Yet another Selespeed problem from a new Alfa owner

I have been sat here for hours reading through all of the many threads on Selespeed, but there seems to be so many errors i cant find the one im having. I have just brought a lovely 2001 2.0 147 (on sat) and already i have a fog light error comming up (not too much of a problem) and yesterday I started to have selespeed problems. When i was driving home from work i hit a large amount of traffic, as i was at a hault for a long period of time i put the car into neutral, only to find out that i then could not select a gear when i went to pull away. I switched off the car and back on and it sorted the problem. When i tried to go out later on last night, i started the car to find i could not select any gears, a restart once again sorted the problem out. Am i doing something wrong? I hope this is something easy to fix! please treat me as someone who knows nothing about Alfa's but im willing to learn and experiement.

Thanks in advance

HI there,

well that is very interesting.... I got a 2002 147 late last year, owner had just had the selespeed actuator replaced ($3500 AU!!). A month after I got it, the selespeed failed, and I was left sitting at the lights with no gears available, much like you I'm afraid. The problem is that you're likely out of selespeed fluid, probably caused by a leak in the actuator. There are other possible causes, hopefully cheaper!!, but my guess is that it's the actuator, sorry.

The odd (and annoying) thing is this.... For the past few weeks, I've also been getting rear fog light failure warnings!! AND in a service check today, I'm now informed that my actuator has again developed a small leak!!!! So it's back to the original company to get it sorted, hopefully more permanently this time....

Sigh.... So good luck with your diagnosis, selespeed is brilliant most of the time, but expensive if something does go wrong... Just go somewhere reputable and brace yourself.

Cheers
TiggerK

Cheers for the fast reply. The guy i brought it of had replaced the selespeed gearbox a few months ago with one from an 02 plate 147 with 30k on the clock. What bugging me is that I cannot find any leak where i left my car over night and i managed to drive to work OK this morning with no problems at all. I found the sticky post about selespeed on there, so maybe i can use that to try and check the fluid level. I was warned off buying an Alfa by everyone I know because of unreliablility issues but i just want to prove them all wrong and drive a fantastic car. Any more input from other people will be greatly recieved. I am going down to halfords tonight to buy a new rear fog light (hopefully that will fix the error light). Good luck solving your problems Trigger

You wont find obvious signs of a leak on your driveway as the engine undertray catches any drips.

I can't comment on the actuator as I never had any problems with mine, although i've has a similar problem which was rectified by fitting a new selespeed pump. I was getting stuck in gear rather than in neutral (basically the clutch wasn't engaging to allow me to change).

If your fog light actually works I wouldn't bother changing the bulb - I had my sele' for 5 years and always had random fog light failure warnings which on just one occasion was actually correct!

I love this forum already! thankyou to everyone for there speedy replies. I will try and check and see if there is any kind of leak later on this evening, hopefully i dont find anything and all will be ok but i doubt it! Gil, i think my problem sounds similar to yours, so i will report back soon if i get any further. cheers again.

Originally Posted by MTRECORDS

When i was driving home from work i hit a large amount of traffic, as i was at a hault for a long period of time i put the car into neutral, only to find out that i then could not select a gear when i went to pull away.

Did you have your foot on the brake when trying to select 1st gear while stationary?
If not, that is where you went wrong!

David, i could possible be an idiot! i have no idea, but i could just be that stupid! lol. i hope that i am that stupid.

Like david c said make sure your foot is on the break when your changing gear when pulling off from neautral. If it dont work then i would suggest a diagnosis session. I had same problem as you long time before but i was lucky as it was the selector sensor which was faulty. I had it replaced from a alfa speacialist at around £40 and its been good since. I wouldnt have known the problem if it wasnt for a sesion on the diagnostic machine. Let us all know how it goes my friend.

Originally Posted by David C

Did you have your foot on the brake when trying to select 1st gear while stationary?
If not, that is where you went wrong!

I did that.

Originally Posted by Ianboom

I did that.

i've also done that in the past!!!

(nice elsie you got there btw)

Mrs Evels just admitted shes done that too , but i got the blame for buying a stupid car possesed by the Devil

I've also done that, it just seems strange having to put your foot on the brake to change gear, it used to catch me out at lights or in traffic as it changes to neutral after a period of time, it buzzes to tell you i know but i still did it. My Xreg 156 used to change down to neutral quite quick but the 2001 147 i have now seems to stay longer in 1st and is better. I also get a rear fog light warning - Mystery

Yeah i think it was that (first time with an automatic). Thankyou for all of your support and not making me feel stupid. The rear fog light warning is still wierd, it happened at the same place in my journey to work today so i thought i would check the fog lights as soon as i arrived at work, but that time (5 mins after the warning came on) the warning had gone. Fog lights seem to work as well. My only problem now is that i am constantly worried that my alfa is going to break at any moment, but then i change gear, put my foot down and forget all about it.

Originally Posted by fredzedex

i've also done that in the past!!!

(nice elsie you got there btw)

Cheers, Is that a 600 or 900? (used to have a 636)