S2 Tiptronic Auto Playing Up

[DaveB]

Hi all,

A nasty problem has started showing up with my S2 right after getting it back from its 100,000K service. I literally picked the car up, drove a couple of streets, stopped at a T intersection, put it into tiptronic mode and it stalled on me. Never experienced anything like this before. I thought 'ooooo-k' started again and all seemed good. But now it is stalling/trying to stall all the time when I come to a stop, especially when it's cold, whether in tiptronic or drive.

I got the car stock as a rock from Japan in March. Couple of months ago I took it to MV autos for a 100,000K trans service and had them fit a 'stage 1' shift kit at the same time. They said the trans looked good, fluid was clean with no debris. Awesome difference to shift quality!

So all has been well for several thousand more K's (recently did 2,000K's of highway driving to Melbourne and back no problems). But then I booked the car in for its 100,000K service and since the drive home from the workshop the transmission has been playing up - now its begun jumping in and out of 1st at low speed (shuffling between 1st and 2nd or something) and the transmission light has come on a few times, and flashed for the regimental 8 seconds after I pull over, turn ignition off and start again.

The fault codes I got on an A/T diag (as seen here) were:

4 - Shift solenoid A

5 - Shift solenoid B

6 - Overrun clutch solenoid

7 - Lock-up solenoid

12 - Total control signal

BTW, I asked that the workshop not do a trans service since I'd had one done with the shift kit a few thousand K's ago and there is no trans service on the itinerary.

So... if you've bothered to read this far, I thank you! - is there anything else that rings a bell with anyone here, anyone experienced transmission trouble after a major service? The workshop actually takes the car to MV autos to get the transmission service done when they do it, so I'm pretty sure they don't go poking around in there themselves (maybe they topped up with the wrong fluid?) Maybe another wiring harness/vacuum line left unplugged?

[KiwiRS4T]

Hi all,

A nasty problem has started showing up with my S2 right after getting it back from its 100,000K service. I literally picked the car up, drove a couple of streets, stopped at a T intersection, put it into tiptronic mode and it stalled on me. Never experienced anything like this before. I thought 'ooooo-k' started again and all seemed good. But now it is stalling/trying to stall all the time when I come to a stop, especially when it's cold, whether in tiptronic or drive.

I got the car stock as a rock from Japan in March. Couple of months ago I took it to MV autos for a 100,000K trans service and had them fit a 'stage 1' shift kit at the same time. They said the trans looked good, fluid was clean with no debris. Awesome difference to shift quality!

So all has been well for several thousand more K's (recently did 2,000K's of highway driving to Melbourne and back no problems). But then I booked the car in for its 100,000K service and since the drive home from the workshop the transmission has been playing up - now its begun jumping in and out of 1st at low speed (shuffling between 1st and 2nd or something) and the transmission light has come on a few times, and flashed for the regimental 8 seconds after I pull over, turn ignition off and start again.

The fault codes I got on an A/T diag (as seen here) were:

4 - Shift solenoid A

5 - Shift solenoid B

6 - Overrun clutch solenoid

7 - Lock-up solenoid

12 - Total control signal

BTW, I asked that the workshop not do a trans service since I'd had one done with the shift kit a few thousand K's ago and there is no trans service on the itinerary.

So... if you've bothered to read this far, I thank you! - is there anything else that rings a bell with anyone here, anyone experienced transmission trouble after a major service? The workshop actually takes the car to MV autos to get the transmission service done when they do it, so I'm pretty sure they don't go poking around in there themselves (maybe they topped up with the wrong fluid?) Maybe another wiring harness/vacuum line left unplugged?

My non-technical suggestions:

1. Check the A/T fluid level

2. Ring the garage and ask them if they did any servicing on the auto before you tell them about your problems.

3. Bleed the attessa ( top up the reservoir in the boot with A/T fluid and bleed from the bleed nipple (haven't done it myself but it is poss on the transfer case) and look at the quality of oil coming out.

4. Ring MV and describe your symptoms and if they need to have your car tell them it has just been in for service and can they point to any bad action by your workshop is it just a co-incidence?

[DaveB]

Thanks KiwiRS4T. And I went with... 2. It's good to know that 3 is possible though; I need to get around to this sometime cause I'm starting to get the clicking ATTESA relay problem (and fault code 77).

I called the workshop and they said that when they dyno them, they unplug the brown connector which runs next to two other white/grey connectors down the inlet side of the engine, under the manifold. So, I will probably go out during my lunch break and check it.

Hope it's a simple fix...

[ssshonky]

hmm- I beleive the connector they unplugged was to set it in 2wd mode- because I presume they only had a 2wd dyno. I think this is NOT a good way of doing it as it burns out the clutch pack.

I hope they didnt leave it in 2wd mode and now its stuffed things!

[DaveB]

hmm- I beleive the connector they unplugged was to set it in 2wd mode- because I presume they only had a 2wd dyno. I think this is NOT a good way of doing it as it burns out the clutch pack.

I hope they didnt leave it in 2wd mode and now its stuffed things!

