Travelling in Spain - Hold light flashing & 3rd gear onl

[matthewb66]

Hi there fellow bongoliers,

We are travelling in Spain, currently in Valencia and need urgent advice.

This subject may have been covered in other posts but I have limited connection time so cannot perform a proper search.

We drove the van down from London to Valencia in April, and the trip went well apart from 2 occasions where the HOLD light started flashing to indicate a fault, and we were limited to 3rd gear. On both occasions, this happened shortly after a burst of hard acceleration.

Stopping the van for 30 minutes removed the flashing light, and the final 800 miles went without event (no hard acceleration!).

However, today we were caught in a long line of slow-moving traffic requiring lots of stop/start driving; and after about 30 minutes the HOLD light came on again with a matching limit to 3rd gear. Stopping the van for more than 30 minutes has solved this once again.

The flashing pattern is 1 second on, 1 second off repeated.

The van was fully serviced the week before leaving; it is a 1999 model and has done 110,000 miles.

The question is, should I venture further into Spain given that this problem has occured 3 times already. I have full RAC cover so can get it recovered if necessary, but I am worried whether this is a sign that something is about to fail more permanently.

All and any advice gratefully received.

[westonwarrior]

I seam to have cured this on mine so here is what I did
I got a diagnosis from an auto gearbox specialist who said it was electrical

I took off the glove compartment and behind it was the ICU for the gearbox there is a blue connection that goes towards the centre for the speed sensors and throttle position sensors( I presume).

I took that apart and sprayed contact cleaner in to it

There was also 2 wires hanging loose from a sat nav that was installed in japan and removed when sold to me they looked dangerously close to metal so I taped them up with insulating tape.

So far its a diferent car to drive gear change is much smoother and lower in the revs and (touch wood no sign of trouble)

It may be worth getting some contact cleaner and doing the connections as yours is intermitant too
the gear box guys said do the ones on the gear box I went straight for the ICU, or the connection any way I was not going to open it

As Contact Cleaner is cheap It wont cost much to try that.

Very best of luck

[Bonza]

have you had the speedo rechipped?

If so, try removing the chip and connecting the wires back to their original locations. You speedo will read in KM but that ok in Spain!

See if that helps.

The plug on the gearbox gets a load of crud thrown at it. Some contact cleaner sprayed there might help.

Is the oil level correct in the box. Engine warm, level ground, engine gearbox selector moved up and down a few times then back to park. Check oil level with engine running.

Reset warning unit by disconnecting the battery for 30 secs then back on.

Let us know
Bonz