355 F1 Gearbox Failure Warning Light

Took my car out for a spin the other evening - ran great. Started up this morning and the gearbox failure warning light came on, car would not shift out of 2rd gear. Turned around and parked it back in my garage.

Is this fatal? Or something simple that can be looked at for a quick diagnosis?

Thanks

 

Could be something as simple as a $35 relay or bad as a $3500 actuator rebuild.

The car won't shift into neutral? Do you hear the pump priming when you turn the key into the on position?

 

the pump primes - been reading another thread and it up and down shifts N, 1 and 2. Did not try reverse. Going to start it up and see if it will shift through all the gears in idle. And I don't recall if the pump started up for priming or not.

I do not recall if the speedometer was registering anything when I was driving - was fixated on the light and listening for the sound of grinding metal.

 

I don't think you can go past second gear when sitting idle.

If the speedo sensor is shot that would do it. But not sure if that would trigger he F1 trans fault light.

How is your F1 reservoir looking? Enough fluid?

 

its full - checked that right away

also no signs of leaks of any volume on my garage floor

 

This was just brought up like a weekend ago. I believe it's the speed sensor. See if your speedometer is working.

 

Greg without starting it should go through all gears check this first.

If it does then it it sensor related.

Either speedo, transmission, hood trunk, auto many diff sensors.

Also put a jack under the transmission with a board to spread load and see if the motor and transmission mounts are good.

If it sags in the mounts the actuator will hit the crossbrace.

 

all good info and things I can quickly check

will be doing most of these checks this afternoon

thanks all - stay tuned

 

What did you find??

 

Yeah Greg, let me know if you need a hand.

 

Maybe he fixed it and hes cruisin.

 

not fixed yet - going to do a bit more diagnosis work on it today before I get all spun up. Had appointments all day yesterday and didn't get a chance to do any more investigating.

 

ok, I am now thoroughly confused

I went out and turned it on, the prime pump came on, the light went out and I started it normally.

No odd sounds coming from the back so I put it in reverse, drove out and put it in first and drove the circle. The speedometer reads just fine. I shifted into second no problem and thought I would try third gear.

It went in to third. No beeps, no warning lights...

This is just weird. Mechanical and or electrical problems seldom if ever just fix themselves, so there is a problem somewhere - and now its appears to be masked.

Do I trust the car or not? Right now my confidence level is a bit low.

 

Keep your drives short and near home as you play around. Or get the car to someone that can properly diagnose.

 

How many flashes when pump first starts with engine off?? Answer this first should be less than 12 provided its been sitting quite a while maybe 5 hrs. This is important shows if pump motor is going

You did not say if you tried all gears with engine off. Do this firstt it shows mechanically things are likely ok.

Next have your friend do same think while car is jacked up a bit so you can see the shift actuator and you can watch to see if it has clearance over the cross member brace. Do this slowly on shifts so you have time to observe.

It will also put more weight on engine mounts if they are shot and likely it wont shift properly.
Provided you use the cars jacking points.

This will confirm the mechanics are ok so now its likely electrical.

We can go from there.

 

thanks - will try that tomorrow

 

Find anything

 

sorry about the delay in getting back to the group - I've been very ill and just starting to feel a bit better

OK - here is what I have observed

with the car in accessory mode, the pump starts, the gearbox light flashes and after 10 seconds, the light goes out

that appears to be the OPS NORMAL condition

Once the light has gone out, with the car still in accessory mode, I can cycle the paddle shifters up and down through all six gears and also into reverse without issue - and I can hear the mechanical action with each shift

when I start the car, the gearbox light is now out, but I can only shift the gearbox from 1 to 2, down from 2 to 1, neutral and reverse

will not upshift into 3rd or higher

 

Normal. 3rd is not considered an appropriate gear when car is motionless.


This is a waste of time. Hook it up to an SD 1 see if anything is in memory then repair as required. If nothing is in memory do a cycle test then repair as required.

The light came on, something is wrong and needs to be fixed or it will strand you. Finding it without an SD1 is a fantasy.

 

As Brian has said now thats its working plug it in. This way you know what the problem was. We could all keep guessing and eventually you could find the problem but there is likely a combination of events that if repeated will cause it to stop again.

There is just so many variables until you really understand the system its hard to diagnose. If is electrical its virtually impossible to diagnose unless you can repeat he problem.

In my experience Its usually mechanical and quite oftain easily fixed and not that expensive.

 

put an OBD2 on it and its not showing any codes relating to the gearbox

light is still out and hesitant to drive any more than around the block even though it shifts easily into gear.

something caused it to illuminate the first time - I just don't know what

 

OBDII has nothing to do with the gearbox and won't show any codes.

 

With any luck it is just a slightly loose connector, but you need to hook it up to an SD to find out. Mine had the exact same symptoms (safety measure for the F1 system not to go above 2nd gear) and it was a loose potentiometer connector, but yours may be (probably is) different.

 

Did you ever find the case of this ?? My F1 has just done the same.

Only thing to add is if driving (and to get me home) as it wouldn't shift past 2nd I found if I then flicked the f1 into neutral and then shifted up it would hit 4th, 5th and 6th. I could then shift down with no issue.

 

Is your speedo working?

As this sounds like the speed sensor stopped working and they are a weak link.

Will cause the computer to not let you upshift.

Mine did this i wiggled the wires and its working. So its a broken wire or something on the Circut board in the sensor thats bad or intermintint.

Not the end of the world.