Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi fellas,

Just bought a Series 2 Stagea last week. Not long after, I took it to get a stereo head unit and alarm system fitted. When I collect the car, the auto box is messed up!!! It won't shift to fourth gear / overdrive. I had to shift to tiptronic mode using the gear lever and 'force' it to shift to fourth. If I move it back to 'D' it shifts down to the third gear and will not shift up. Also, the tiptronic button on the steering wheel does not work now.

Took it back to the guys who installed the alarm and they have no idea... FYI, I've fitted an AutoWatch alarm system with the turbo timer...

Please help!!!

Hi fellas,

Just bought a Series 2 Stagea last week. Not long after, I took it to get a stereo head unit and alarm system fitted. When I collect the car, the auto box is messed up!!! It won't shift to fourth gear / overdrive. I had to shift to tiptronic mode using the gear lever and 'force' it to shift to fourth. If I move it back to 'D' it shifts down to the third gear and will not shift up. Also, the tiptronic button on the steering wheel does not work now.

Took it back to the guys who installed the alarm and they have no idea... FYI, I've fitted an AutoWatch alarm system with the turbo timer...

Please help!!!

if you bought it of a dealer and have got warranty your gunna take it back...... i've got a s1 so don't know if theres a little trick...s2 guys will help there.....sorry i got no idea, hope someone else can help, good luck,

fingers crossed for warranty

leigh.

There could be a couple of problems, compounding the situation, or could be something else entirely.

One, I wouldn't suspect the box, until you've looked at everything else.

1st, I'd check fuses, BUT... I'd be suspicious of wires that may have been cut or tampered with under the centre console.

The tipronic switch, when pressed will show a light on the dash (near the speedo). If nothing happens, then suspect that the switch may have been disconnected.

Also have a a look at the other buttons.... see if you have the "Snow" button.... this engages the box at 2nd and misses first.... I don't know if it affects 4th gear.

I would think that the problem is under there somewhere. They may have used a feed pick up for the radio, that they shouldn't.

I was just wondering if it goes better on FM or AM..... just kidding.... I don't think that it is major, but may take some sorting out.

Good Luck

if you bought it of a dealer and have got warranty your gunna take it back...... i've got a s1 so don't know if theres a little trick...s2 guys will help there.....sorry i got no idea, hope someone else can help, good luck,

fingers crossed for warranty

leigh.

Yes... I do have warranty from the dealer. Have arranged to see them next Wednesday. :rolleyes:

There could be a couple of problems, compounding the situation, or could be something else entirely.

One, I wouldn't suspect the box, until you've looked at everything else.

1st, I'd check fuses, BUT... I'd be suspicious of wires that may have been cut or tampered with under the centre console.

The tipronic switch, when pressed will show a light on the dash (near the speedo). If nothing happens, then suspect that the switch may have been disconnected.

Also have a a look at the other buttons.... see if you have the "Snow" button.... this engages the box at 2nd and misses first.... I don't know if it affects 4th gear.

I would think that the problem is under there somewhere. They may have used a feed pick up for the radio, that they shouldn't.

I was just wondering if it goes better on FM or AM..... just kidding.... I don't think that it is major, but may take some sorting out.

Good Luck

Thanks, I'll ask the service guys to look at the wiring under the center console first.

I did try to use the steering wheel buttons, but I didn't see any light comes up. If you're talking about the light that shows which gear I am in, it does show though.

I do have the snow button, I'll check whether it will affect the 4th gear. There is also a button that looks like a steering wheel right next to the shifter, I'm not sure what it does.

Also, what do you mean by using a feed pick up for the radio?

To use the tiptronic function via the steering wheel controls you have to turn the switch next to the auto shifter to "ON".

This switch has a picture of the steering wheel on it. When you switch this on, there will also be another light that comes on in the dash. The dash light also has a picture of a 'steering wheel'. It is a different light to the one that shows which gear you are in.

This simply means that you can change gears via the steering wheel buttons when the dash 'steering wheel' light comes on.

With the button "ON" you can choose to change gears manually with the steering wheel button or the shifter (move shifter to left position).

Give it a go and see what happens. Hope that helps in some way.

Thanks, I'll ask the service guys to look at the wiring under the center console first.

I did try to use the steering wheel buttons, but I didn't see any light comes up. If you're talking about the light that shows which gear I am in, it does show though.

I do have the snow button, I'll check whether it will affect the 4th gear. There is also a button that looks like a steering wheel right next to the shifter, I'm not sure what it does.

Also, what do you mean by using a feed pick up for the radio?

I mean that they might have done it the lazy way and cut into one of the wires that controls the tiptronic in order to get power for the radio... thereby stuffing the auto about..... I don't know I am only thinking out loud. But worth checking. The button next to the shift is as Stagman describes it.... I would be looking under the console in this area first. The other thing that is possible..... is that the shift lever is now somehow out of alignment, and isn't really going into D.... maybe it just looks like it is.. and it is actually in 3rd.... that'd do it....maybe they didn't put the console back together properly, the more I think about the more likely it seems.

To use the tiptronic function via the steering wheel controls you have to turn the switch next to the auto shifter to "ON".

This switch has a picture of the steering wheel on it. When you switch this on, there will also be another light that comes on in the dash. The dash light also has a picture of a 'steering wheel'. It is a different light to the one that shows which gear you are in.

This simply means that you can change gears via the steering wheel buttons when the dash 'steering wheel' light comes on.

With the button "ON" you can choose to change gears manually with the steering wheel button or the shifter (move shifter to left position).

Give it a go and see what happens. Hope that helps in some way.

Thanks, I'll give it a try...

