sensors, unfortunately one of the sensors is damaged.
i have the speedo sensor, gearbox inhibitor switch, and the output shaft speed sensor, it is the input shaft speed sensor that is damaged.

Oh wait, i have my spare auto box in the very back of the shed which will have and input shaft speed sensor in it. the spare auto box is for when i trash my current one with heavy launches, which will happen sooner or later so that is definitely staying in the back of the shed sorry adam. but i will be able to send you a full suit of sensors do to you for testing. the main sensor you need to swap are the input and output speed snsor. as the speedo sensor will not be the culprit. but the inhibitor switch could be if yours is has come loose with regard to cable position possibly.

you will have to give me a little time to actually get to the back of the shed and get the input shaft sensor off it. and i have to really say, i need these back at some point.

send me a pm with your address and i will pop the sensors in the post.

[Ghost_2008]

Hi Dave, understand completely, I'll pm you my details tonight. If they do solve the issue I can buy new from camskill so you can have them back as soon as possible. It really is appreciated even if it solves nothing....

[Davezj]

i would go second hand sensor if camskill want a lot for them, there must be lots a broken auto boxes out there doing nothing.