Urgent Help Needed! Au series 1 transmission/electronics??

[Lajon]

Good evening all, have a huuge problem with our series 1 au fairlane auto straight six.. The speedo basically has no life in it and the transmission cannot change gears automatically.... drives alright if you select the 1,2,3 gears manually... rang many auto electrician places and everyone suggested that it would be the speedo transducer sensor.. replaced that for $60 - no change... we are on a pension and can't afford to throw money away... the next step we have is to get an electrician to hook it up to a computer to get fault codes or something but have been told that will set us back $160 plus parts and then more to fix...has anyone got any suggestions? can't find anything that is loose at all either inside the bonnet or behind the cluster as i pulled that out and checked.. please help if you have any suggestions! We are in melbourne.

[peterljohnson55]

If I am reading this right,you can still drive the car but...
-- have to manually change gears, and
-- you don't know the speed at which you are travelling?

If that is the case, and you are limited in your financial resources, then suggest you don't have to rush to get it repaired. 'Personal research' of the problem may be your best friend here to limit costs -- by desktop research such as here in FF and other internet sites, and by taking it to mechanics and auto-electrics.

I don't know if driving the car while relying entirely on changing gears manually is detrimental to your transmission. Can't see why though.

If you are in NRMA with Premium membership then you have options with them regarding unlimited(?) free towing. Other membership levels may give you limited options re towing. Also, maybe NRMA can help out with fault code diagnostics. Why give them a call and see how they can help.

As far as other auto-mechs charging you $160 to do a fault code diagnostics, I cannot understand why they would do this -- it seems very expensive (like 1.5 or 2 hrs work???). Maybe I have wrongly read what you have written, but will you not be simply taking the car to them and asking them to diagnose and give a quote? If they want to charge you to do this then you are entitled to whatever information they detect via the error code diagnosis -- as that us what you pay them for -- it is what you have purchased. (So you can take that info elsewhere for a quote without having to pay another company for diagnostics).

If any company quote you for a repair, then ask them whether any cost for diagnostics comes off the quote. Also, when they quote for the repair, then they are in effect saying that they will fix the problem. If they don't fix it then you don't have to pay. Be careful of instructing them to do a repair, as quoted, without a guarantee of outcome and fixed price for the repair. Shop around for diagnoses and quotes as best you can.

I truly hope you can get it sorted soon enough, for you and your lady, but don't panic and don't be rushed into anything. Better to blow a few buck$ on home deliveries and taxis, than hundred$ on repairs that don't do the job. I say that because I too am a pensioner and I know how tight money can be and how threatening is the unknown, especially with car problems.

[GK]

Originally Posted by Lajon

Good evening all, have a huuge problem with our series 1 au fairlane auto straight six.. The speedo basically has no life in it and the transmission cannot change gears automatically.... drives alright if you select the 1,2,3 gears manually... rang many auto electrician places and everyone suggested that it would be the speedo transducer sensor.. replaced that for $60 - no change... we are on a pension and can't afford to throw money away... the next step we have is to get an electrician to hook it up to a computer to get fault codes or something but have been told that will set us back $160 plus parts and then more to fix...has anyone got any suggestions? can't find anything that is loose at all either inside the bonnet or behind the cluster as i pulled that out and checked.. please help if you have any suggestions! We are in melbourne.

I would ring a place like Fluidrive in Coburg and talk to Dino. 93545544

He knows all there is to know about transmissions. Describe the problem to him. He'd tell you what's what in a flash.

Then ask him if it will cost you anything for him to look/test the car. In my previous experience it has not.

Cheers,

GK

[Maka]

Hi Lajon, can you please check if fuses 10,20 located in the interior fuse panel are all good. A scan would be good if those fuses are good - try & ring around some local mechanics & transmission specialists for a quote re ecu scan (tell em you need a scan only), should be no more than $30 - $40 imo. Good luck, hope the fix is something simple!

cheers, Maka

[Lajon]

Thanks guys, contacted Dino and met him at his workshop - Awesome guy! It was the 2 gears that are just inside the tranny that the speedo transducer sensor are connected to

[KiwiKev]

Will a diagnostic test find transmission and coil problems?

[Lajon]

from my understanding the diagnostic wouldn't said something was wrong in the transmission..but not what exactly