Thanks ssshonky... let's hope that's not the case... can always hope...

I forgot to mention 2 things though - 1. they do have a 2wd dyno and 2. when I called the workshop and he told me about the plugs, he explained that they pull this plug to make the transmission run in 3rd gear only. And when I spoke to him when I picked the car up he said that they pull the front driveshaft... so I hope he was not being 'lazy'...

[KiwiRS4T]

Thanks ssshonky... let's hope that's not the case... can always hope...

I forgot to mention 2 things though - 1. they do have a 2wd dyno and 2. when I called the workshop and he told me about the plugs, he explained that they pull this plug to make the transmission run in 3rd gear only. And when I spoke to him when I picked the car up he said that they pull the front driveshaft... so I hope he was not being 'lazy'...

Have a look under the car at the nuts/bolts holding the front drive shaft and see if they look undisturbed. At least one other member has had his transmission fried on the dyno by "mechanics" who just pulled the fuses.

If you do get under the car have a look around the tramsmission for any wires hanging loose - if you are lucky they have accidentally knocked off a speed sensor wire or something.

The trouble is that apparently on earlier skylines you could do that no problem but you cant do it on a Stagea. You must remove the front shaft and preferably don't do it at all - find a shop with a 4 wheel dyno.

As someone could be up for many$$$ it would be good to establish liability asap.

Have a read of this thread: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/4w...no-t210078.html

[BOZ22N]

Sounds to me like an electrical fault, due to the amount of different codes coming up, i have my fingers crossed for you.

Just take it back to the workshop and get them to fix it then tell them you want the car sent to MV autos at there cost to check your trans to make sure no damage was done.

Good luck.

[RBPOWA-(TJ)]

mv auto's dont have 4wd dyno ... hm... think i might reconsider and go to the one at knox

[DaveB]

Thanks guys

KiwiRS4T: I'll get under there and check it out (although it's getting 'under' that is difficult - it's so damn low).

The latest is that I picked the car up from the workshop yesterday after they had basically checked it over. They contacted MV autos but apparrently they didn't have a solution either; mechanic knows that the auto fault codes only go to 13 in the book but he swears he got a fault code 14...

The car has been slipping in reverse; when its cold can't back it up the driveway cause won't stay in gear. Got another A/T light fault on the way to work today; couldn't remember the (damn long) procedure to read the codes, but it started slipping badly in every gear as though it had no trans fluid (but the garage checked that) - so I'm guessing one of the fault codes was 7 (lock-up solenoid).

Workshop suggested that besides a dodgy connector the fault could be TPS; apparrently it has two different circuits - one for the ECU (which is not logging a TPS fault) and one for the trans. Trouble is a new TPS is somewhere in the region of $300 from Nissan so not easy to check.

PS Not sure what's been up with SAU, but I haven't been able to access the site for about 3 days, from several different locations and several different browsers? It's been saying 'invalid or unsupported compression scheme' in firefox and IE has just been failing to load the site. Lynx shows garbage, like viewing a binary file.

[DaveB]

Just read the codes off the A/T diagnostic mode, it was a fault code 4 this time (shift solenoid A). It's had a shift kit fitted, so maybe they have played with this stuff? My $2,000 question is, is it a sensor/wiring issue, or a problem with the solenoid/gearbox?

[KiwiRS4T]

Just read the codes off the A/T diagnostic mode, it was a fault code 4 this time (shift solenoid A). It's had a shift kit fitted, so maybe they have played with this stuff? My $2,000 question is, is it a sensor/wiring issue, or a problem with the solenoid/gearbox?

I would just be taking it back to the people who fitted the shift kit and tell them to fix it at their expense unless they can point the finger at the people who did your service. I wouldn't be spending $2000 on the gearbox though - I could get a replacement for $400 and I think there are some in Aus among the guys wrecking cars in the Stagea parts for sale.

Yes i sometimes find this site loads very slowly. They tried to shift it to another host which was worse and I think they were going to build a cluster of servers (if that's the expression) so that they could host it themselves - don't know how far they've got with that.

[DaveB]

I would just be taking it back to the people who fitted the shift kit and tell them to fix it at their expense unless they can point the finger at the people who did your service. I wouldn't be spending $2000 on the gearbox though - I could get a replacement for $400 and I think there are some in Aus among the guys wrecking cars in the Stagea parts for sale.

Yes i sometimes find this site loads very slowly. They tried to shift it to another host which was worse and I think they were going to build a cluster of servers (if that's the expression) so that they could host it themselves - don't know how far they've got with that.

Well got the site working again for me today - had to disable my cache, which means it now loads even more slowly

Yeah $400 for a 2nd-hand gearbox is pretty good. Of course you still have the same old difficulties of not knowing what kind of condition it is in. And it seems to be about ~$400 to do shift kit (to save the bands, which are v expensive), $450 (+ $200 installation) to replace the shift solenoids (which seem to give trouble at around 100,000K's), and if after that your bands go anyway... it is somewhere around 3,000 - 3,500 to get the box rebuilt with kevlar bands, shift kit and new solenoids (and not much else done to it?) So the decision of whether to spend $600+ to fix one problem on a $400 box when you know you will have to lump the lot if something else goes wrong is a difficult one for me...

