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Selespeed failure AGAIN

10K views 42 replies 18 participants last post by  aubs 
#1 ·
My Selespeed has failed again.The selespeed pump was replaced a few months ago,which I have mentioned on here before.I went to my dealer on Friday to buy some oil,and upon returning to my car could not select any gears.Got the mechanic out with his diagnostics unit.At first it could not find any faults,so he did a full system reset.Then it suddenly came up with bolt loose fault,this appparently could be the bolt on the actuator,I am not too sure,will hopefully find out later on today.Lately though,when the car is cold,it gives a selespeed failure at the same roundabout everyday,car stalls,restart and fine.thought it was the Selespeed oil level,but it was fine.
The missus says it has to go,but I do love my Alfa,maybe a manual will be a better bet.
I can live with oil consumption,false warnings,poor quality suspension bushes,the odd rattle etc,but this selespeed is doing my head in.
 
#2 ·
jono6974 said:
My Selespeed has failed again.The selespeed pump was replaced a few months ago,which I have mentioned on here before.I went to my dealer on Friday to buy some oil,and upon returning to my car could not select any gears.Got the mechanic out with his diagnostics unit.At first it could not find any faults,so he did a full system reset.Then it suddenly came up with bolt loose fault,this appparently could be the bolt on the actuator,I am not too sure,will hopefully find out later on today.Lately though,when the car is cold,it gives a selespeed failure at the same roundabout everyday,car stalls,restart and fine.thought it was the Selespeed oil level,but it was fine.
The missus says it has to go,but I do love my Alfa,maybe a manual will be a better bet.
I can live with oil consumption,false warnings,poor quality suspension bushes,the odd rattle etc,but this selespeed is doing my head in.

Mine came out with pin loose, which meant replacing the actuator.You might be lucky.I cannot confirm if the new actuators are better than the older designs.
 
#3 ·
Skillz said:
Mine came out with pin loose, which meant replacing the actuator.You might be lucky.I cannot confirm if the new actuators are better than the older designs.

Just got the call from them,the bolt or pin is fine,they are now removing the gearbox as they seem to think it is selecting two gears at the same time.this does not make too much sense,but will see what the outcome is.It will have to go after this,breaks my hart,but it is costing too much.
 
#4 ·
I had my actuator replaced under warranty in 2002 (it's a year 2000 car), and it's been fine ever since (nearly 4 years and 50,000 miles since).

So perhaps they got better at some stage, or maybe I'm just lucky.

But I hate driving manual cars these days - it's great to get back into the Alfa. I get twitchy thumbs when we're separated! :p
 
#5 ·
Re: Selespeed failure???

hello i got a 156 selespeed . most of the time now the selespeed light comes on ive keep a close eye on it and what i think is the pump mite be sticking inside . i half sure about this cause when i give it a bang it re-charges again . this light appears more when the engine warms up any ideas ???
 
#6 ·
(I POSTED IN ANOTHER FORUM ALSO YOUR NOT HAVING DE JA VUE) SORRY...

Hi!!

My selespeed has gone again!!! lastnite, it just cut out, like before, went to a roundabout, after racing the car in semi-automatic, swtiched to city mode and got a flashy gear light.

Mass panic set in, knowing that if i slowed down below second gear the car would throw me into neutreal. so i managed to take a few roundabouts in 5th and get myself home..

Started car again later, and it seemed all ok... but... after selecting just 2 gears.. reverse, then city mode. the car flashed up warnings again.. only this time i dont have any gears. full stop..

AA patrol put it on the computer and no faults detected.

i have had this problem before, left the car 3 days and it came back to life. and has worked for 4 months since.

I have taken the battery off for over 30 mins, i have checked connections on selespeed ecu. i have pushed and pulled wires.. of which 1 did flash the gear N, on the display??... and beeped at me.

I no longer have a hydrolic pump when i open the door... not good i fear.

Trying car tonight at around 8pm. if it doesnt work the AA are towing it to Ogaros in camborne (cornwall) - hopefully the wizards there might be able to fix it. - however im pennyless from my last £1000 on alfa bits :'( lol.

Regards
Edward
 
#10 ·
hi all,
I get all the problems described above with my 156 selespeed and its frustrating , if I knew that by replacing the pump would cure it I would do it , but it would break my heart if I replace the pump and the selespeed wouldnt work. Can any one please let me know the outcome of your experience with the selespeed repairs.
Kind regards
Nino
 
#11 ·
Hi,

This would depends on what type of error encountered using the examiner.
I had encountered 7 times of failure (through my 50K km journey), but luckily it is under warranty.
Free replacement parts on wiring contact, disc speed sensor, one of the actuator sensor. selespeed ECU.

By the way, my understanding is MTBF for actuator ard 80K km.
 
#16 ·
sssninoss - I have a 200 156 selespeed and I had weekly selespeed problems with the gears going into neutral. Took it to a major Australian Alfa service centre here in Sydney and they hooked it up to the diagnostics and reported an actuator fault........informed me it will cost $5000($2400GBP) for a new replacement!!! My car is only worth $15,000.
So I took it to another guy here that only services Alfas........he tells me it's the actuator without even connecting it to the machine!