I mean that they might have done it the lazy way and cut into one of the wires that controls the tiptronic in order to get power for the radio... thereby stuffing the auto about..... I don't know I am only thinking out loud. But worth checking. The button next to the shift is as Stagman describes it.... I would be looking under the console in this area first. The other thing that is possible..... is that the shift lever is now somehow out of alignment, and isn't really going into D.... maybe it just looks like it is.. and it is actually in 3rd.... that'd do it....maybe they didn't put the console back together properly, the more I think about the more likely it seems.

You could be right, maybe they cut something out. I heard them talking about pulling a loom that "doesn't seem to do anything"... With the shift out of alignment, it sounds like a mechanical problem. But worth a try.

Anyways, I'm not going to touch the car because I'm not a mechanic. I'll wait until Wednesday for the dealer mechanics to have a look at it, and I'll give him all the suggestions.

If anyone else can offer a suggestion, please don't hesitate...

There is an Auto ECU fault code diagnostic mode as well, flashes the code via the A/T dash light, bit tricky to activate, but have used it before with success. Dont have it on hand, can post it tonight if you are interested.

Edited by chook
There is an Auto ECU fault code diagnostic mode as well, flashes the code via the A/T dash light, bit tricky to activate, but have used it before with success. Dont have it on hand, can post it tonight if you are interested.

Yes, please do... Any suggestions's a good suggestion >_< What does it do though?

If the ECU detects a fault, it will store it in its memory, when you perform the diagnostic test it will flash a code, check the code to the list, which ill provide, and hopefully will steer you in right direction.

Can be done for ECU, Auto ECU, Hicas, Attessa(4wd).

Sounds like your alarm/stereo installers werent too skilled.

Where are you located ? Wouldnt go past Chris Rogers for these type of installs in Brisbane.

Edited by chook
If the ECU detects a fault, it will store it in its memory, when you perform the diagnostic test it will flash a 2 digit code, check the code to the code list, which ill provide, and hopefully will steer you in right direction.

Can be done for ECU, Auto ECU, Hicas, Attessa(4wd).

Sounds like your alarm/stereo installers werent too skilled.

Where are you located ? Wouldnt go past Chris Rogers for these type of installs in Brisbane.

I'm in Perth... Well, the dealer recommend me to go to them for the alarm. Seeing that they have stereo systems, I went and bought a new head unit as well. What a mistake it turns out to be.

Hi, after having another think about it. I forgot to ask if the auto is showing "D" on the dash.... if it is, well then it may need more sorting.

Where in Perth are you? I am in Coogee, feel free to PM me if you want to have a look at anything in mine.

I don't like the sound of that "loom that does nothing"!! Car manufacturers don't put very much in any car if doesn't have a purpose.

You just reminded me why I don't like other guys installing things...

Best of luck on Wednesday.

Just another thought.....have you checked the snow button to see if it is on yet?

If it's on, it will make you take off in second gear, as others have suggested, and you should only 'feel' two gear changes...2-3 and 3-4 in normal non tiptronic mode, so you think your are in third gear but actually in 4th as you take off in 2nd gear.

What are your revs at 100km/hr in top gear?

Turning the 'snow button off' should get you taking off in first and then feeling 3 gear changes before you get into top gear.

Just another thought.....have you checked the snow button to see if it is on yet?

If it's on, it will make you take off in second gear, as others have suggested, and you should only 'feel' two gear changes...2-3 and 3-4 in normal non tiptronic mode, so you think your are in third gear but actually in 4th as you take off in 2nd gear.

What are your revs at 100km/hr in top gear?

Turning the 'snow button off' should get you taking off in first and then feeling 3 gear changes before you get into top gear.

Thanks... I made sure I turn the snow button off. Just to make sure, I turn it on and tried launching... Sure enough, it accelerated very slowly (so definitely not the snow button). I also tried using the steering wheel tiptronic instead of the gearshift, and it works fine as normal.

My revs at 100km/h in top gear is just below 2500...

So, thanks to all the earlier suggestions, I managed to narrow down the problem only in the auto "D" mode.

I really cant believe no one has mentioned this yet, but I'm willing to bet you have nothing wrong with your auto box.

The default behaviour of the Stagea auto (not sure if its the same for s1) is to not engage 4th gear until you either go over 80km/h or until its warmed up enough. So when cold it will not engage 4th at all, until it warms up - often about 2-5 mins into the drive...

It wont let you force 4th gear in any way other than going over about 70-80km/h...and in that case the auto will warm up fairly quick anyway...

I only noticed this when I got an exhaust fitted - because this made it way more noticeable. I could tell something was different before but hadn't put it down to which gear it was in.

you will also notice the car is not very responsive until the engine is warm anyway, which can take longer than the gearbox to warm up. I usually keep an eye on the temp guage and just go easy on the throttle until the needle is horizontal. You'll notice the car suddenly ease up and drive more smoothly once it warms up. It runs fairly rich when cold so probably switches to another fuel map once its warm or something like that.

We probably should have a page of info full of little stagea quirks like this one. I only found this out because it was in the little book I got with the car from the dealer. ;)

If it wont do 4th even when its well and truly warmed up, then maybe you have a fault? in that case, take it to a qualified auto transmission specialist who can open it up and fix it. Hopefully its all fine though...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Sorry, just assumed that talk of coloured pads meant EBC red/green/yellow/shit stuff. I don't know the DBA pads, but it's a reasonable bet that they will be OK. DBA make good stuff generally. Those 4000 series rotors I linked to are very good. I may well replace the RDA rotors I have with those when required.
    • The average previous owner for these cars were basically S-chassis owners in the US. Teenagers or teenager-adjacent. I often tell people that neglect is easier to fix than something that was actively "repaired" by previous owners.
    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
×
×
  • Create New...