Ongoing sportronic problems

Hi,

Is there anyone here that knows something about the sportronic gearboxes on a 166?

A friend's Alfa has dropped in to limp home mode running with 3rd gear only.

We have changed the oil (which was a little burnt) and that hasn't made much difference.

We have wired it up to some diagnostic kit and whilst running can reset the system so that it runs fine, however as soon as you turn the car off and then restart it drops back in to limp home mode.

If you drive the car and it warms up and then stop it for a short period of time (like filling with petrol), when you restart it doesn't go in to limp home and runs fine until the next time you start up.

On the dash we have what looks like the boot lid warning light on which the manual says is to do with the auto box overheating.

I get the impression that it may be a faulty sensor or dodgy wiring rather than anything mechanical.

Are there any sensors that I can easily get to to pull out and check?

Are there any workshop manuals for the gearbox around that can be downloaded?

Any help would be appreciated.

you need the DTE/Eper cd Or download it for repairs/diagnostics.
Is there possibly a problem with the gearbox oil cooler?
Sound electrical. Don't hear of many sporttronics going mechanically - how many miles has it done? How about a complete ecu reset? ie disconnect battery and leave (or short terminals to discharge any residual current).
Is the battery fully charged? Sometime this can affect the whole electronics of the 166 if its below par.

Hi, thanks for the response.

Originally Posted by CrispDust

you need the DTE/Eper cd Or download it for repairs/diagnostics.

Where can I get that - is it downloadable?

Originally Posted by CrispDust

Is there possibly a problem with the gearbox oil cooler?

There aren't any leaks - where abouts is the cooler? Is there a temperature sensor on it?

Originally Posted by CrispDust

Sound electrical. Don't hear of many sporttronics going mechanically - how many miles has it done? How about a complete ecu reset? ie disconnect battery and leave (or short terminals to discharge any residual current).

I can't remember how many miles - possibly around the 70k mark.

Yes I have done the full ECU reset, it fixed the remote boot opening, but that was about it.

Originally Posted by CrispDust

Is the battery fully charged? Sometime this can affect the whole electronics of the 166 if its below par.

There is no other indication that there are problems with the battery - the car starts and runs fine - I'll try some tests on the battery - the fact that the auto box fixes itself once warmed up might be down to the battery being topped up to the required levels although the few times it has happened it has been dark so the lights etc would have been draining things quite a bit.

Thanks for the help so far.

i still have one for sale, off the car ready to go

Thanks Marco,

With the problem being sporadic I am leaning towards an electrical fault as opposed to the actual box - when it works, it works fine so am going to try to track down the sensors to test those.

Good luck: Is the 'sportronic' a torque converter driven automatic? Just interested as to who manufactures them? I rather fancy a fully,( when desired), auto box as I had in past years. The Selespeed suffices as one in city mode, but I did enjoy my powerglide, hydramatic,BW, boxes I have previously owned.:

Originally Posted by jvoelcker

Is there anyone here that knows something about the sportronic gearboxes on a 166?

Yeah, but only to avoid them . Good luck, though...

You're just jealous, because you have to keep your hand on the stick instead on the girlfriend

Originally Posted by klapanciusz

You're just jealous, because you have to keep your hand on the stick instead on the girlfriend

Would anyone like to buy a Super, as I am currently looking for a nice Sportronic, for 'personal' reasons? .

The box is a ZF HP20 you could try ZF for some info?