Tried my luck on a third guy who is a qualified independant Alfa service centre.......He explained it must be the pump(his diag machine didn;t report any faults!) as it wasn't activating when opening the door or turning on the motor.......we replaced the pump and apart from a recent pump blown fuse, I haven't had an issue since(5months)........moral of the story is, get a second and even a third opinion on selespeed problems because I don't trust even the professional Alfa dealers!
 
#30 ·
Yes, that one needs a new pump.
The vibration from opening the bonnet kicked the pump into life.

Mine did exactly the same when it went.
Hi David
Well new pump fitted, and still no improvement flashing selespeed, & loss of gears at traffic lights :( AlfaItalia had diagnostic unit plugged in for hour and we had the fault whilst sipping expressos!! Unfortunately not measuring pump pressure at the time but no errors on ECU- just sat waiting for the new pump to kick in. All sensors reading ok, actuation perfect.

Now leave car in neutral & wait for light to go out. Unable to obtain just accumulator so may have to fork out for actuator/ accumulator combo unit at $3500 trade price. Fitting will be extra $$$ Dont know if the car is worth it anymore.

Last night had heaps of flashing lights & beeping every other traffic light. Today no beeps, just light. Will this beeping point to the error? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Depressed non believing 156 owner :cry:
 
#26 ·
Many many thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated. learnt a lot more regarding the selespeed gearbox. Managed to buy new pump for $800 from Alfa dealer (list price $1075). Being fitted tomorrow & hopefully karma will be restored to my world. Shop4parts were cheaper at 260 UK pounds but I need it now as the company UTE doesnt cut the mustard. Cant afford anything else to go wrong this month.
 
#28 ·
Sorry to hear that.
You've had a new pump fitted, so it shouldn't be that. New ones can be faulty tho.... Get it checked and see what errors are stored. If no errors, that will be the pump!

A faulty actuator or gearbox will throw up all sorts of errors, as mechanical jamming up causes hydraulic overpressure and inability to reach the sensors limits. Hopefully Autoitalia can read sytem pressure, clutch rod length etc?

Is the display flashing and beeping, or just flashing, i.e. is it the same faults as before?
 
#33 ·
Got a very slow leak in my 2002 147 selespeed system (requires topping up every month or so) - otherwise get the gear shift to neutral occuring after a stop (embarrasing at traffic lights).
Fluid drips in the centre of the engine bay.

Dealer says I have a crack in the actuator and it needs replacing - at A$4000.
Given I think the car is only worth 3-4x this it is a lot to consider spending.

Anyone else heard of a cracked actuator that only leaks very slowly??
 
#34 ·
Not heard of a cracked actuator, but in my experiance, there are 2 common areas that will give leaks;

On the rear of the actuator, there is a backplate bolted to it, with 6 torq 25 screws. The backplate houses the vertical plunger. There are 2 small o-rings that seal the backplate to the actuator main body, they sometimes leak.

If its not those, the vertical plunger often gets coated with surface rust, due to moisture in the area, and when moving up / down its travel, it won't seal as it should (because of the rust deposits running along the seal).

Don't get carried away stripping it straight away tho, the unit will be under pressure and needs depressurising.
Also, the rear position sensor (potentiometer on the back plate), is spring loaded onto the steel finger, so will be easier to remove that first, taking note which way the spring tension is.

I'll upload some pictures later tonight.
 
#36 ·
Hi all, my selespeed started to play up yesterday, as described above, I've got a light flashing on the dash and I can't select any gears, leave it 5 mins and all ok, happened again this morning, I noticed quarter of a mile before a road junction that the car would'nt change out of second into third, couldn't put the car into city, slowed for the junction car went into neutral and i caused chaos for 2 mins, then it engaged gear ok,all still ok at the moment...I'm happy enough that its a pump issue but I would like clarification on a couple of points, could anyone confirm what the shape of the flashing light on the dash is, mine looks like the front of the car with the bonnet up and is red in colour, also how big a job is it to get the pump of the car to repair it....sorry for the long post, just want to be sure before I start spending money I haven't got....cheers.
 
#40 ·
Yep, thats your sele flashing light. It sounds like the pump is intermittent, so a new pump and sele oil should sort it. Try ebspares or one of the other companies for price.

Alfadiag is a must for sele's, you can check the whole system out and reset it if needed.
 
#39 ·
Hi
Yes my alfa is finally fixed. Never had problems with any gearbox noises/ crunchs throughout. The new selespeed pump purchased was faulty and that was replaced FOC. Fiat accumulator ordered from UK and fitted for a fraction of the price of new actuator/ accumulator. a second hand pressure switch also fitted.

All working ok now- I believe the accumulator was leaking internally. only difference now is that the selespeed pump makes bit more noise than original so u can here it priming when i open the door which is always reassuring

So fingers crossed, it has been behaving itself for the past 3 months
 
#42 ·
pump is DIY able, and you do not need Alfadiag or a re-calinration to do the job either, its essentially

de-pressurize (with the engine off, go through the gears until it can change gear no more)
off with the front pumper and IIRC the front wheel and arch lines
drain sele fluid and disconnect the hydraulic lines and the electrics
unbolt pump from body

and complete the reverse no need to bleed either, do a few gear changes and top up

takes a leisuely 4 hours, but I would say an experienced mechanic could do it in 2, longest part is bumper removal, esp if the nuts rusted.

before incurring all that expense, do check it is not the relay which is a tenner.

HTH
 
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