F1 won't go into gear (430)

Dan- You probably will not get this lucky, but check and make sure your brake switch is activating the brake lights and that all body panels are fully closed. Either can cause squirrels, with the former a large culprit.

 

Do you have a transmission light on or any other symptoms?

 

Try the power reset. Might be a bad battery. switch off the power in the trunk for at least an hour and then revisit.

 

Make sure your rear hood is closed good

 

I believe others were referring to the brake switch located under the dash at the top of the brake pedal. when you look under the dash at the top of the brake pedal you will notice that if you push on the pedal with your hand a small pin is allowed to extend itself which closes the contacts in the body of the switch thus completing the brake lamp circuit. Turn the key to the on position (gauges and engine light will illuminate). Have someone in the rear watching for brake lamp illumination as you depress the brake pedal. If they see lights, the switch should be good.

 

Disconnect the battery switch and go away for 1 hour (maybe even ~10 mins will do it but leave it longer).

 

RTFM section 5 p101 approx - luggage area

 

Yes taking out the battery or killing the connection via the switch should be equivalent.

Here's another test, when you press the paddles up-down do you hear anything whatsoever? When I had an F1 issue (different than yours most likely since I had a solid F1 fault light on) and I would press the paddles it would sometimes try to activate the gears and I could feel it in the seat (or behind the seat in the engine bay).

Or is it completely dead when trying to pull any paddle combination? Try up, down, and both up/down -- assuming you are already in neutral.

Also, does the 'R'-reverse switch do anything?

 

On my 575 it would do the same thing. It was a relay switch for the F1 that would stick. Replace it or gently tap on it.

 

If absolutely nothing happens when the paddles are used and yet there are no error lights, then I agree, probably an electrical connection so that the ECU does not even know you're trying to put it into gear...

That's why maybe trying to use the 'Reverse' would work slightly different up to a point -- see what that does.

If there are noises happening when pulling on the paddles but yet it does not go into gear then it's a different troubleshooting path we should look at.

 

This is probably not your pump relay (which is behind the seat) but another electronic connection. It almost sounds like you have a disconnected circuit somewhere in the paddle-ECU system. When the car tries to shift you hear a distinctive click from the transmission (behind you in the engine bay basically).

If your pump was not running when you entered the car you could consider the issue of the F1 pump relay behind the passenger seat but I doubt that is the case.

There's probably a way to activate the up-/down shifts at the ECU behind the passenger seat but you have to be very mechanically/electrically inclined.

Also, do you have an OBD2 scanner? While not useful to troubleshoot transmission issues you could scan to see if there are any codes whatsoever and if they can provide any leads...

 

My car acted similar to yours and it was the E differential solenoid. The dealer replaced it and the trans problem was solved. It cost about $1700 to replace with labor and parts.

One last note, they had to put three of them in to get it right. I'm not sure if it was their install or defective part.

 

That is never a good sign..especially for the DIY owner.

 

That's great news!!
I'm glad she's working well now.