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[Kevin Wood]

Also had a similar glitch .... but not on ice .. on a wet and muddy field pulling someone out ... lots of wheel spin/traction control lights going mental, slipping from drive to reverse and back to get traction .. pulled it out eventually ... once on the road it went into limp mode at 20mph... stayed there until switched off and back on. I put it down to the gearbox "thinking" there was a problem as wheel speeds/engine speed/gearbox selections had been all over the place.

So if you had a bit of TC action it might just be the reason .......

Mine lit the ABS and TC lights but didn't store a fault in the gearbox, but it was certainly only giving me 3rd gear.

I think the ABS/TC likes to see all 4 wheels doing a similar speed after pulling away for the first time. If this doesn't happen within a certain timeout it appears to decide the system is fubar and goes into some sort of nannying mode.

[pscocoa]

My 3.2 V6 had a spate of doing this about 2 years ago but light alwayswent out on restart and limp mode retuned to normal mode. Changed ATF and filter and crank sensor and no problems since - I do get the occasional (once every 6 months) freewheel effect where it has difficulty selecting right gear for a couple of seconds but can live with that. Not sure if I would trust it on long journeys but thinking of testing it soon on a 400 miler.

[Nickbat]

Well, here is an account of my experience with the Vx Dealers today..

Phoned them up this morning and asked if they could check my ATF levels as I'd had a fault light showing on the dash, though it had since gone out. No problem, they said. Bring it in and we'll take a look. Dropped the car off at 9.45am. Not a peep. Tried phoning at 4.00 only to find out that they couldn't put my call through and that they would call me back. They did, at 4.30.

"We've had a look at the car and checked the levels. No leaks and all's well. Yay, I thought! 

"...But we didn't check the transmission fluid as there's no dipstick and to check the oil involves a lot of work like draining the box".  Noooooo!! 

"We tried to check the fault with Tech 2 but the gearbox wouldn't communicate with it. We tried again, but no luck. If this keeps happening, you'll need a new gearbox control unit." 

"But, our mechanic has road tested and all seems fine - but your steering wheel does vibrate a bit and we've given your tyres an amber warning for tread depth "

"That'll be £57 for the 0.5 hours of a technician please. Just pop your card in there....."

Hell's teeth!

Drove home, feeling sheepish and poor. Box working fine. Steering wheel smooth as a mill pond.

Went to collect my daughter from ballet. Drove down a hill and the box did not seem to want to shift into 3rd (I was not accelerating). As I got to the bottom of the hill, it did change up as if a mule had hit me in the back and on comes the light again. Park up, collect Miss Nickbat and the light goes out on start up.   
 
I have to go to Milton Keynes tomorrow...I just hope I don't encounter any hills.

I'm off to have a good sob in the corner...

[sassanach]

this is'nt the old 2-3 solenoid scenario again is it?

[albitz]

I wouldnt have paid them a penny.Just threatened them with trading standards. You should fire off a letter of complaint to VX customer services.

Im no expert by  any means,but the solenoid theory sounds feasible. Beena few of them reported over the years,including my current car before I owned it.

[Nickbat]

I wouldnt have paid them a penny.Just threatened them with trading standards. You should fire off a letter of complaint to VX customer services.

Im no expert by  any means,but the solenoid theory sounds feasible. Beena few of them reported over the years,including my current car before I owned it.

What's the solenoid theory? 

[albitz]

As in sassanachs post. 2-3 gear solenoid on the way out. Im guessing that it would need a good code reader to read the transmission ecu to give clues. VX had the best reader available but unfortunately only seem to employ remedials who have no clue how to operate it.
Just had the thought - your going to milton keynes tomorrow. Not too far from TB.May be worth PMing him and asking if hes available.

[Nickbat]

As in sassanachs post. 2-3 gear solenoid on the way out. Im guessing that it would need a good code reader to read the transmission ecu to give clues. VX had the best reader available but unfortunately only seem to employ remedials who have no clue how to operate it.
Just had the thought - your going to milton keynes tomorrow. Not too far from TB.May be worth PMing him and asking if hes available.

I will have Miss Nickbat's school friends with me, so that idea is a non-starter I'm afraid, Albs. We're off to do some indoor sky-diving as Miss Nickbat's birthday bash. Unfortunately, I have been roped in to "having a go" myself.

But, back to the solenoid, I presume it's a major issue to fix? 

[albitz]

Never done it myself,but I believe its at least one of the sumps off,then just remove it (a few bolts ?) and bolt the new one on.Then replace sump(s) and fill with ATF.Garage wil probably charge silly money to do the job tbh.
Sassanach would be the man to ask for more detailed info I would think, as I have the impression he is the resident expert in these matters.
James V6 may also be worth a try as I vaguely remember him posting about doing this job,not that long ago.
Doubt it would be cost effective for Daz to come down and do it as a one off job.

Having said all that,no point in proceeding without diagnosis,and the only people I would trust to do that would be an OOFer with Tech 2. VX dealer have already proved themselves incapable of using it.

[Nickbat]

Never done it myself,but I believe its at least one of the sumps off,then just remove it (a few bolts ?) and bolt the new one on.Then replace sump(s) and fill with ATF.Garage wil probably charge silly money to do the job tbh.
Sassanach would be the man to ask for more detailed info I would think, as I have the impression he is the resident expert in these matters.
James V6 may also be worth a try as I vaguely remember him posting about doing this job,not that long ago.
Doubt it would be cost effective for Daz to come down and do it as a one off job.

Thanks, Albs. What a PITA! 

With that and the dodgy valve stem seals, I'm a bit fed up with the car. BUT, with just 40k on the clock, she is a beaut and goes like stink! 

[Nickbat]

Never done it myself,but I believe its at least one of the sumps off,then just remove it (a few bolts ?) and bolt the new one on.Then replace sump(s) and fill with ATF.Garage wil probably charge silly money to do the job tbh.
Sassanach would be the man to ask for more detailed info I would think, as I have the impression he is the resident expert in these matters.
James V6 may also be worth a try as I vaguely remember him posting about doing this job,not that long ago.
Doubt it would be cost effective for Daz to come down and do it as a one off job.

Having said all that,no point in proceeding without diagnosis,and the only people I would trust to do that would be an OOFer with Tech 2. VX dealer have already proved themselves incapable of using it.

Vx were adamant that they couldn't get the Tech 2 to talk to the gearbox control unit. 

[albitz]

I know next to nothing about these things,but Im sure Ive seen TB have a bit of trouble getting tech 2 to communicate with ECU,s on cars,but after a bit of head scratching and twiddling of dials etc. managed to sort it out in the end.
VX are well known for being useless at using their own technology.

[Jimbob]

Sorry state of affairs.

I Would do the run to MK....if you get limp, just restart the car....or drive it as a manual.
I had to do this a lot with my old blue one.

I suspect you will be out of luck getting TB to look at it today im afraid.

[pscocoa]

Sorry state of affairs.

I Would do the run to MK....if you get limp, just restart the car....or drive it as a manual.
I had to do this a lot with my old blue one.

I suspect you will be out of luck getting TB to look at it today im afraid.

As Jimbob says just restart the car - would just get the ATF and filter changed at this stage and see how you go. It must be 5/6 years now since I had exactly same problem of limp mode - and it just went away. Not sure if you need to clear error codes though. TB did a gearbox software upgrade later on in 2007 which may had had an impact.

[pscocoa]

oh and I didn't change ATF until 2008 from car being new