Transmission Failure
03-27-2013, 06:48 PM
#1
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2002 C230 Coupe 1999 Mazda Miata
Transmission Failure
Recently while stopped at a light my transmission lost all forward or reverse drive. I was stopped on the light and the indicator showed 3rd gear selected in W mode (Should be down to 2nd when stopped?).
I can shift and the dash indicator moves but no tiptronic function. No movement or abnormal noise with any gear selected but sometimes when applying throttle in 1st gear the throttle response is wrong. The car will no rev, or it will rev to 3k rpm by itself. There is no CEL or codes stored when scanned with a simple OBDII scanner.
The only previous sign of problems was that occasionally when very cold outside, the converted would cycle lock/unlock for the first few miles until things got up to temperature.
I checked the transmission harness and it is oily, but TCU is dry. Cleaned harness and connectors inside car, no change.
Unplugged battery overnight, and removed TCU overnight, no change. Performed throttle reset, no change.
I towed the car to a transmission shop: Burnt fluid in transmission with no other obvious signs of damage. They pulled the trans and are saying the oil pump failed. I'm not convinced as there was no abnormal noise or shifting just prior to the failure.
Edit: The car is an '02 C32 with 143k miles.
Any ideas?
I can shift and the dash indicator moves but no tiptronic function. No movement or abnormal noise with any gear selected but sometimes when applying throttle in 1st gear the throttle response is wrong. The car will no rev, or it will rev to 3k rpm by itself. There is no CEL or codes stored when scanned with a simple OBDII scanner.
The only previous sign of problems was that occasionally when very cold outside, the converted would cycle lock/unlock for the first few miles until things got up to temperature.
I checked the transmission harness and it is oily, but TCU is dry. Cleaned harness and connectors inside car, no change.
Unplugged battery overnight, and removed TCU overnight, no change. Performed throttle reset, no change.
I towed the car to a transmission shop: Burnt fluid in transmission with no other obvious signs of damage. They pulled the trans and are saying the oil pump failed. I'm not convinced as there was no abnormal noise or shifting just prior to the failure.
Edit: The car is an '02 C32 with 143k miles.
Any ideas?
Last edited by jahoo; 03-28-2013 at 08:13 AM.
03-29-2013, 01:42 AM
#2
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07 E63 Estate | 09 & 10 Rx8 R3
I had a similar issue with my car. It would immediately shift to 5th gear when it could. It would down shift but if you you put it in manual mode it would instantly go to 5th gear. The merc dealership said it was the transmission computer. I think it was a faulty code / software they had put in its place earlier that day... Either way.. they replaced the TCU and all of the issues went away.
I also once put it in dyno mode and turned off all the abs / traction controls. Then while I was in a parking lot went to reverse then to drive... it didn't want to go to drive or anywhere.. just spun.. like I had a worn clutch... restarted the car and it went away. Again this was related to a fault with the TCU. I'm actually surprised at how computer controlled our transmissions are.
I'm sorry to say I think your issue is computer related. Something is either reading information wrong or your TCU took a crap.
I also once put it in dyno mode and turned off all the abs / traction controls. Then while I was in a parking lot went to reverse then to drive... it didn't want to go to drive or anywhere.. just spun.. like I had a worn clutch... restarted the car and it went away. Again this was related to a fault with the TCU. I'm actually surprised at how computer controlled our transmissions are.
I'm sorry to say I think your issue is computer related. Something is either reading information wrong or your TCU took a crap.