At any rate, I have got the car booked in for Wednesday morning at MV autos and they will take a look at it and hopefully be able to tell me if the fault code is wiring or solenoid trouble. I have been told ~$450 (can't remember exactly) for new solenoids and $200 labour to replace (including new oil etc). I don't think a faulty solenoid can be blamed on the 100,000K service when they didn't touch the 'box, so hoping that it is disturbed wiring or something.

[M I K E]

i might be tempted to sell the auto box out of my stagea if the right money was shown to me.. all the more reason for me to go manual!

[DaveB]

i might be tempted to sell the auto box out of my stagea if the right money was shown to me.. all the more reason for me to go manual!

alas, I am in Adelaide

[webng]

So is MIKE!

alas, I am in Adelaide

[DaveB]

So is MIKE!

Oh? didn't know that... that's handy, more spares. Though hopefully I won't need too many more

Well dropped the car off this morning at MV's and Mike (MV Mike this time) called me back about an hour later to say that yes, shift solenoid A was gone, and was likely causing all the other faults that I was having with the transmission, like it slipping out of reverse, shuffling gears at low RPM, stalling after stopping etc. etc.

Here's something interesting that I didn't know: he said you had to take the transfer case off the side of the auto, *before* you could get it out of the car... even on the chassis lifter. That sucks, 'cause it means a lot more in labour. So going for the cheaper option means I won't be able to replace my gearbox after all. I am going to get a new 'solenoid rack' fitted which has new shift solenoids (A & B), overdrive solenoid etc. Basically sounds like all the hydraulic control units will be replaced. And I still have my shift kit. So hopefully nothing else will fail for a while (ie. torque converter or bands!) and I can finally start saving for an exhaust and get some power (but keeping it quiet at idle is a must - so oval).

Will post up how it goes...

[webng]

Good to hear you've nutted out the problem and about to get it sorted out. I've been thinking about getting my stag to MV's for the shift kit, cost like $300 all up i hear?

Oh? didn't know that... that's handy, more spares. Though hopefully I won't need too many more

Well dropped the car off this morning at MV's and Mike (MV Mike this time) called me back about an hour later to say that yes, shift solenoid A was gone, and was likely causing all the other faults that I was having with the transmission, like it slipping out of reverse, shuffling gears at low RPM, stalling after stopping etc. etc.

Here's something interesting that I didn't know: he said you had to take the transfer case off the side of the auto, *before* you could get it out of the car... even on the chassis lifter. That sucks, 'cause it means a lot more in labour. So going for the cheaper option means I won't be able to replace my gearbox after all. I am going to get a new 'solenoid rack' fitted which has new shift solenoids (A & B), overdrive solenoid etc. Basically sounds like all the hydraulic control units will be replaced. And I still have my shift kit. So hopefully nothing else will fail for a while (ie. torque converter or bands!) and I can finally start saving for an exhaust and get some power (but keeping it quiet at idle is a must - so oval).

Will post up how it goes...

[chef_stagea]

my shift sol b went... MV fixed it.. wasnt overly cheap for what it is... but did a good job. id recomend them. they didnt tell me crap or lead me on.

[DaveB]

Good to hear you've nutted out the problem and about to get it sorted out. I've been thinking about getting my stag to MV's for the shift kit, cost like $300 all up i hear?

Yeah think you're right; my bill for "Supply & fit shift kit & service" (got a transmission service done at the same time - recommended because they can replace more transmission fluid that way) was $450, fitted and installed. And I think a service alone is $150?

my shift sol b went... MV fixed it.. wasnt overly cheap for what it is... but did a good job. id recomend them. they didnt tell me crap or lead me on.

Damn, that sucks; I seem to remember you were having auto trouble a few months back now? In fact I read a few threads about people with auto troubles... seems to be a not too uncommon fault at around 100,000K's in R34 transmissions. But glad to hear I'm not the only one to have this problem; Mike from MV's said it was a little unusual for solenoid A to go in mine, said it was usually solenoid B. Yeah about ~$400 for the new solenoid rack, somewhere thereabouts, could be more... but has new shift solenoids A and B, overdrive, overrun(?) etc. whole lot of stuff gets replaced apparrently. Would definitely recommend MV so far, having dealt with them before for my shift kit; however I can agree with you that auto gearboxes are *not* cheap to repair!! But a tiptronic with a shift kit is so nice to drive...

[DaveB]

Well, part did not arrive yesterday, but it arrived today and car was ready to pickup this afternoon. Apparently a hydraulic pressure regulator also was failing, and probably causing the weirdness like stalling when stopping, reverse slipping etc. All that got replaced on the same 'rack' as the two shift solenoids, which is good news (especially for the cost of the solenoid rack).

Have only driven the car home so far but already it's feeling much better, not messing around with gear changes at low speeds, and no hint of a stall when I stop or select tiptronic mode. I think it's fixed... at last... now to start saving for that exhaust all over again...