Forum:
Hello, I am a fairly new member (having recently acquired a Sirion F-speed 1.3 auto on a Y reg.) and am hoping that you might be able to help me. Everything on the car works fine, having only done 19,000 miles in the last 12 years before I had it, but the gearbox is a bit jumpy / crashy sometimes. Under normal driving conditions it is usually fine, but if you have been coasting for a little while in 4th (for instance, you are on an A road and the person in front of you is braking to pull into a side road), the gearbox drops down to 3rd, and then you get back on the throttle quickly (to accelerate up to speed again) the car can jolt really harshly. I think what is happening is that the auto box cannot quite decide whether it wants to go into 2nd or 4th and it momentarily selects both gears before then working-out which of the 2 to go for.
I have read a few web posts and I am maybe led to believe that this couls be a solenoid that causes the issue, but I have spoken to several Daihatsu garages (including Woodford, who are apparently the most likely people to know) who say they are not aware of this problem. I have also spoken to a number of local automatic gearbox specialists who are reluctant to even try to fix the problem. So, I am hoping that someone here might be able to help me. I do not want to spend hundreds of pounds getting the gearbox rebuilt, since you can (for the most part) adapt your driving style to overcome this, but if it's under £100 then I feel that it would be worthwhile as it will not be economically viable to ix this if the gearbox goes bang!
Thanks in advance.
Servicing!
Hi,
Okay like the many automatic boxes on various models, the first thing I would look at are the following:
1).. Gearbox oil, is there enough oil in the system? Does the colour of the oil look cherry red? Check this with the auto gearbox dipstick. Check your user manual to where this is on your car.
2).. Servicing of the gearbox oil and filter. When was it last done? Unfortunately like the YRV Turbo and F-Speed models the servicing book did not include this in the schedule, yet it is mentioned in the 'Owners Manual' (Last pages in the YRV Turbo Owners manual),that the oil and filter needs to be replaced every 6 years, but many on here say earlier say every 3 years or earlier depending on how much the car is pushed. To get a filter then try your local Daihatsu Dealership.
3).. The automatic has an extra sub ECU called the Automatic Transmission module. Very unlikely this is mis-behaving, but worth looking at the connections are snug. It could be that the year of your car may mean a slightly earlier version of this module. Normally located near the ECU under/behind the Glovebox.
As for the Daihatsu dealership not knowing of the issue you have, then this appears to be the norm. My first Daihatsu Garage I used to take my YRV Turbo (Auto) to would fob me off saying the oil was for the life of the car
The one I use now are only just learning about the auto on these cars and the servicing after I pushed to have mine serviced last year
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'12' Plate Mazda MX-5 2.0 litre NC 3.5 Venture Roadster 160BHP
'15' Plate SEAT LEON 184 FR TDI. 240BHP/500nm Torque.
Past: '53' Plate Yellow YRV Turbo Approx. 150BHP
Thankyou jpor
Thankyou for this advice. I believe the auto box has enough oil in it, and it looks nice and clean and red. I would hazard a guess that the oil has probably never been change in 12 years, but the car had only covered 18,000 miles when I got it last year. Is the oil change deemed to be necessary after a certain time or is that just based on an assumed mileage after that time? The car was owned by an old boy before me, so I would guess it had a fairly unstressed life, and I try to drive it in a sympathetic manner also (well, most of the time anyway!). I may well change the oil (and filter perhaps) as a precaution, but I am an engineer by trade (admittedly my knowledge of auto gearboxes is very limited though) and my feeling at this stage is that this is more likely a software / actuation issue rather than an oil-cleanliness issue. I say this because of information that I have gleaned from other forums that point to actuator issues, and the fact that if you alter your driving style (i.e. feather-in the down-shift) then the 'crash' does not occur. I will check the oil level when I get home this evening, and check the connections on the auxiliary ECU (can you please advise how I cab get to this?). Thanks again.
May as well try disconnecting
May as well try disconnecting the car battery as well, As that resets the ECU's and presumably any self-adaptions it has done to the software.
The autobox and ECU are
The autobox and ECU are normally behind the Glovebox. To get to these you may need to remove the glove box door by pushing in on both sides to release it. Be careful with this as some owners have reported to have put to much strain on the clips and they can actually break off
Then you should get nice and easy access to them once its removed
As for the oil in the gearbox, it would be advisory to get this changed, that way one less thing to worry about. If the oil looks cherry red on the stick it may not be the case inside of the actual innards. For example mine looked red on the stick, but when the oil was changed both the filter had dried up and wasnt filtering anymore and there were signs of black gunk inside of the system which doesnt help with the operation of the box.
\note that the car would have used something on the lines of an older DEXTRON-II/III compatible oil. Considering you should always have your car engine oil changed then why not the auto box oil? Both systems have moveable parts that require to be lubricated at all times. I ended up buying some Dextron-VI oil for my gearbox for piece of mind as well as having the oil filter changed.
As the old saying goes 'Prevention is better than cure'
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'12' Plate Mazda MX-5 2.0 litre NC 3.5 Venture Roadster 160BHP
'15' Plate SEAT LEON 184 FR TDI. 240BHP/500nm Torque.
Past: '53' Plate Yellow YRV Turbo Approx. 150BHP